Koo Koo Kanga Roo

Koo Koo Kanga Roo
Koo Koo Kanga Roo performing in 2012. From left to right: Bryan and Neil
Background information
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Genres	Dance-pop, hip hop, synthpop, children's music
Years active	2004-present
Website	http://www.kookookangaroo.com/
Members	Will Spradlin Ryan Walls

Koo Koo Kanga Roo is an American comedic dance-pop duo from Minneapolis, Minnesota, consisting of vocalists Bryan (Bryan Atchison) and Neil (Neil Olstad).

Billed as an "interactive dance party duo" and described as "the Beastie Boys meet Sesame Street", Koo Koo Kanga Roo showcase a colorful live show that relies heavily on audience participation, featuring overtly silly sing-along songs that are typically accompanied by their own individual dance move. The duo has toured nationwide, performing for both children's events and at mainstream music clubs with rock and punk bands (including Lee Hartney & The Smith Street Band), and is notable for releasing all of their recorded music under a "pay what you want" price.

Koo Koo Kanga Roo have defined themselves foremost as a live band, with their performances and audience interaction being the pure core of the group, even more so than their recorded music. Bryan and Neil are the only members of Koo Koo Kanga Roo, and thus perform all of their songs against pre-recorded backing tracks played from their iPods over the venue's PA system. The duo's songs are written explicitly for the purposes of audience participation, featuring sing-along verses and/or choruses often utilizing a call and response technique, and almost always including a simple dance move unique to each song that Bryan and Neil encourage the audience to follow along with.

The subject matter of Koo Koo Kanga Roo's songs rarely stray from juvenile "goofball" territory, covering such topics as dinosaurs, letters of the alphabet, ninjas, food fights, fanny packs, hopscotch, slumber parties and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Despite this, Bryan and Neil hesitate to label themselves as a "kid's band", instead referring to Koo Koo Kanga Roo as "a kid's band for adults" that aims to connect with all ages. "We shoot for goofy, more than kids' music specifically", Neil elaborated. "It's not about being a kids' thing, it's about being a fun thing". Neil has also mentioned that Koo Koo Kanga Roo's songs try to touch on a nostalgia factor for older audiences, drawing on his and Bryan's memories of childhood; one prominent example includes the duo's tradition of throwing a playground parachute into the crowd at the end of their sets, the kind "that you remember from PE class in elementary school".