Intro
Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. I'm your host, Alicyn Packard. Join us as we journey through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games.
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Alicyn
Hello, hello. Hello. Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. This is the show that takes you through the looking glass into the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. I'm your host Alicyn Packard. I want to give a big shout out to everyone that's joining live. I love seeing those faces, WebStriker, JeremyVonHere, George, MarkAnthony, ColdDerby, InfoBobby, NewFaceThere. You guys, thank you so much for coming on board. Tonight we have an amazing, amazing guests, not just one but two, which may even be a first. I'm trying to think if we've ever had two guests before. Tonight we have Jonny Jonah and Matty Shapiro aka Jonny Jingles and Matty Maracas also also known as The Beatbuds. If you are local to LA, I'm sure you've heard of The Beatbuds. They are a legendary kids music band. They are on the music right now, turn that down for a sec. They are lifelong musical partners. They have been best friends since they were six years old. So not only are they best buds, but they're also jammed together. And they have a brand new animated series coming out on Nick June Seventh. So I cannot wait to welcome The Beatbuds to the show. Yay, here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands for the only Beatbuds. Hi, guys.
Matty
Hey, Alicyn!
Alicyn
It's so good to see your faces.
Jonny
You too.
Matty
Totally. Without a mask on right?
Alicyn
I know. And it always like get cropped so tight, you know? So we all have to kind of back off. Welcome to Alicyn's Wonderland. It's so good to see you.
Jonny
You too. Thanks for having us.
Alicyn
I'm so excited. As you know, I'm like a huge Beatbuds fan, seeing you jam out in concert, at least three times for various parties. My son's preschool party, we had a backyard thing, another friend's birthday party. I think even more than that. And you guys I love how much joy and positivity you bring. And also, it's a nice balance of, there's a lot of stuff my kid likes that maybe I would take a pass on but I remember The Beatbuds, it makes me super, super happy. So I was overjoyed to hear you, that you have a new series coming out on Nickelodeon.
Matty
Thank you.
Alicyn
That's so exciting.
Jonny
We're just, we're thrilled, you know? Matt and I, when we conceived this whole thing, and it took us a while even to conceive it because it all really happened by accident. But I tend to be the dreamer, Matt tends to be more of the realist. A couple times I was like, we're gonna get a TV show. He's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, come back to Earth. And now it's just you know, it's all happening.
Matty
I mean, it really, you know, it wasn't so much about, a lot of things had to transpire to get to the point where that could actually be feasible, you know? How does it start? We have a logo made for our band, you know, for our band that kind of looks something like this. You get a visual on. Oh, animated characters, interesting. We get like alter egos, Matty Maracas name, Jonny, Jingles name, we kind of pull that out.
Jonny
Then all these kind of book.
Matty
Yeah, we did a book with that. We start to see the visual approach. And then, then I get on board, but it's never just like, Oh, no, it can't happen.
Alicyn
Right. You have to see it laid out, the steps.
Matty
Yeah, that's how, that's how I work, you know? I just like I like to look steps ahead. And it just magically came together in that way. And then, I'm sure we aimed toward it, but we're so glad to now have a visual component with what it is that we do.
Alicyn
Yeah. What is it like seeing yourself as an animated character?
Jonny
We've been doing it for a long time, actually. So we're okay. And we've seen different versions of how we would look animated because this isn't the first version.
Matty
Yeah, this is the later rendition.
Jonny
And it changed several times since then. So we're kind of used to it. And really speaking, I think it's the best version of ourselves.
Matty
Yeah.
Jonny
You know, those animated characters, they don't, they don't get receding hairlines.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
Actually, you sent me over the brand new, the brand new version of your logo, and I think it is so cool. I'm just going to turn the camera around is, is that okay to show everybody?
Matty
Yeah, go for it.
Alicyn
Great. I didn't have a chance to get this in time for my flyer, but you guys check this out. Hello, hello, hello.
Jonny
There it is.
Matty
Hey, I know that guy.
Jonny
Gosh, we look so young.
Alicyn
So awesome.
Jonny
No, I mean, the coolest thing is, you know, it's interesting. Jon and I have known each other since we were six years old. So like, they're, the child element has never really left our relationship. So all these adventures that were going on, it's like we're, it's like we're still kids, we get to like, almost relive our youth through this in some weird way.
Alicyn
What is the age of your characters in the show? Are they children? Or are they,
Jonny
They're teenagers. They're, you know, pick it, 13?
Alicyn
"The video age."
Jonny
Somewhere in there. Yeah.
Matty
I drive. So I mean, I guess there's some, you know, idea of what, what age that may be. But I don't know, you know, dogs drive too in the cartoon world. So you know, I guess, I guess I like the fact that we're younger, because I was definitely more adventurous when I was younger.
Jonny
For sure.
