Artist description The Moshmellows are a 7 peice Ska/punk band from Salt Lake City, Utah. This Modern, New age ska sound is dominating people's ears when they play this totally awesome music.

Music Style Punk/Ska/Rock and Roll/and much, much more

Musical Influences Less Than Jake, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Aquabats, Mad Caddies, Buck-o-nine, Goldfinger, Rush, 311, Instant Winner, and all other modern ska

Similar Artists Less Than Jake, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Aquabats, Mad Caddies, Buck-o-nine, Goldfinger, Rush, 311

Artist History Starting in late 1999 The Moshmellows have worked hard to do what they've done. coming out with their third cd "if Life Were A musical" they now are signed with Hibiscus Zombie Records. They are planning on going on tour this upcoming summer of 2003 as well.

Group Members Sam Sorensen- Guitar/Vocals Kevin Hicks- Trombone/Vocals Nate Simmons- Drums Nate Lloyd- Trumpet/Vocals Sean Lund- Trumpet Sheyn Love- Bass John Condrat- Gutar/Keyboard

Instruments 2 guitars, Drums, bass, Trombone, 2 trumpets, a keyboard, and two to three vocalists

Albums Pirates Of Ska, Clap For Us Please, If Life Were A Musical

Press Reviews Could this be the biggest album of 2002? Last month I ranted about the sorry state of our world, in which a freakish phony like Michael Jackson can successfully engineer a comeback despite being hideously...well...freakish and phony. This month my outlook is more optimistic, due in large part to seven 15-year-olds from Salt Lake City who call themselves The Moshmellows. I was sent a demo of their debut CD Pirates of Ska by the sound engineer who recorded it (and to whom I am related...ahh nepotism!). Think Reel Big Fish, think Aquabats, think Less Than Jake -- then think younger, perhaps a bit shorter and with more acne. While I am not a fan per se of the rampant pop-ska of a couple summers ago (which apparently still looms large in certain sectors of American suburbia), I also find nothing overly objectionable about it (unlike certain editors of certain online music magazines (Some of whom have mellowed a bit with age -- Ed.)). In fact, I am perfectly capable of tapping my toe, nodding my head and humming contentedly to such stuff, which, after all, is pleasant and poppy. The Moshmellows' music is of this ilk. Incidentally, their execution is exceptional considering their tender age. For me, though, there's more to The Moshmellows than their music; they represent genuineness, honesty and innocence -- things diametrically opposed to the disturbing, at-odds-with-nature-itself-ness of Wacko Jacko. In The Moshmellows you have a group of bright-eyed, bushy-tailed teenagers who really, really, truly like ska. They pursue this interest with unattenuated vigor and vim. I imagine they spend all their free time listening to, writing, practicing or performing ska songs. This singular, almost naïve enthusiasm, so unique to young people, can be quite contagious (even to jaded music critics) and invigorating. And their songs are perfect reflections of their identity as suburban, white, hetero teenage boys. The topics fall strictly into two categories: songs about girls and songs about ska (in some cases a third, hybrid, category can be observed: songs about girls and ska). There is something very refreshing about music of such simplicity. If Pirates of Ska contains an anthem, it's track five, "A Little Thing Called Life". Here's the chorus: "I'm not trendy, I don't like cologne, I can't skate but I wish I could, I am a wannabe, I wanna have a girlfriend, how 'bout you? I like ska, I don't like rap, I like girls, oh yeah!" It's sophomoric in a very literal, non-pejorative way; this is being a white, male, suburban high school sophomore. I remember, I was there once. I once possessed the fundamental teenage traits that are so apparent in The Moshmellows' music. I find it impossible not to recapture a bit of my youth while listening to them. If their songs depicted honky tonk bars, or contained politically charged diatribes, or offered insightful commentaries into romantic relationships, my fondness for them would be much decreased. This would be so undeniably fake -- phony art from kids too big for their britches. Fortunately, The Moshmellows aren't. They're not yet jaded, they have no target demographic and they haven't yet become a commodity. They're just kids singing about their kid-like lives. "Who'd a Thunk It?" is about a guy who falls in love with the girl who beat him up -- silly perhaps, but also incisive in communicating the insecurities of male, wasp teenagers in America circa 2002. "Ska Kid" says "I'm just a ska kid...I don't know why I love it but I do..." -- a spirited reflection of what it means to be a "ska kid". "Rejection" depicts the frustration of a guy stood up by his date -- a theme universally resonant to at least half of the world's population. Sure none of this is deep, but at age 15, nothing should be. Thanks, Moshmellows, for reminding me that music can be honest, innocent and fun. I recall that even Michael Jackson was innocent once. -- Noah Wane

Location Salt Lake City, Utah - USA

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