Biography
Originating in the closing years of the 1980s within Harrisonburg, Virginia, Sexual Milkshake began as a trio consisting of Sexua, Lmil, and Kshake, also identified respectively as Greg Allen, Chris Callahan, and Todd/Rusty Massie. Their approach to music found concise expression in a remark Greg Allen once offered: "Tune, schmoon, just play!" Neither sufficiently refined to qualify as art rock nor sufficiently basic to register as retarded rock, the band navigated the narrow divide separating clever from stupid. The sole standard feature of the group lay in its adherence to the alt rock pattern of featuring a female bassist, a position first held by Ame Dread and subsequently assumed by Jill Murphy. Following the appearance of a 7" single on the influential Teenbeat label, the band issued a complete CD and LP titled Sing Along in Hebrew through the same imprint. Sexual Milkshake merits mention in the marginal notes of rock & roll history for the extravagant character of its product packaging no less than for its contorted musical inventions. In one instance, the lead singer devised the instrument he named the "Gregtar," a cumbersome construction formed by joining two guitar bodies to opposite extremities of a single neck, each body fitted with an independent pickup routed to its own amplifier. The band further stands out because its CD and LP rank among the most elaborately presented albums ever produced. Sing Along in Hebrew includes a 12-page tabloid-sized booklet along with chopsticks, a 3-D poster of the band, 3-D gorilla glasses accompanied by a scratch & sniff banana, a '60s-style nudie matchbook, a mermaid drinking glass companion, and, of course, the recording itself. After a modestly prosperous span of four years, the band ceased performing together in 1993. Drummer Chris Callahan helped establish Blast Off Country Style in 1992, while Todd/Rusty Masse assembled the Gollypops alongside fill-in Sexual Milkshake bassist and former Blast Off Country Style participant Phil Sweeney.
Albums