Alicyn
Yeah, things always shift a little when you have children, I've noticed myself. But it's fun, you know, to be able to take that, the essence you know, that kids that bring the inspiration and inspire your work, and then take that and bring it to something that is an animated series that's going to be now seen all over the world. That is so cool.
Jonny
For sure.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
Are you guys, are you involved with the behind the scenes? How involved are you guys with the production?
Matty
Super involved.
Jonny
Maybe more than anyone intended for us to be.
Matty
Yeah. I mean, I think yeah, I mean, Nickelodeon was really cool, super cool with, you know, we had a lot of input in all angles of it, from the voiceover, from the voiceovers and stuff that was going on, to the storylines, to just having sit down meetings with them and letting them know, letting them know who we are and what our dynamic is. I love food. So there's a food element. Jonny loves lasers on his guitar. So he has a laser guitar, you know? They really try to capture the essence of what it is that we did in real life.
Jonny
Yeah. And our friendship. And our friendship is most important, so.
Alicyn
How did it all come about? Was that something that you, was it an idea that you pitched them? Or did somebody approached you?
Jonny
We had been, this idea has been brewing for a long time. And we've been thinking, you know, with several different people. And we know a lot of people in the entertainment world now. And we kept hearing people tell us the same thing. You need to build a world and you know, we're not writers or anything. And we just kept thinking about, you know, what is that Beatbuds world? And we had a few different ideas. And then, you know, finally we landed on something that we felt was really strong with a showrunner to do you know, like, what do we, what did we develop with Swampy?
Alicyn
Swampy Marsh?
Matty
Yeah, a little bit of live action, a little bit of,
Jonny
Yeah, yeah, a little bit of both, you know?
Matty
Wordly approach.
Jonny
And we pitched that. And, you know, I remember, we had, we had a few top choices for networks we wanted to go to and Nickelodeon was the number one.
Matty
They were always the number one.
Jonny
We went, we went into that meeting. And you know, Matt and I are sitting at this giant board table with, you know, 12 execs from Nickelodeon. This is pre-COVID.
Matty
Yeah, craft services. And like a whole table. I'm already at the table. I'm not even listening.
Jonny
We're pretty focused on craft services.
Alicyn
Did you bring your instruments?
Jonny
No, you know, they've seen the pitch, they'd seen the thing we shot, and we went in just to tell them about us and our story and whatnot. And a few of them knew us already, you know, we're playing birthdays in this town. A thousand shows a year, each.
Matty
It's almost like we showcased already.
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Matty
For these executives. Like we went in already, you know, with the golden ticket, somewhat in our back pocket. I mean, we had to get there. But I mean, we, they knew who we were, and they knew what our dynamic was, so.
Jonny
But yeah, we went in there. And I remember, you know, we we did, we went did our thing. And you know, then we let everyone talk. And we had our handlers there from SP Projects, and we got back in the elevator, and as we're going down, we said to our guys that, you know, so what do we do next? Do we wait to hear from them? Or do we go and start pitching to these other networks that are, you know, down the list from us? And they said, We sold the show. And we looked at each other, and we were like, When did that happen?
Matty
Yeah, like we like we somehow missed,
Jonny
Missed that moment where they bit, you know?
Matty
We had envisioned, probably, that they were gonna slap a contract down on the table. I was gonna have the felt pen, you know, just sign it. We didn't really know what to expect.
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
Where's my quill?
Matty
Yeah, exactly. But somehow it came and went.
Jonny
We, we missed it. We missed it. But we were really happy.
Matty
And we knew the players involved just from the years like Jonny said, from the years of playing the birthday parties, and, and a lot of people came together in the right way, just people who've been in the certain positions that allowed for this to happen, and we're certainly grateful to all those people and, and just for the way the world and the stars aligned and all the people that have supported us, too.
Jonny
Yeah, and, you know, going back just a little bit too, you know, when we came up with these pictures and whatnot, we also partnered with Scooter at that time.
Alicyn
Scooter Braun?
Jonny
Yeah. And Scooter told us, you know that it was going to take them like a year, year and a half to set a runway for what we really want to do. And you know, he's like, you guys just handle what you're doing, handle your service-based business. And he said, I'll work on the rest. And he set a bunch of stuff up. And like Matt said, you know, a lot of the right players had to be involved, and they were involved at that time. From us teaming up with Scooter, and then some of our contacts at Nickelodeon. It was, it was just, it was just a great marriage. It really was. We're just so thrilled to be a part of our number one choice network.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
Aw, that's amazing.
Matty
To be side by side with some of those properties.
Jonny
Yeah.
Matty
I mean, I'm humbled for sure.
Alicyn
Yeah, I cannot wait to see this. I'm so excited. And so, it's short-form, is that right?
Matty
Yeah, yeah, small.
Alicyn
Can you tell us a little bit about the format?
