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Michael & the Rockness Monsters Invite Everyone to the MONSTER'S BALL, a New Party Album

By: Oct. 26, 2018
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Michael & the Rockness Monsters Invite Everyone to the MONSTER'S BALL, a New Party Album  Image

This October, Michael & the Rockness Monsters are inviting everyone to party with Monster's Ball, the third release from the award winning band from Rockness Music, out October 26.

From New Jersey's favorite homegrown family rock band, Monster's Ball is a party album rich with themes of celebration, inclusion, and accessibility, as should be the foundation for any good party. The diverse collection not only captures the live spirit of this super energetic band but also the love and care they have for the families they have performed for over the past 10 years. Bursting with new energetic dance hits, the collection also includes newly recorded family favorites from their award winning classes.

It's going to be a busy autumn over at Rockness Music, the company behind Michael & the Rockness Monsters, founded by Michael Napolitano. The organization is celebrating an impressive 10 years of making music for families in their classes and on their multiple albums. They are embracing a time of expansion and change as the company rebrands to Rockness Music. Through the growth of their business they are now rising to meet the needs of the children who have aged out of their pre-k classes. As Rockness Music, the organization aims to reach older groups while still remaining early childhood specialists. The broadening of their services for older children includes drum seminars, ukulele classes, choral programs and private lessons.

"With the release of the brand new album and in celebration of our ten year anniversary we wanted to create an inclusive album. We have essentially created a party inside an album to get families moving and grooving together in their car, living room or where ever they are!" says Michael who has worked in the field with children ages 0-10 and has developed great insight into what they want to hear, and how they want to hear it. The album is welcoming to all- with music appealing to toddlers and grade schoolers alike.

The grooving "Smile" is a perfect album opener and serves as the ice breaker for the party. Sometimes everyone needs a reminder how easy it is to smile and how far a smile can take you. On "Party Train" you can listen and picture the train bouncing through golden sunshine on a green grassy day while the sounds of the party riders fill the background. With "People Places Dancing" we celebrate music through dance while celebrating other cultures. Everyone loves to dance, and everyone loves a party, and most certainly everyone is invited to this positive party. "Woodpecker" is a silly jam for anyone who likes to laugh. It's a landscape of sounds and silly vocals, with the old man Marge's husband searching for a woodpecker. The instant classic "A Fish Named Dog" is a true story, written by Michael from personal experience after his daughter's really wanted a dog but their mom refused, saying "No dog, but you can have a fish". So the family got a fish... which they named Dog!

On the second half of the album we jump into a big dance party with "Mona Lisa" and keep the energy going with the power anthem "Truck Day". Rockness Music students will recognize favorite class movement songs "Growing Bigger", "When I'm Jumpin'" and "Robot Song". To close out the album, the endearing "Beautiful Day" is a pretty little ditty sung to celebrate the joyousness of every day. The album ends in Paris with "Les Lumières De Paris" which was written with Michael's children after a special family trip to Paris. The details of this song are an actual documentation of their travels.

Monster's Ball is co-produced by Grammy winner Dean Jones and Michael Napolitano and was engineered By Dean Jones at No Parking Studio and mastered By Alan Douches at West Side Music. Michael's younger daughters who have always had cameos on his records are featured throughout the album as proper backup singers. Other children from his Rockness Music classes also have their little voices spread all over the record, furthering its appeal to the youngest listeners.

Monsters Ball is available October 26, 2018 both digitally and physically where ever families are looking for great music. Visit michaelandtherocknessmonsters.com and rocknessmusic.com for more information and for upcoming tour dates to join the party.

ABOUT MICHAEL & THE ROCKNESS MONSTERS
Michael Napolitano, the founder of Rockness Music (a division of Preschool of Rock) brings you Michael & the Rockness Monsters. This dynamic outfit is equipped with a stylish horn section, funky grooves and a true rock-n-roll spirit. The records are a voyage into the child's subconscious presenting music that shines with creativity, catchy melodies and thick instrumentation. It's intelligent, fun and full of humorous hooks and quirks. Michael's time creating records with, and designing instruments for the Blue Man Group is evident in the variety of percussion and instrumentation in the tracks. Over the past ten years Michael has written, produced, performed and recorded 6 records focusing on the engagement and interaction of families, which leaves him super tuned in to the landscape of children's music. Fan favorite songs "Squirrel Fight" and "Pirate Song" have received heavy airplay at Sirius XM's Kids Place Live and their records have been featured at family radio shows around the country and abroad. The group has performed at notable venues like Symphony Space, Madison Square Park, NYC's Summerstage, Wolftrap, The Highline, Liberty State Park and more. During their sold out shows the stage disappears and everyone embarks on a creative voyage together. Napolitano's education company - Rockness Music visits approximately 2000 children in schools and private classes each week. The Rockness Monsters band members are also class teachers, each of them fully immersed in the world of children's music.



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