Happy Monster Band
Four monster friends sing about preschool life.
Happy Monster Band is an animated children's television series that aired on Playhouse Disney from October 1, 2007, to October 28, 2008. The show follows a group of monsters who perform songs about preschool themes such as friendship, love, exercise, and chores. It was created by Don Carter and produced by Kickstart Productions.
Quick Facts
- Music
- Tally Hall
- Runtime
- 5 minutes
- Country
- United States; United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 2
- Episodes
- 20
- Executive producers
- Loris Kramer Lunsford; Jason Netter
- Company
- Kickstart Productions; Titmouse, Inc.
Facts from the source article.
Characters
The Happy Monster Band consists of four monster children: Frred, L.O., Bluz, and Ink. Each name reflects the character's signature color: Frred is red, L.O. is yellow, Bluz is blue, and Ink is pink. Don Carter designed the characters. In the original version, the singing voices are provided by members of the indie rock band Tally Hall, while the UK version uses children's voices for the singing portions. Frred, voiced by Rob Cantor for singing and Kurt Doss for speaking, plays a purple electric guitar and is one of the lead singers. L.O., voiced by Zubin Sedghi for singing and Trevor Gagnon for speaking (Nathan Simpson in the UK version), is the other lead singer and plays a green four-string bass guitar. He is the oldest member and prefers painting and poetry over scaring, making him a shy introvert. Bluz, voiced by Joe Hawley for singing and by Jonah Lees in Direct from Monsterland and Jake T. Austin in World Tour for speaking, is the blue keyboardist with four legs and a magenta keyboard with twelve black keys. He often contradicts L.O., arguing that monsters should scare, but shows kindness and empathy. He is the youngest member. Ink, voiced by Tara Sands for singing and Hannah Leigh for speaking, is the pink drummer with three eyes. Her drums can glow pink, magenta, or purple. She sings only during choruses except for a solo verse in Do the Monster Stomp. In World Tour, she carries a globe and is fluent in several languages. The first season introduces Roc and Raoul, two-headed purple monster brothers who host the show and speak in rhyme except backstage; they also appear in season two. La, Dee, and Da are bright green judges based on Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell, appearing only in the first season. The Rancher is an introducer in Texas.
Episodes
In I Will Be Your Friend, the monsters celebrate their long friendship. I'm the Best at Being Me finds L.O. less scary than Bluz because he likes poetry and painting. Do the Monster Stomp has Frred believing Bluz found what was missing. Ink struggles to write a song for work in Do Re Mi–Mi–Mi until her friends help. The monsters dress as three cowboys and a cowgirl for a hoedown in Monster Hoe Down. Even Monsters Cry Sometimes shows Frred sad because his father has a flat tire, and his friends comfort him. L.O. does chores in Dirty, Smelly Monster Chores, spreading clothes and tracking mud. In Get Up and Go Go Go, the monsters tell Roc and Raoul about their morning routines. Scare Up Some Fun has the twins finding an empty room and the band trying to scare them. Ink practices for a jump rope contest in Practice Makes Progress. At the Rodeo places the band in Texas, where Frred rides a horse and twirls a lasso as a rock-and-roll rodeo cowboy. In A Wonderful Time in France, Bluz asks The Beret Monster where he got his beret. The Italian Way finds Frred hungry in Italy after L.O. drops his camera. The band visits Hong Kong in Yin and Yang. Here in Australia has them rocking at the Sydney Opera House. In India, they make a Bollywood movie at the Taj Mahal with a tiger, snake charmer, and Pooja the elephant. Siesta! Siesta! features the band playing soccer in Spain. Konichiwa! has them rocking in Japan. The Monster Tangle replaces a tango in Argentina. London Town finds a double decker bus in England after their bus gets a flat tire.
Production
The indie rock band Tally Hall’s Rob Cantor, Joe Hawley, and Zubin Sedghi wrote and performed the music for Happy Monster Band. Don Carter, a children’s author and illustrator, developed the show’s characters and concept. Judy Rothman Rofé penned every Season One episode and five from Season Two. The shorts were later altered to swap the playhousedisney.com URL with regional versions, like playhousedisney.co.uk for the UK and playhousedisney.de for Germany, and eventually disneyjunior.com following the Playhouse Disney rebrand.
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