Matty
It's like five, it's like a 5-minute and 30 seconds. I guess that would be half of an 11-minute episode, was somewhat of a, like a music video with a top and tail.
Jonny
Right. So it's thriller videos, essentially. You know? We're doing these long-form music videos, or I guess short-form shows. Right?
Matty
Yeah. It's kind of a story in the beginning, create the conflict, then the song happens, which the song, which we're so happy that you know, the songs are, our core fanbase know these songs, and then we finale it up after the end of the music video. And there you go, then we have, we have ten of those happening.
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
Wow.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
That's amazing. So that's your season order with that. And so I know that you guys have announced that you're airing June 7 through June 11, will they air all ten within that timeframe?
Jonny
Yeah. So they're gonna air two a day, back-to-back in between some of my son's favorite shows. So we'll be watching no matter what. And then it'll be on Nickelodeon. And I think it's East Coast times, 9 AM. And then I know it's on Nick Jr. as well, at I think, like three o'clock, or six o'clock, one of the two, but they're gonna air it on both networks. And they're having this whole thing called the Beat Bash, which is, you know, the concert that we've put on for years and years and years, and the Beat Bash is going to be all of their properties, most musical episodes, I guess, that they're going to be running, you know, for that week.
Alicyn
That's awesome!
Matty
They really, they really tied it in well there. We really want to thank Nickelodeon for just being able to just like, take something brand new, and really put all their power behind it. It's incredible how they're doing that with all their properties and bringing us right in the middle of it.
Alicyn
Yeah, it's so interesting. It's gonna be like, it brings that party vibe, like straight up to the whole network. Like it's like, everybody's got your back.
Jonny
Yeah, it's really neat.
Alicyn
Aw, awesome. So let's take it back a little bit then, because I want to hear kind of about the early days and how The Beatbuds got started. You guys were in bands for a while, right?
Jonny
Yeah, both of us. I mean, we, we, the nice thing about Matt and I is that we met when we were six years old. And we developed the friendship outside of a musical bond, which was really important, because when we then developed our musical bond, it just really solidified our best friendship, and, and playing in bands, you know, we got to tour the country together in a bus. And you know, we later on internationally, but all that stuff really just solidified our friendship even more. And again, because we were friends prior to music, it was just so, it made everything so easy. You hear all these horror stories about people in bands, and the fights, and the this, and it was never like that. We were a band of brothers. And, you know, when, when the band couldn't do its thing anymore, and we have to kind of step away from that. Matt had already had one of his daughters at the time. I didn't have kids yet. But I had two nephews around her age where, and Matt had just dealt with a six month old, Matt had just dealt with a pretty horrific back injury.
Matty
Yeah.
Jonny
And he got surgery.
Matty
Yeah, a life, a life-changing medical condition with my back that, like affected all my nerve endings and stuff, my nerve endings, and I had it, in that moment, it's like, so weird to like, think back about this now. Like I had to change my whole life trajectory in that moment. When the surgeon said to me, you're done doing what you were doing. I was working in the grocery business at the time, a lot of lifting, just working in markets and stuff. Like you're done with this line of work. So figure something else out, but you're good to go.
Jonny
Yeah.
Matty
And I'm like, Okay. All right. You know?
Alicyn
So do you think that was kind of a blessing in disguise?
Jonny
For sure.
Matty
Yeah. Looking back now, looking back now, for sure.
Jonny
Even though you know, five years later, he still doesn't feel the tips of his toes yet. It's still a blessing in disguise.
Matty
I can't, I can't, I can't hang on a basketball hoop anymore. But is that really that important?
Alicyn
I mean, as long as you can drum, right?
Jonny
Yeah, exactly.
Matty
Exactly. That was actually the, one of the things I feared the most was because my lower extremities were, were compromised, but with enough rehab, you can get that set back together. So for the most part it all came back,
Jonny
But after that he wasn't working, he was spending a lot of time with his daughter, kinda doing Mr. Mom thing, and he was going to a lot of music classes, and ballet classes, and that sort of stuff.
Matty
Oh it was the best time, best time.
Alicyn
Some of it's, yeah, you know?
Matty
Look, I was on disability, you know? And it's pretty decent actually, it's pretty decent. I mean, at first it dwindled, you know, pretty, pretty decent and like I was able to really like, first of all develop a bond with my, with my daughter that's like unmistakable. I mean we were connected at the hip, it's crazy. That time, like just, I was able to just release everything from here and just kind of look at life from a different approach. I think only with that kind of freedom mentally can you really like wrap your mind around a complete about face.
Jonny
Right.
Matty
You know, and take it to another, take it to another level, a better level.
Jonny
Yeah. And so what ended up happening was he was, he was with her often. And he was also going to a rehabilitation clinic that was near my house, where I had a home studio, and he would still come over whenever he was nearby. And he would help me with, you know, the music that I was working on at the time. We've always been, you know, partners in music and everything that I've ever done, and he's ever done, so.
