Music: Don't tell the kids - Koo Koo Kanga Roo's music is geared toward adults

As one might expect at an event put on by a radio station that plays Public Enemy and Billy Bragg, the band onstage at the Children's Theatre announced it was about to play "a protest song." Would it be an anthem for the unions in Wisconsin? The citizens seeking democracy in the Middle East? No, it was for a much more universal cause than that:

"I want a PB&J, and I want it now," the singers roared. "But I want NO CRUST! "

"NO CRUST!" the crowd joined in, fists raised in unison.

Koo Koo Kanga Roo manufactured this rare showing of solidarity in late January. The dance-rap duo used 89.3 The Current's annual Rock the Cradle festival to bring together two disparate parties, kids and adults, who for once came together on one dance floor and agreed on the same kind of music.

There are plenty of children's music acts whose members play "adult" music on the side, and vice versa. Koo Koo Kanga Roo is the rare beast to cater to both sides at the same time. Taking over the Varsity Theater on Saturday for a multifaceted, all-ages concert/party dubbed the Koo Koo Kanga Roo Karnival, co-creators Bryan Atchison and Neil Olstad said they just sort of fell into being booked as kids' entertainers. They actually started out as an admittedly juvenile electronic rap/rock act in nightclubs three years ago. The really funny thing is, they haven't altered their act much, whether they're playing at midnight on Friday at a West Bank club or Saturday morning at some (lucky) kids' birthday party.

"The really young kids aren't getting a lot of the songs, but they at least get that the music is fun," explained Olstad, whose recognizable facial hair prompted the "mustaches on a stick" you see on sale at KKKR shows.

As for the older kids and adults, Atchison said, "We're not making any kind of moral, cookie-cutter kids' music. We're making music that we, as adults, think is fun -- it just so happens that a lot of the things we're both into are kids' things."

"I remember my dad used to tell me I had to eat the crust off the sandwich because it would put hair on my chest," Atchison said. "Of course, when I was 8, the thought of having hair on my chest terrified me, so I really didn't want to eat the crust then."

KKKR has assembled a hi-fi light show (lasers included) and a merchandise table that includes everything from the aforementioned mustache accessories to a friendship-bracelet stand. All of this gear has forced the duo to upgrade its tour vehicle from a sedan to a van, which it's partially paying for with a Kickstarter.com donation program. Participants can get everything from a personalized voice-mail message to a song written about them as a reward for their generosity.

KKKR's approach to selling music is almost as novel as everything else it does. Its one full-length album and two EPs are only available as downloads at www.kookookangaroo.com, and they're sold in a pay-what-you-want format. Atchison said they don't even care if you pay for the music, "so long as you come out to see our show, which is what we're really all about."

Protest songs or not, these Koo Koo fellas are surprisingly radical.