The Sippy Cups were born in 2004 at a community fundraiser for a playground in a coastal town just south of San Francisco. Early childhood music teacher and lead singer Paul Godwin invited two other neighborhood dads, guitarist Mark Verlander and juggler Doug Nolan, to help raise the spirit for the park. They found themselves morphing Nirvana's disillusioned tirade "Smells like Teen Spirit" and Syd Barrett's "Bike" into a hilarious rallying cry for a freewheeling tricycle playground mash-up.
At the end of that first show, Godwin blurted out "Thanks a lot, we're The Sippy Cups" -- a moment of divine inspiration. The plan developed to create a high-energy rock and roll experience for families with young kids. The trio imagined a show that would be like Blue Man Group meets the Flaming Lips.
The concept caught on quickly, prompting sold-out shows at local clubs, enthusiastic coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, and live performances on Bay Area rock radio station KFOG. The band's early repertoire included classics by The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, and The Ramones. When the band played, parents as well as their kids went nuts because The Sippy Cups played real rock and roll.
The current Sippy line-up includes Alison Faith Levy (Loud Family) on keyboards and vocals, guitarist and vocalist Rudy Trubitt (The Squids), drummer Jozef Becker (Thin White Rope, The Loud Family), and Ariane Cap on bass.
With the help of producer Eric Drew Feldman (Polyphonic Spree, Frank Black, PJ Harvey), they released a CD of their two singles, "Magic Toast" and "Snail Song," in 2005, followed the same year by Kids Rock For Peas, a live collection of cover tunes. In 2006, with input from all band members and their children, The Sippy Cups made Electric Storyland, an album of 17 original songs and sketches. The album was ranked #6 for the year in the 2006 Fids and Kamily Music Awards, a poll of children's music bloggers, radio programmers and other tastemakers.
In just four years, The Sippy Cups have gone from San Francisco favorites to a nationwide phenomenon. They helped launch the House of Blues' House of Kids shows around the country, and introduced their sophisticated kids' music to major concert halls and rock festivals, including the Austin City Limits Festival and Lollapalooza. The Sippy Cups have scored top ten satellite radio hits, performed live on XM Kids Radio and Sirius Radio's Kidstuff, and received accolades from Time, Newsweek, the New York Post, Billboard, Wired and the Washington Post. In 2007, with Alternadad author Neal Pollack, they appeared in a feature on ABC's Nightline. With their accomplished musicianship, superior songwriting skills, childlike sense of wonder and a stage show that delights parents and children alike, The Sippy Cups have reinvented kids' music in the best possible way.
The Sippy Cups all have extensive credentials in the world of grown-up music as well. Godwin has composed award-winning scores for stage and film including the West Coast debut of Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul and the recent #1 iTunes short film The Tribe. Alison Faith Levy records and performs with Victor Krummenacher (Camper van Beethoven) as McCabe & Mrs. Miller; Rudy Trubitt records train sounds for Lionel Trains; Ariane Cap performs, records and teaches extensively; and Doug Nolan is a graduate of American Conservatory Theatre who practices his juggling while presenting environmental education programs throughout California.
In late 2007 the band released their first-ever live concert DVD documenting their colorful, dynamic stage show: Electric Storyland: Live at the Great American Music Hall, directed and produced by Lou Weinert and Jim Iacona. In October 2008, their iTunes EP One Day Soon was released, accompanied by a video directed by underground filmmaker Danny Plotnick for the song "The Day After Halloween."
The Sippy Cups in the Press:
"The Sippy Cups harness the childlike euphoria of psychedelia and the energy of power pop to deliver music that passes a crucial test: Repeated listenings won't drive the parents mad." -- Wired
"A deliriously funky menu of psychedelia... the Sgt. Pepper's of kid music." -- Cookie
"With their animated performances and whimsical songs about magical toast and flower towers, the Sippy Cups aim to be the Flaming Lips of the toddler set." -- Los Angeles Times
"With puppets, Sippy Cups characters and Nolan's juggling, the group's concerts are a grand presentation that entertains visually and aurally." -- San Jose Mercury News
"Every parent's favorite kid rock band and quite possibly the illegitimate offspring of The Cat in the Hat and Joey Ramone." -- San Francisco Chronicle