Matty
It was half a block away from his house. Like, I mean, what are the chances of that? The rehabilitation, like I live in the valley, you know? I live about, the rehabilitation center was literally half a block from his house. So like, I mean, I don't know, so many things lined up.
Jonny
We were hanging out quite a bit more. And he came over a couple times. And he had his daughter, and he showed me one time the CD that he had gotten from the music class that they were in together. And you know, it was a pretty terrible recording, was pretty terrible cover songs. It wasn't even, you know, barely any original songs, you know, mostly,
Alicyn
(Sing-song) The wheels on the bus.
Jonny
Yeah. That kind of stuff.
Matty
Well, that's a good one. Skidamarink kadink.
Jonny
And my sister actually happened to be over, I don't know, it was the very same day. But she said, you know, hey, you know, we do these music classes too. And you should listen to the music from our music class. I think it's a little better. So I listened to that too. And I was like, yeah, marginally better.
Alicyn
Eh, like, a little.
Matty
Well, you see, and that's another cool perspective, where you're in a different position mentally, right? Like, not really immersed entirely in the kid world, although you had your nephew, so you're getting a taste of it. So you're looking at it from a different perspective, which is still valuable.
Jonny
Yeah. And I think what ended up happening, basically, if I recall from back then, is that we basically just sat down that day, and we had my nephews there in the studio too, and we're like, why don't we just write a kid song that's better than this stuff that they're listening to just for them, you know? So we did and we did our first song, which is our song "All Aboard" and that's my nephews on it, if you know that song, and they're helping out in the studio, and shaking shakers, and their voices are all over the place. Burns a CD with I think, eventually had like one or two more songs, burn to CD,
Matty
A CD, for those listening, it's like a round, circular,
Jonny
A laser.
Alicyn
Totally vintage.
Jonny
Yeah.
Matty
Yeah.
Jonny
So yeah. So you know, we burned a few for his wife and a few for my sister. And every now and then they would say, you know, I need ten more for my friends, and I need ten more here, and ten more here. And they're sort of getting dispersed around town. And we weren't The Beatbuds. We weren't looking for a career in that direction or anything like that. Although I think the wheels started to spin in Matt's head.
Alicyn
The wheels on the bus?
Jonny
And I remember I, I just, or I left for a tour in Europe with my adult band at the time. When I came back, I had like 50 messages from Matt, cuz I wasn't checking messages when I was overseas. And,
Alicyn
Again, retro.
Jonny
Yeah. And they were like all the messages were, you know, we got an offer to play a birthday party, I really need to know right away. And I remember I came back, I landed in JFK when I got these, voicemails. I call him, and I was like, I just got off stage in Germany, playing for a thousand people. I do not want to play at a birthday party. It took a little convincing.
Matty
My disability was about this. Yeah.
Jonny
And it took a little convincing, but we ended up playing this party. We figured out how we're going to take the songs that we had produced with a lot of instrumentation, you know, put it, bring it down to a two-piece. And Matt and I have had so much experience playing with each other. We really know how to make our instruments sound big. And we know how to make a two-piece sound like it's like three or four people, you know? So we figured out how to do that. We went, we played this party, and we killed it.
Matty
It was cool. I mean, it was cool. It was just, our chemistry was enough to really light that fire. And like, the cool thing about it was I remember, it was just before that birthday party, you know, I was nervous. I was, we were nervous. Because a birthday party, you know, right? I mean, a birthday party is like, it's an intimate setting. It's, it's actually I think it's, I mean I've played for ten thousand or twenty thousand people before but I mean, it's pretty nerve racking when you have just people expecting you to elevate their party, right?
Alicyn
Yeah. Yeah. And I was a kid's entertainer for two or three years when I first moved here. Dressing up and having to walk into somebody's personal space dressed like Ariel or Dora. And yeah, take the lead, you kind of just have to dive into the pool. It's like nothing you've ever experienced before.
Matty
And we knew, we knew that like, well, we got to do something different. We can't just perform for these kids. It's just, we were just figuring out how are we going to launch this birthday party, we realized that we needed the kids to be the third member of the band. So they're actually doing something and contributing to the experience, themselves. And seeing that they can do this too.
Jonny
Right.
Alicyn
Otherwise, they're just waiting.
Matty
And, I think that's what set it off.
Alicyn
Yeah. Otherwise, they're just interrupting you anyway, right? You gotta kind of work towards it.
Jonny
Right. Exactly. But you know, after that, you know, one party just kind of led to another, you know? You, the moms at that party said, you know, I'd love to have you in my kids party. And it started to become this thing. And we went from, you know, playing two parties on a weekend in a month to playing eight parties, on weekends in a month, in such a short time. It grew so fast. And we were behind the business, we still weren't really weren't even The Beatbuds. We still just had CDs that we were handing out to people. At that point, Matt was like, Look, there's something, why don't we put up a website, put songs out on iTunes and just see what happens. But he's like, I don't want this to be like a band.
