Rock Band The Milkman's Sons find the fountain of youth

REGINA, Saskatchewan - Feb. 11, 2015 - PRLog -- Pearl Jam. Jay-Z. The Blues Brothers. B.B. King. Prince. Pete Townshend.

The Milkman's Sons have two things in common with all of them.

They're musicians, for one thing.

They've also each taken the stage at Chicago's famed House of Blues. Granted, the Regina cover band played the venue's secondary stage as the main act, The Tragically Hip, played upstairs.

"It was even more than what we were expecting," said Mickey Kupchyk, rhythm guitarist and vocalist for the band.

They gained some new fans from Wisconsin and Texas (and a promise by the manager to be asked back sometime soon) during their Jan. 14 performance, even though they didn't bring their full production, which includes backdrops, laser lights and smoke machines.

"Performance is a big part of the show. As much as the music is, the visual aspect and the entertainment part of it has to be there as well," said Ken Kupchyk, Mickey's brother, the band's lead vocalist and bass player.

They interact with the audience and tell a lot of jokes: "'Our band really doesn't start sounding good until you've had two drinks,'" said Mickey. "'After six drinks we start to look like the Rolling Stones.' Ken always says 'make sure to tip your waitress, but don't tip her over.'"

Even their name is a joke - taken from a song by Ugly Kid Joe, it echoed their childhood dynamic.

"To get at the other sibling when you were mad," said Ken, "'Well you were adopted' or 'you're the milkman's son,' that kind of thing. It seemed to fit."

Their parents are deceased, but "they would get a real kick out of it," said Mickey.

The Milkman's Sons has been a five-piece for little more than a year, when Carol Kingston joined on keyboards. Geoff Gilbert is the newest addition in a previously rotating leadguitar role. Drummer Terry Anaka has been there since the beginning, about three years ago.

For Ken, this is a second-wave dalliance with music. He gave up playing the bass once he started having kids.

For Mickey, this is first wave.

He was inspired to play guitar just four years ago, when his son started learning guitar in a high school class.

One day at home, Mickey picked up his son's guitar, pulled up a Led Zeppelin song online and started teaching himself the tablature.

When he started jamming with a pop band of novice players, he met Anaka. Both preferred rock music, so they branched off to start their own band.

That's when Mickey started goading Ken to pick up the bass again. After a month of prodding, Ken joined their jams.

It spiralled from there. The Milkman's Sons plays classic rock, country and punk, segmenting its typically-four-hour shows by each genre.

"What we're trying to do is come up with those two songs that each person is going to like," said Mickey.

"That's why we try to mix up the music a lot.

"The other 38 songs we do, they're not going to remember what we did," he added with a laugh.

With everything they play, they try to pay tribute to the song's original musician.

"People come out and they want to relive their youth again," said Mickey. "We're going to try to re-create those songs as close as possible to what they heard originally."

Just as their set list runs the gamut, so does their audience: The band members themselves, hovering around age 50, typically entertain everyone from 20-somethings to senior citizens.

"We've had a lot of people really want to see us do well ... because they all wish they could be doing it, taking up a guitar late in life and going out and having fun," said Mickey. "We're acting like a bunch of 19-year-olds with 50-year-old heads on our shoulders."

In at least one case, they've inspired other older people to pick up an instrument. A friend of Ken's had stopped playing guitar years ago; since seeing the band perform, he has picked up his guitar again.

"I like saying to them, 'Look at me, you can do this at any age, just do it. Just make your mind up.' And that's what I want to do is inspire somebody," said Ken.

"Music is the fountain of youth ... I'll never give it up again. I'm going to be doing this whether it's in the old folks home doing matinee sessions when I'm 80. It's just been too much fun."

The Milkman's Sons are playing Feb. 15 in Moose Jaw as part of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts festivities.

By Ashley Martin, The Starphoenix

www.milkmanssons.com (http://www.milkmansons.com)