Editor's note: This article originally appeared on Patch in May. Starfish is scheduled to play at 8 pm before the fireworks during the July 4 celebration, so we thought, hey, we should run that article again. So here it is, in all its splendor and glory:

What’s cooler than kids’ music that adults can jam to? How about a band the whole family can jam to. StarFish, made up of Maplewood dads, rocks the party for kids and parents alike.  

They formed after Ray Leone (Starfish alias: StingRay) met Marc Stern (Starfish alias: Moose) and Dave Hartkern (Starfish alias: Grateful Dave) met through their kids’ music classes and recruited Mark Asch (Starfish alias: Dr Yes) and Antar Goodwin (Starfish alias: Antfarm). A few jam sessions later, they all became great friends. StingRay and Co. began writing kiddy-centric lyrics to tunes influenced by classic and modern rock. Their musical influences range from Phish and Dave Matthews to Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix.

The lyrics cover kid territory, like sibling rivalry in “My Baby Brother (He’s a Wolfman)” and being a rock star in “Air Guitar.” While “Joshua’s Treehouse” has a distinct sound reminiscent of today’s jam bands, StarFish is a loud “arena rock ‘n’ roll” band.

 “It’s great to get the whole family together and sing and dance and… rock out a little too,” Leone said.  

Local parents seem to really appreciate their non-Wiggles approach. StarFish was intended to do something real for kids and parents, rather than playing to what adults think kids should like. StarFish, unlike many other kid-focused bands, recognized that kids need real music that parents won’t tune out. The basic mantra is: “kids want to rock!”   

Leone said that “most of our own songs [are] based on life experiences” or are opportunities to “teach kids stuff they don’t know about.” Songs are also a fun way for the grown-ups “to be kids again too.” Most of the tunes have to pass their kids’ approval before getting live audience play. And, “they are very honest with us and… they say, ‘daddy, that song is not very good.’”

The group ran through a number of silly names before settling on Starfish. Crustaceans seemed to draw them and “StarFish” stuck. But, the five arms of a StarFish seemed to mirror the band symbolically too. While the members tend to be silly dads, they do agree that “when the kids sing along and know all the words to the song… and they recognize us out in public,” they know they’ve succeeded. To one of the band members’ delight, his daughter said, “Wow, you guys are way better than Prince.”  

They are also much more serious when they offer advice to pipsqueak musicians:

“Learn in school all you can about music, but also turn to mom and dad’s music collection and the radio, and practice,” Hartkern said.

You can sample some of their songs on their Web site, or their MySpace page, but they are best experienced live (check out a video Patch caught of a recent performance for proof).

Now that we’ve gotten a taste, we can hardly wait for their second album this fall.