Matty
Yeah, I did. I didn't want this to be the same thing of, you know, the bands that we always tried to start previously. I wanted like a new, a new thing. It was just us two, this was great.
Alicyn
Okay.
Matty
We only had to answer to each other. But naturally, it just, it needed to grow. So we needed a logo, we needed like I said, the website.
Jonny
A mailing list. And they did become that. But, but it just, we were always a little behind it because it wasn't a planned thing. And this thing happens so organically for us. We were always a little bit, a step behind the business. It was evolving faster than we were even thinking about what it could do. Because once we realized that we had a birthday party business, potentially, suddenly, a mom said to us, would you guys ever do like a mommy and me class at my house? And we were like, What a great idea. Let's do that. We were always behind the business a little bit. And, and then we started doing that. And it opened it up. And we're, we were doing three, four shows a day, we still are doing three, four shows a day seven days a week.
Jonny
We are still working that.
Jonny
We're still working that.
Matty
TV show or not? We're still, we're in the trenches. But in a good way. We love the kids.
Jonny
And it's great because we've met so many people in the community. We've literally watched kids grow up. Some families who have three or four kids have been with us for eight years, you know? And we've done their, their kid, first kid's birthday, and then the siblings, and the siblings, and the siblings. It's been amazing. It's really been amazing to, to be that immersed in your fan base, you know?
Promo
Hey, guys, this is Alicyn Packard. Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to let you know that if you like the show, please, please, please remember to subscribe to this podcast, and leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps us to get heard by more people. Thanks so much.
Alicyn
And when did you make the first like, when did you cut your first song? How long ago was that?
Jonny
I think it was 2012.
Matty
Yeah, the end of 2012 was just yeah, was just the all aboard.
Alicyn
I mean, that's less than ten years to gain so much momentum, in such a short period of time, it's almost like, wow, you're perfectly aligned with, you know, sounds a little hippy, but you know, you're perfectly aligned with what the universe needs and right time, right place. And just, you know, I'm getting goosebumps.
Jonny
Honestly, what we needed, because as Matt said, you know, he was, he needed to be with something else, you know? He needed to find something else. For me, I was kind of transitioning out of that life that I was living. And, you know, when I started doing the kids stuff, I started balancing out, you know, really what's better here, you know? Not having to fight a club promoter at 3 AM for my money is definitely a lot better.
Matty
Yeah, I mean, we have a career now, you know? I mean, if you want to just get down to the business of it, I mean, it became a career, a real, a real way to, you know, to see structure in our lives. I mean, for so long when I was, when we were playing in the band together. I mean, there's no structure. I mean, that it's amorphous, you know, and this gave us structure. And we, we could grow with this.
Jonny
Yeah, we made it a career. And I was transitioning, then I had a family as well. And now I have a son. And I'm just thankful that we have this and this has really been, you know, something that we created and all the, all the stars lined up for us to do it because I just can't see my life being any other way right now, so. It's pretty great.
Jonny
Yeah, I agree.
Alicyn
Oh, guys. I'm so touched. I think about the, just the, I mean, if you want to talk about impact as an artist, one of the biggest impacts you can make is affecting someone in a positive way with music, especially kids. You know, how many kids are sitting there in your audience, watching you guys on stage being like, I want to do that someday?
Jonny
Yeah. And we hear it. We hear it all the time. You know, I mean, just the other day, when I grow up, I want to be a Beatbud, from one of our, you know, the kids that we play, play for. And we just hear it all the time. And we see it, we see these kids dressing up like us, you know, one of them will have their hat flipped up, and the other one will have their hat turned backwards. And it gets to the point where if it's a sunny day, and Matt turns his head around, the kids are like, why are you doing that? That's not Matty.
Matty
You're Jonny then?
Jonny
Yeah.
Matty
I think the important, I think one of the important things is that we're giving the kids like, an outlet that we had when we were kids, like the outlet of music. I mean, where would we be if we didn't have that?
Jonny
I'm telling you, music kept us out of a lot of trouble when we were kids. It really did.
Alicyn
You guys grew up in Southern California, right?
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
In the valley?
Jonny
Not the valley, the other side of town.
Matty
Yeah.
Jonny
Yeah. Like Hollywood, Beverly Hills. Right by the road, right by the road.
Matty
So it's just another outlet, right? Even in a world full of iPads and, and technologically advanced stuff. You can pick up a tambourine and play a steady beat and have fun with it. Bang on a drum and realize, whoa, I feel more banging this drum that I do just, you know, sitting watching that one video on the, on the iPhone, you know, like, I can feel it on my body. And I really think, I really think that, like we're giving kids a view into that at a super early age. Like, who knows, like, we've already seen some virtuoso Beatbuds.
