Spotlight: School of Rock

Reading, writing and Recess Monkey are the new "Three Rs" in local kids' music

Woodland Park Zoo wasn’t exactly Lollapalooza, but tell that to the hordes of happy children (and their bopping parents). Instead of writhing in mosh pits, concertgoers slid down inflatable jumpy slides festooned with lion and elephant heads. Instead of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, red-ruffed lemurs performed nearby. Beer gardens were replaced by kindergarteners. And as a bonus, almost everyone was substance free (if you don’t count the M&M’s-laced cookies).

Welcome to the world of Recess Monkey (recessmonkeytown.com), the band comprising three Seattle schoolteachers whose groupies are the approximate size of Barbary apes. Its name (a play on the rhesus monkey, traditionally used for lab tests) alerts you to the fact that lyrical wordplay is about to commence.

For parents who suffer post-traumatic stress at the mere thought of Raffi and baby belugas in the deep blue sea, Recess Monkey’s combination of punny, witty lyrics with melodic, rock-based instrumentation is a welcome antidote. Their fifth album, Field Trip (released in June), explores such hot-button kid topics as building forts, visiting a marshmallow farm, dealing with a “Knocktopus” (who has a penchant for bad knock-knock jokes) and navigating the looming teenage years. To prove they really are schoolteachers, there’s even a song about the bugbear of all grade-school classrooms: “L.I.C.E. (Little Insects Crawling Everywhere).”

“We understand kids from working in the classroom,” says Daron Henry, 41, the percussionist, who will start a new job at Spruce Street School in the fall. “And the parents can relate to us because of their own love of music.” Henry’s role involves playing some instruments even band heroes The Beatles never tackled. “On Field Trip, I play my scalp,” he admits. The other Recess Monkeys are Drew Holloway, 32 (vocals, guitar and Thermos), who teaches at University Child Development School and writes all the songs; and Jack Forman, 32 (bass, keyboards and Velcro), who also teaches at UCDS. Given these silly instruments it might sound as though Recess Monkey isn’t serious about music, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The band respects its audience enough to meet its members on an equal footing, and if this means jumping around the stage imitating pirates or robots, or leading a conga line of children while doing a combination of the Jerk, the Frug, the Twist and Pee-Wee’s Big Shoe Dancing, so be it.