In celebration of Father’s Day, many dads are gifted new socks, fancy electronics, or maybe a nice set of golf clubs, but the best gift comes in the form of a bonding opportunity. The kid-friendly, parent pop punk project, The First Rock Band on Mars, comprised of Kellin Quinn, Ryan Key, Howi Spangler and James DiNanno, are releasing their Self-Titled album just in time for Father’s Day.
The popular group of musicians have come together to create the perfect listening experience for parents and their children. Now, together, families can listen to music in the car, at home or anywhere else that everyone can enjoy without the fear of foul language or inappropriate innuendos popping up within the song’s lyrics.
“I think for parents that, you know, don’t want to listen to ‘Baby Shark’ and things like that, it’s something different and catchy that they can listen to together and just kind of give a little bit of pop punk and punk rock inspiration to their youngsters,” Quinn told Music Mayhem.
Inspired by the project’s founder DiNanno’s first children’s book, The First Rock Star On Mars. The 5-track EP is set for release on Friday, June 11. The aforementioned book was actually what initially brought the group together. What began as just a narration for the book soon became an original 5-track EP and thus, a new project was born.
Music Mayhem caught up with Kellin Quinn to learned more about how The First Rock Band On Mars formed, parenting, & more.
Read on to find out what Quinn has been up to in this exclusive Q&A!
So, you’ve been pretty busy throughout your time off, and you’ve got several different solo efforts, collaborations, to now being a part of this kid-friendly pop-punk band with Yellowcard’s Ryan Key, James DiNanno and Howi Spangler. And you’re about to release that six-track pop punk album called The First Rock Star on Mars. Could you tell us how that band came to form and how the album is gonna sound?
Of course, yeah. So James is the brain behind The Rock Star On Mars whole project, and it started as a book, and he asked me to narrate the story. And then I think like after I’d sent over like all the vocal stems for the narration, he asked if I’d be interested in doing a track for the book, and The First Rock Star on Mars was kind of created between myself, him and Howi and, you know, it turned out really cool, and it was like a cool entrance into the book, and then there were discussions about, you know, making it an EP. And I think that’s kind of how Ryan came on board, he did bass on that track. And then we kind of partnered together, and we just came up with four or five tracks for the EP, and you know, it was either me helping write it, or Ryan, and we just kind of collectively put together this EP, and it turned out really cool.
I mean the album drops just about a week before Father’s Day, and as a dad yourself, how does it feel to have music that both you and your kids can enjoy?
I mean, it’s really cool. I think my daughter would have loved it a lot more when she was younger. You know, she has her own musical taste in stuff now, but I think for parents that, you know, don’t want to listen to “Baby Shark” and things like that, it’s something different and catchy that they can listen to together and, you know, just kind of give a little bit of pop punk and punk rock inspiration to their youngsters.
Have you played the album for your daughter yet?
Yeah, so she’s heard The First Rock Star on Mars track, and obviously like recording from home, she’s heard a lot of the things that I’d be singing in my office, so she hears it more than she wants to, but she likes that one. She thinks it’s really catchy.
So, aside from that upcoming album, throughout the last year, you’ve been lending your vocals to like several collaborations for some upcoming bands. What does it mean to you to be able to lend your platform and your vocals to showcase some of the best upcoming talent?
Yeah, it’s been really cool. I feel like for me, it’s important to stay busy, and if I was just sitting home and not doing anything with music, I’d probably lose my mind. So being able to work with featured acts on that platform and then be connected to a lot of up-and-coming artists and being able to kind of pick and choose which bands I want to like work with, it’s brought along some really, really cool opportunities, and it’s a benefit to the artist that I’m working with, but it’s also a benefit to me because my fans get to hear new stuff from me constantly, so it’s been really, really cool.
For sure. I mean I found the band Loveless through you from your partnerships and from the Downer, Inc. project through just your collaboration with them, and they’re like pretty legit.
Oh, yeah, I love…Julian’s great. He’s worked with me on a lot of stuff for Downer, and he’s a very, very talented producer. Also, his project Loveless is really, really awesome as well, so it’s been really cool to make that friendship and then to work with bands like Magnolia Park. It’s been really, really cool to do stuff like that.
