"It puts the “indie” in “kindie” more than anything I’ve heard in quite awhile..."---Jeff Giles, Dadnabbit

"If you dig the rowdy, grungy, guitar-driven rock and roll of, say, Ragged Glory or Rust Never Sleeps, Roy Handy is right down your alley. Play this one LOUD!"---Warren Truitt, Kids Music that Rocks

“… an exuberant, family-friendly CD brimming with fast-paced, energetic songs. Emphatic, exciting, creative, and captivating..."---Midwest Book Review

“… good ol' rock-and-roll with big-smiling lyrics.”---Cool Mom Picks

“ Crayon Man!!! is a kindie rock classic that will have the little ones jumping up and down manically on that rented moon bounce or backyard trampoline.”--- Nugget Island

“It's as if Weezer or Social Distortion started writing songs with goofy jungle gym lyrics… a fun listen.”--- go2.com


In a flurry of creativity and fun, (I’m Gonna Be) Your Best Friend was conceived on New Years Day, 2010 and finished a mere three weeks later. It went like this: On January 6th, Gerry Stanek wrote and recorded “Crayon Man!!!” with a mind toward jumpstarting what would become the first album by Roy Handy & the Moonshot. By January 22nd an album’s worth of poppy, energetic, family-friendly tunes was “in the can,” fulfilling Stanek’s goal to complete the Moonshot record before February came calling. Eleven songs had been written and recorded in just over two weeks!

On the 15th of February “Crayon Man!!!” was already getting a spin on WXPN in Philadelphia, two weeks after the song had debuted on Bill Childs’ influential program, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Roy Handy & the Moonshot seemed to be a band in a hurry.

To clarify, Roy Handy & the Moonshot is Gerry Stanek’s alter-ego---not so much a band as an idea hatched by a dad who’d always written songs. He says, “Since Gerry Stanek takes himself way too seriously, it was easier to be silly and fun as Roy Handy. He liberated things I’d locked up for years. I’m silly with my kids all the time, but my songwriting had taken this somber turn some time ago; the Gerry Stanek who lives in quotation marks needed someone to dig out his fun gene. Roy Handy & the Moonshot took care of that.”

And all but one of the twelve songs on (I’m Gonna Be) Your Best Friend are punctuated with exclamation points, “Because,” says Stanek, “I think I saw the whole month of January and getting this record together as one big exclamation point. I felt more creative and driven to make music than I had in years.”