About Me
Sarah Möeding - Lead Vocals, Lyrics, MySpace Message Responder and Comment Leaver
Milkbar might be her first band, but when she was dousing herself with fake blood while singing along to Every Heartbeat by Amy Grant in her bedroom at the age of thirteen, she was already a ROCK STAR. The obvious love child of Willem Dafoe and Pat Benatar, Sarah started singing young, impressing no one but her Grandmother, who often asked her to bust out a few Lutheran standards at holidays as her more immediate family cringed. Grandma heard something in her bombast, though, and as Sarah grew older (and past the Amy Grant, fake blood phase), choral training made her a singer. Torch songs and jazz standards held her interest through college, until, kismet--she met karaoke one boozy evening. She wowed scores of gay men at the 90s over the next few years with her powerful renditions of Hit Me Baby (One More Time) and Black Velvet. By 2006, there were concerns that karaoke might be the end of the line for her, that Whatever Lola Wants on a Thursday night at Jitters would be the high point of her singing career, but then Spike approached her that Fall, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In her spare time, Sarah works with various mediums to create pieces of written, visual and wearable art under the name Son of Simon ; She voraciously studies the mythologies of Christian and Jewish faiths, and loves cooking. Once upon a time, she called herself a poet, and had a book published titled Chaos to Grace; there are still about 200 copies left if you want one. She occasionally finds herself being pretty darned awesome.
Spike - Bass, 13-Lined Ground Squirrel Wrangler, Provider of Hunting Lodge Style Practice Space
Our man Spike is something of a foodie, often heard explaining such things as the best manner to slice raw fish into steaks or sushi ("Mmmmmmm sushi," sayeth Spike), turning up his nose at nail polish remover smelling strawberries, hatin' on ginger and cilantro, or most importantly, extolling the myriad virtues of cheese.
Spike began his professional music career with Thosquanta in late 2003, leaving in late 2004 when a "major schism occured" within the band. After this dissolution, he went on a mission to assemble a synth-pop juggernaut and came up with milkbar. Aside from milkbar, he plays bass in The Rainbow Funbunch and Half Asian, which are also technically milkbar.
In his spare time, our Spikey puts fun things on tshirts, does stuff at home on his 7 computers, and is also the Head Referee for the Minnesota Rollergirls. He also dabbles in being awesome.
Dan Kane - Guitar, Band Mediator
Mister Daniel Kane started his musicianship early in Milwaukee, WI--violin in Kindergarten, then recorder, harp, trumpet, piano and finally string bass. He picked up guitar as a hobby in High School (a Fender Strat), but it wasn't until he was studying for his BS in Physics at the U of M that he was approached to play in a project of a friend of his called Thosquanta; it was at about this time that he bought himself a Gibson SG Supreme; "midnight burst, chrome hardware" (boys and their toys...). Like Spike, he too left this band late in 2004.
It wasn't long after that Spike told DJ Matt Fantastic (Matt Simmons) about his synth-pop dream, and soon milkbar was born.
Since the inception of milkbar, Dan has added two more babies to his guitar family, a Schecter C-1 E/A "for the clean and pure," and a Gibson Firebird V "when I want that extra bite." He has also, in his lifetime, solved a Rubik's cube, memorized 62 digits of pi, ate some pie, bought a DeLorean, portrayed Wolverine on Halloween three times, and broke a windshield with his head. But not in that order. Dan minors in awesome.
Kari Schuster - Keys, Vocals, Kitschy Sticker Distributor
Our other token Asian, Kari Schuster, has always been a lady prone to musical indulgences. She recalls whiling away the hours as a young lass on the swingset, singing tunes by the Monkees, or banging out by-ear Bryan Adams ditties on the family piano. After some ivory-tickling lessons, church and school choirs, and an impromptu stint doing vocals on Vomit Sauce's Way to Destruction, Ms. Kari was ready for the milkbar member laundering service also known as Thosquanta. She too left that scene after the Great Implosion, and ever since has concentrated on the more visual art facets of her creative gifts.
Until now, that is. With Sheldon Kessel, milkbar's other keyboardist, they put much of the synth in our synth-pop.
Kari digs on Hello Kitty, pirates, sushi and cupcakes (so long as the cupcakes possess no decoration in solid particulate form); she's also cuckoo for Sriracha, which any person whose spent more than three minutes in her sphere can attest.
When she's not on the prowl for skull and crossbone attire, Kari can definitely be found staring into the sunset, pondering her awesome.
Sheldon Kessel - Keys, Beats, Vocals, Master of Ridiculous Exclamations
Sheldon Kessel has been in more bands than your mom could shake a stick at. He plays the guitar, bass, drums, keys (of course) and he also can belt out a mean rendition of Prince's song, Kiss. Though he's collaborated with basically everyone in Fargo and Minneapolis that he's bumped into, recently he's been spending more and more of his time in front of a mixing board, teaching Electronic Music Production at McNallySmith College of Music, or creating his own fat beats as Octathorpe .
Ever the athlete, Sheldon studies various Martial Arts as well as practicing Yoga and weight training. He's also been on the vegan side of vegetarianism well over a decade, because Sheldon thinks animals are pretty special. Ask any animal, human or otherwise, and they'll be sure to tell you, Sheldon is awesome.
On Sabbatical:
Matt Simmons - Production, Beats, In Absentia
The man who makes the beats, Matt Simmons, has many monikers and his hands in many musical styles. He first recorded under the name The Mattsimmons for Beeshu Records in Milwaukee, WI in the mid-90's, and he was part of the genesis of Hospital Records, which later became Hospital Productions and continues to operate out of Brooklyn. He learned to mix records in college, under the tutelege of Bryan J. Bentling, founder of the Groove Revival Network, spinning noise and industrial as DJ Warblob.
(A few more of his notable sobriquets and projects [both former and current] are Potassium Cyanide Dogbane Sentiment, Neb is an isoceles triangle, Genderal S.I.D.S. and the Turncoats, DJ Matt Fantastic and SMNZ.)
He also, in addition to being milkbar's beat master, plays spoons in the Como Avenue Jug Band. But alas, all of this is currently on hiatus while he sows his oats in South Korea, where he's been since November of 2006.
He is currently working on an album of instrumental club music entitled Grit House Music. Aside from rockin' the beats, Matt digs on relaxing in the sun with a nice, cold beverage and a big bowl of ice cream, which he does while being awesome.
