Literary offspring turn to rock 'n' roll. Early.

If you watched "The Late Show With David Letterman" last night, you've already seen Care Bears on Fire  make their network TV debut. (If not, you can watch it above.) The Brooklyn-based band has a gig coming up at Irving Plaza in New York with Nat & Alex Wolff. By the way, the girls singing the punky, attitude-y "Everybody Else" in the clip aren't old enough to drink; heck, they're not even old enough to drive. One is 15, one is 13, and drummer Izzy just turned 14, like, yesterday.

Izzy is the daughter of two founding editors of Tin House magazine, Rob Spillman and Elissa Schapell. Schapell is a columnist and the author of "Use Me," a collection of short stories; Spillman is the editor of the recent anthology "Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing."

You'd think with a pedigree like that, she'd be a gifted writer. And maybe she is, but first she's taking a rock 'n' roll detour. Maybe Spillman -- who often accompanies the band on its travels -- will pen the first I'm-the-dad-with-the-band memoir.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Comments

[Randolph O'Clownfunctions]

Is it legitimately ironic that "If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate"? I vote "yes."

[Charles]

It's not really my thing--and they aren't really doing anything new. I think the catch is certainly their youth. Nevertheless, it's pretty impressive that they're playing Irving Plaza.

[VitaWhiteGardens]

I actually bought the record after seeing them on Letterman.

I see that they write their own songs, which is new, and being signed to a major label at 13 and 14 seems new. Record is actually good, dare I say, amazing, and considering all the crap out there today being recorded by bands much older than then, and with less edge, that's pretty new. It's true they sound a little like the Runaways--they're not creating a new genre--but who knows maybe when they're 16?