Jonny
Yeah, it's crazy.
Matty
Like literally playing like, you know, Paint it Black with, you know, independence on their hands on the piano, like. So I mean, the sky's the limit with what we're doing here. And I'm so lucky to be a part of it. So to have a show and to be able to give it to the world.
Jonny
Yeah. And I think, you know, the thing that resonated the most with people was really the music because, but we are not the only kids entertainers out there playing music, there's a lot.
Alicyn
Sure?
Jonny
I'm pretty positive. I just joined a Facebook group yesterday, and I was astonished how many kids music there are out there, but you know, there, I think that thing that was really, I guess, setting us apart is that there was a real connection to the song. And then this best friend dynamic that we have, because, look, we've grown our business, and we send other guys out too and you know, in teams of two to do this whole thing. And they're amazing, as well. And they really are, our brand really well when they're out there. But there's just something to be said for our dynamic as best friends. When two people that have known each other since the age of six, never stopped being best friends where we had to, you know, have a Facebook reunion after we didn't talk for 10 years or something like that, you know?
Matty
What's Facebook?
Jonny
For us to have a friendship that has been that long lasting, that we just have a certain dynamic that I think when kids watch, they, they think about what a band is when they look at us. And they're like, Man, that's fun. Because those guys are having so much fun. And it's not forced, and we're just us. We've, we've never, you know, put on funny costumes or anything like that, to try to get the kids attention. We're just us. And we talk like us, and we don't talk down to the kids. Because we also, that's one of our things, too, is that we, we think that kids are a lot more sophisticated than most people think. And I don't know, for whatever reason, it really resonated. And thank God it did. Because, you know, here we are now.
Matty
And the parents appreciate it too. I mean, I think that they get a chance to get a rock show in their backyard. And it's like there's something in there for everybody. It's the songs have cut, the songs work for kids, but they also work for adults. So like, it's almost like what I say best. What do you mean, you can always have a, you can always have a character.
Jonny
Because someone said it to me several times in different words, but they said, Look, we can always have Spider-Man come to my kid's party. And my kids were, would be thrilled with Spider-Man. But Spider-Man does nothing for the parents. And when we show up to parties, we hear all the time how, how immersed everybody is in the entire party and what we're doing. It's not just like, let's dump the kids off with these entertainers. And you know, go have adult time, everyone's involved. And that's my, one of my favorite compliments, really.
Matty
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Love it.
Alicyn
Well, on the stream, someone just said, you guys are amazing and happened since day one. Nothing but love and our family will always support you.
Jonny
Aw thank you.
Jonny
Thanks so much.
Alicyn
That's so great. For anybody that is just tuning in, that's coming over from Beatbuds and is like what is going on? This show is called Alicyn's Wonderland. It's a weekly interview show where we chat with some of the most talented people in animation and video games. That happens every Wednesday here on Instagram at Alicyn and it is now a podcast, so you can get it on all your podcasting networks. So if you guys want to check The Beatbuds out, you can subscribe on iTunes, iTunes or any other podcasts. And their episode will come up in a few weeks. So, that's so exciting. So now when it comes to the storylines within the show, are they kind of inspired by your own lives? Or how do you go, guys come about coming up with the story ideas?
Jonny
You're talking about for the show or for the song?
Alicyn
For the TV show.
Jonny
For the TV show. Yeah. I mean, they're really based on the songs. So you can elaborate on that.
Matty
Yeah. I mean, I mean, basically, they took our song and they crafted a story around, around it. We have, we have a writer, Evan Sinclair, who did an amazing job crafting story around the concepts within our song, so.
Jonny
Look, let me back up for one second, because I really got to give Matt credit for this one too. Matt came up with the name The Beatbuds. That name, I really think the name alone has really put us in a really good position. Because, you know, I'm, I'm not out there as Jonny's music, and he's not Matty music, or whatever it is, like, we're a band. And the cool thing about the name, The Beatbuds is that it's really a all inclusive name. And anybody can be a Beatbud, and that that philosophy that Matt was mentioning earlier about making the kids doing the next member of the band, it's really, it really is all about the name, and that you can be a Beatbub, and your dad can be a Beatbud, and your mom can be a Beatbud, and your sister, everyone's a beat bud, right? And when it then turned into this, the show that we're doing with Nickelodeon, it was that concept that they're using around every one of the songs. So we have a lot of character driven songs, like Matt said, Sam, the garbage man, but it's about making everybody a Beatbud, right? So if it's, we're gonna make Sam the garbage man a Beatbud, in this episode, and then the next episode, we're going to, there's another song with a character based in a different way, and we're gonna make that person a Beatbud everybody is just, it's just an all inclusive brand that doesn't discriminate when it comes to gender or age, or, you know, ethnicity. And I think that that alone, and again, giving Matt credit with the name here, is that alone really put us in a great place to be able to have a show.
