AMERICAN MYDOL

At age 42, after seeing Jack White (White Stripes) perform to a group of 30 school kids, I made a decision that most girls make at age 16. I decided I wanted to be a rock star. With no musical background, I started The Mydols with a group of similarly minded and musically challenged neighborhood moms-Paige Gilbert, Pat McGough and Kara Rasmussen.

Over the summer of 2002 we all purchased our instruments. Who cared that none of us could play a note? It was full steam ahead and never mind the laundry! By the fall, we were throwin’ it down in bars, screaming “Soup’s on!” With homemade ditties like “Soccer Mom Stomp”, “Take Out the Trash” and “Mydols Twist” it didn’t take long for metro Detroit to notice that there was something different about these Midwestern hausfraus. We had what one music critic called “riding the learning curve musical charm.” Before we could finish loading the last amp into our minivan, we were receiving calls from The Wall Street Journal, Inside Edition and People Magazine.

Our kids all get a kick out of it. At the time we started, they were all too young to notice or care that it isn’t necessarily normal for your mother to be in a rock band. When our lead singer’s daughter went to Kindergarten open house, her ice-breaker question to her 5-year-old peers was “What’s the name of your mom’s band?” When we appeared in our hometown newspaper for the first time, my son asked me if I was more famous than Oprah. That was followed by “What Royal Oak (our hometown in suburban Detroit) school do Oprah’s kids go to?”

Even with a built in fan base of children (we have twelve of them between us), the transformation from soccer mom to rocker mom hasn’t always been easy. It’s hard to squeeze in band rehearsal between the kids’ busy practice schedules: baseball, soccer, piano. The equipment necessary to get started is expensive and we feel guilty purchasing it. College audiences don’t always get the joke when we pass out refrigerator magnets that remind them to: “Call your mom you punk ass chump.” And pink go-go boots hurt your feet.

Still, the challenges of motherhood have not kept us from dreaming of spotlights. On May 5, The Mydols will share center stage with one of my college rock idols, Kathy Valentine (of the GoGos) at Mamapalooza. The concert is a benefit to raise money for the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign. Detroit Women with Motor City Express and The Candy Band will also perform in what is touted as “The Festival for Moms Who Rock!” The task of organizing such a big event is overwhelming, even for one who has organized three school fairs. We are expecting a capacity crowd of women aged 30-50 with families.

So, four years later, do I feel like a rock star? I may not be hanging gold records in the family den, but I am having my share of rock and roll moments!

Judy Davids
Guitarist and founder of the Mydols
Regional Coordinator Detroit Mamapalooza

Be sure to check our our website, Mydols.com, where you can purchase our new box set, “Pop Tartz”, featuring our first two compact discs “Sally has a Kitchen Accident”, “Born to Iron” and 4 bonus tracks.

Dodge Grand Caravan is our official sponsor. They provide us with rockin’ transportation that rivals Shirley’s Partridge’s family bus!