Getting to Know Girls Rock MKE - Negative/Positive and Gas Station Sushi
MILWAUKEE - August 16, 2017 - Some of rock music’s future royalty may someday look back on September 9, 2017 and recall fondly their first crack at a festival gig as two of Milwaukee’s finest young acts, Negative/Positive and Gas Station Sushi take the stage at Rock the Green’s Pedal Power Stage.! Girls’ Rock Milwaukee is an organization all about empowering girls to embrace creativity and work together to create music. The mission of Girls Rock Milwaukee is to empower girls of all backgrounds through music education and performance. Girls Rock Milwaukee is dedicated to creating a positive environment that builds girls’ self-esteem and fosters leadership, life-skills development, and independent thinking while cultivating a supportive community of peers and mentors that demonstrate it’s ok to be who you are! Rock the Green had the pleasure of catching up with two of the Girls’ Rock Milwaukee Groups who are slated to perform at the festival.
Getting to Know “Negative/Positive:”
Rock The Green: Could you please tell me a bit about the band playing RTG from Girls Rock MKE? What are the ages of the musicians and what type of music do they play?
Negative/Positive: Negative/Positive plays varying types of rock music. Ava plays guitar and sings, and is 13, Lola plays bass and is 14, and Ava plays drums and is 12.
Rock the Green: Playing on the famous Rock the Green Pedal Power Stage is a pretty unique experience for any artist. What are you looking forward to about having a team of cyclists providing the power to your musicians?
Negative/Positive: The idea of a stage powered by cyclists is not only unique and interesting, but exciting too; people just pedaling their legs and charging an entire show. The festival is inspiring and we can't wait to be a part of it.
Rock the Green: One of the things that makes Rock The Green such a unique, innovative, and truly special experience is that it's mission is to educate the public about the importance of being a good steward of our environment. How does this mission resonate with you and/or your groups? What are some ways that you encourage the kids in Girls Rock MKE to "go green?"
Negative/Positive: At Girls Rock Milwaukee, we encourage all our campers to be socially conscious so Rock the Green's mission to promote environmental awareness and sustainability resonates with us. We teach our campers that even as kids they too can change the world. "Going Green" can be a combination of little things like recycling trash or riding your bike instead of riding in a car but each little thing can add up to make a big impact.
In addition to Negative/Positive, Rock the Green’s audience will be treated to the sounds of Gas Station Sushi, another fun and upcoming act that was born out of Girls’ Rock Milwaukee. We had a chance to chat with the young ladies in Gas Station Sushi and hear their thoughts about playing Rock the Green and the Pedal Power Stage as well.
Rock The Green: Could you please tell me a bit about the band playing RTG from Girls Rock MKE? What are the ages of the musicians and what type of music do they play?
Gas Station Sushi: Gas Station Sushi is an all girl band out of Milwaukee Wisconsin. The band formed two years ago at Girls Rock and stayed together after camp. Gas Station Sushi calls their style "snark pop", featuring songs about dads, cringe-worthy words, staph infections and stank. Our guitarist Caterina, is 17, our vocalist, Nyanna and bassist, Olivia, are 16, and our drummer Maya, is 15. Influences include Nirvana, The Runaways, The Pixies and Mitski. Recent performances include Summer Soulstice, Bay View Bash, Milwaukee Punk Fest, Riverwest FemFest, Arte Para Todos, Make Music Day and PrideFest 2017. Gas Station Sushi is currently working on an EP which is due to be released in the Spring of 2018.
Rock the Green: Playing on the famous Rock the Green Pedal Power Stage is a pretty unique experience for any artist. What are you looking forward to about having a team of cyclists providing the power to your musicians?
Gas Station Sushi: We are really looking forward to being able to play on a green powered stage. It will be exciting to feed off of the energy of the cyclists as well as seeing how they react to our music. It is our hope that they are so entertained that they don't have to think about all the pedaling! In addition, the Girls Rock message is all about being kind to other girls and learning to be powerful and strong, so we are excited to play here so we can do our part to help others be kind to the Earth!
Rock the Green: One of the things that makes RTG such a unique, innovative, and truly special experience is that it's mission is to educate the public about the importance of being a good steward of our environment. How does this mission resonate with you and/or your groups? What are some ways that you encourage the kids in Girls Rock MKE to "go green?"
Gas Station Sushi: This message resonates a lot with us because while messages may be different, Girls Rock is a mission to educate young girls to be empowered and good to each other. RTG and Girls Rock share the same goal to educate people. We encourage girls in Girls Rock to feel the freedom to express themselves in a safe environment while being conscious to take care of the resources that they are given. We make sure they understand the value of the volunteers and the equipment they use during camp. We ask them to be sure to turn off amps, unplug power cords and power strips, and turn off everything when not in use. Rock bands use a lot of power, it’s important to be conscious and shut things down when practice finishes!
Rock the Green: Do you have any tips to share about simple actions that we can do to help encourage sustainable, environmentally friendly living?
Gas Station Sushi: Being conscious is always simple, and can include little things in everyday life like turning off lights and unplugging unneeded things, or turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth. These little things, when done by a large amount of people, can make a huge difference! From the perspective of a musician, we encourage the use of electronic methods to promote shows and events instead of printing lots of flyers and wasting paper resources.
With the tremendous passion for music that the young artists from Girls Rock Milwaukee exhibit, it wouldn’t surprise us if saw the next Kim Deal, Joan Jett, or Sheryl Crow make their festival debut at Rock the Green. You don’t want to miss these young ladies rocking the Pedal Power Stage on Saturday, September 9th!