Alicyn
Yeah.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
And that that core of friendship, it's, it never ceases to be exciting. No matter what age you are to know that you're like, with your buds. Hanging out, playing some music.
Jonny
It's been really great.
Matty
And within the shows, I mean, the dynamic between Matty and Jonny is pretty much, they pretty much nailed it.
Jonny
Oh, yeah.
Matty
So I mean, I look at that, and I'm like, yeah, that's what we were like, when we were 16 years old. I'm sure we weren't in outer space. And I'm not going to give too much away. But you know, it's pretty fantastical. But I mean, it's definitely based on, on us as kids. No doubt.
Alicyn
And you guys do yourself, I'm assuming, right? You are your own voice actors, right?
Jonny
No, we're not. We actually, we're talking about this today. So the songs are all our voices.
Alicyn
Okay.
Jonny
We wanted to be the voices. But we realized very quickly that we would have ruined the show. Voice actors are so talented. It's crazy. It's crazy. I mean, you know, we've been privy to, to listen into these, these voiceover sessions that they're doing on the show. And, you know, I was telling somebody else this this morning. I remember at one point, the director said, Give me a little bit of running. And I was thinking to myself, if I was doing the voiceover for the show, and the director would give me running, I'd put the microphone on the floor near my feet, and I'd run. But this voice actor just breathed as though he was running. And it sounded like the guy was running. And we can't do that stuff.
Matty
Look, we want to put this in the best position it can be in, and just like the concept of everybody can be a beatbud, we know what our strengths are. We want to make sure that these characters, you know, can really deliver the goods. And when we, when we heard their auditions. We knew right then and there, like if we're going to get the, really the kids engaged visually. I mean, look, it's not us. But we're not playing, I'm not playing drums in front of a child like I am at a birthday party, right? And engage them with everything I got. You know, a voice actors, a voice actor for a reason. You know this better than anybody. You guys have skills. And you've worked on it. You worked on your craft for a lot of years. And we felt that that was the best, the best direction.
Jonny
Yeah. And we got two great guys. Joe Brogie does Matt's voice
Matty
It's awesome. He's awesome.
Jonny
And Lucas Grabeel does my voice. I think literally he's done quite a few things for Nickelodeon. I know Joe's done a lot, but I don't know if he's done anything for Nickelodeon yet.
Matty
They're seasoned veterans.
Jonny
Yeah, these guys were great. Really great. They nailed us. They really got us down.
Matty
Obviously, within the music realm. And it's nice to see those skills in the voice over realm and that's something that we've never really experienced. And we got, we got a chance to watch the director, direct them and you know this and try all all different inflections with their voice and, you know, do it a little quieter but, but more excited and like, and the voiceover actors, Lucas and Joe, they knew exactly what to do and, and getting laughs out of Jonny and I, we're sitting here listening to it just like whoa, that's the one, no, no, that's the one.
Jonny
Yeah, it was so great.
Matty
Yeah, so that was, I think that was our best foot forward.
Alicyn
Wow. Yeah. Do you guys go to every recording? Do you go to the recording sessions as well?
Jonny
We couldn't go anywhere cause it was COVID and everything was done remotely.
Matty
We went to all of them.
Jonny
But we were there.
Alicyn
You zoomed?
Jonny
Yeah, we zoomed it.
Matty
And we're in the chat room. I mean, I mean, Nickelodeon, like I said earlier, Nickelodeon's, very focused on making sure that everybody has creative say, especially our position as executive producers. So we were able to you know, just comment to the director what let's hear it this way. Or let's hear it that way. How about a little more Whoa, type of thing. And, and it went right to them and they delivered. It was awesome.
Jonny
Like, you know, I remember one specific instance, the voiceover actors kept on saying silly monkey.
Matty
Right.
Jonny
And the name of the character is the silly monkey, not silly monkey. Those kinds of things. We're, you know, we're always watching every line.
Matty
Or Matty maracas.
Jonny
Yeah, Matty maracas instead of moroccos.
Matty
Matty maracas, like Moroccan. You know, Matty maracas running rockets. Like, you know, we're like, we had to nip that in the bud quick. But we were there every step of the way. It was it was it was fun.
Alicyn
Yeah. Wow. Wow. I'm curious. Do you guys have a favorite episode of the show?
Jonny
I do. Do you?
Matty
Yeah, I do too.
Jonny
You want to say which one is yours?
Alicyn
Why don't you guys say it at the exact same time?
Matty
I love "Gravity."
Jonny
That's a good one.
Matty
I love gravity. I don't want to give too much away.
Alicyn
What's yours Jonny?
