Strawberry Milk (is a band) in a 3-way chokehold.
Shot by Grace Maruska
Jack Megquier, lead singer and drummer for Strawberry Milk, started the band in September of 2025. Originally, Jack was a part of a project called Cop Killer, but found himself writing too many love songs. Jack said Strawberry Milk is currently working on an album to put out November 8th. So far, the band has played 4 or 5 shows since bringing the band together.
“You’re in a band called Cop Killer, you kind of have to write songs about killing cops or, you know, just public kind of nuisances.” - Jack Megquier
The band has played venues like Seventh Circle, Goosetown Tavern, Globehall, as well as, Campground, a DIY venue on Larimer Street. The building, formerly known as Rocketspace, is home to a rehearsal space for bands in Denver.
What brought Jack into music was his sister.
“She’s a weirdo and she likes really weird music. She was the first one to say ‘yo, this is the biggest deal in the world’”
Johnny, Jack, and Terry outside Campground’s rehearsal space.
Shot by Grace Maruska
Jack has been playing drums since freshman year of high school. Johnny, the guitarist for Strawberry Milk, has been playing guitar since middle school. He was in a cover band to start, but his sister was also the one to encourage him to start a band. The two met at the rehearsal space.
“I walked in and met him. I said ‘Johnny you want to be in my band, don’t you?’”
Jack had originally been in a bunch of bands in Indiana, where he went to Ball state, and nobody wanted to play in Chicago. But since he wanted to pursue music to a further extent, he decided he would move to Denver. His sister also lives in Colorado, so he expressed it would be nice to live closer to her. He went to school for telecommunications and broadcasting, but actually got kicked out going into his fourth semester.
“I wanted to be David Letterman.”
Johnny playing guitar at Campground’s rehearsal space.
Shot by Grace Maruska
The current album is a set that he and Johnny collaborated on. Jack said he would come in with lyrics, melody, and rhythm, but he always needed a guitarist to flesh it out. He said he would have a couple lyrics here and there, but Johnny was the best at coming up with choruses. The bassist, Terry Schmidt, would come in with bass lines, but “whatever comes up, just comes up.” Terry was in a touring band for 25 years prior to Strawberry Milk.
A huge inspiration for the band is Ween, who Jack classifies as not having a genre. He said he would hate to classify his music as having a specific vibe or genre; one song could be a dream pop sounding song and the next could be a SoCal punk song.
Jack expressed some other inspirations being Tijuana Panthers and Twisted Teens.
Within the Denver music community, Jack feels welcome as a new band. A large community has been found through Campground. Jack said that talking to other bands and artists has been the best way to get into it, and without Campground he wouldn’t have found other bands to play shows with.
Strawberry Milk is looking forward to playing a Bar404 show, hopefully, in the future. When asked about ticket prices, Jack said they would try to keep it as low as possible, but are looking for people to show up more than anything.
“Five bucks, and we’re gonna try to keep it five bucks as long as we can.”
Jack works at Appaloosa, where he has been able to borrow gear from the restaurant owners. He even said he had the opportunity to jam with them. Jack finds himself hanging out at Herb’s, as it has no cover and has a more relaxed feel. In the underground world of music, funk jams tend to be a great place to find musicians.
“Wednesday night funk jams are some of the coolest sh*t".”
Shot by Grace Maruska
In the coming months, Strawberry Milk is looking forward to getting the album out in November.
If you’d like to support the band, you can follow them on instagram @strawberrymilkisaband and attend their upcoming live shows.