Jonny
Mine is the finale. It's awesome. Cuz everybody's involved. And it's really cool. Listen, this whole thing, the coolest part about this for us is that we were able to see that it really does take a village to do this, you know, this isn't like somebody comes up with a concept. And boom, now you have a show, you know, from the voice actors, to you know, the music and the creative, and the directors, and the line producer, and the mix engineer, and the underscorer, and then all the people behind the scenes and the people who are managing all these people. And I mean, it was, it's crazy. I mean, I just remember looking at some of our email chains with 30 people cc'ed on it, you know?
Matty
In the wrap party, I was like, Whoa, yeah. Look at all these boxes in the zoom. I was like, you know, it really does, it takes a team, it really does.
Jonny
Pretty amazing. Really pretty amazing to see how that works. You know, our, our wheelhouse has always been music and with music, we figured out how to be totally self-sufficient when it came to putting out music, producing music, mixing, mastering getting it out digitally, and distributing it. This was a big, big undertaking by a lot of people. And it was really cool, even though it's short form, you know, or these these short videos. I mean, took a lot of people working on to make them as great as they are.
Alicyn
Did your band play the zoom after party? Okay, cheers, everyone. That's so funny. Well, so I mean, there's so many different aspects to what you do. You guys are like the ultimate kids indie band too. You know, it's like putting on a show, get, you know, traveling around with your bestie. I think it's sort of every kid, you know, every kid's fantasy, but what do you think you love the most about what you do?
Matty
I, I'd have to say, I guess it's just the smiles when you see a one year old is in front of you, literally like without any control or inhibition, just shaking their body and dancing around. Like it's instinctual. And I know that I'm causing that. And that smiles there. And I'm watching the parents like, glowing. I'd say that's probably the most rewarding thing that I've gotten out of The Beatbuds. Of course there are special needs scenarios. Let me do those types of gigs. And hopefully we get back to doing some of those when we get to do gigs for special needs kids. That is just like a whole other world.
Jonny
Those are the easily the most rewarding shows, that we do, easily. But you know as, as that because I share his sentiment as well. But as that translates into, you know, what we're doing with this Nickelodeon show, is, we always say we're in the business of smiles. And now we're in a position where we get to make the whole world smile, you know, and we have we have thank Nickelodeon for giving us that opportunity. You know, they're, they're putting the show out in 150 different countries, and they're dubbing it, 30 some odd 40 some odd languages and, you know, so knowing that we're going to be making kids everywhere smile. I mean, that's just an amazing feeling. Amazing feeling.
Matty
At some point. You know, we've had this regional success and we're super lucky to have that and we think, we think our region and everybody, we're so grateful. But like, at some point, it's like, wow, if all these kids here can enjoy this, like, why would we hold back? Like, we got to give this to the world almost like, as a like a like a present in a way. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm bragging or anything in any way. But like, I feel like I wouldn't want to live now in a world where there isn't a Beatbuds where, where we can get really young kids feeling the groove inside their body. It's almost like a necessity and like a, like a birthright in MIT. So to have this show to be able to actually have the opportunity to do that. I mean, it's magical.
Jonny
Yeah, it's pretty great.
Alicyn
That's definitely what I was thinking when, when the show came out, I was like, Yes, this is what we need to be broadcasting this vibration to a bigger audience. And I mean, Nickelodeon couldn't be a more perfect vehicle to get you guys out there. It's so interesting. I wonder now do the songs need to be rewritten to rhyme in foreign languages? That must be so challenging.
Jonny
So we did a lot of different rewrites for some of the songs. And it was really for us, Matty and I love doing new things in music, because we've been doing music for so long. So when someone challenges, challenges us with a new task that we might not be so familiar with, or a direction because Matt and I, we don't really get a direction and then right for that direction, we just kind of creatively just make music. But I remember, you know, we did, we did the theme song for Disney's Gigantosaurus. And, you know, to have an animatic given to you, and a time frame. And, you know, this is the field that they want from the song and to be able to build, like, that was really a great challenge for us. And then once we did that we wanted more so when the songs had to be rewritten for Nickelodeon, and you know, lyrically, or whatever it was to fit, to fit the scripts. It just, we just looked at as another awesome challenge. It was really nothing difficult about it, because it really sparked our creative juices, even more. And I, I say it all the time, we just this isn't really work for us. This is, this is just something else sparking another creative bone in our body, that, that we then get to, you know, disappear in our studio here and figure out how to bring that to life. It's really neat.
Matty
Yeah. There are some slightly different versions of the songs.
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
Do you like, work with a translator and be like?
Matty
Oh, for that?
Jonny
For that, I don't know. I have no idea what we're gonna do.
Matty
I don't know how, yeah, that's a great question. How do, how are they gonna rhyme all that stuff? I mean, again, the rhymes don't work the same way in other languages, do they?
Alicyn
Not exactly. I mean, they have to find like a similar, a simile, you know, that's why I think it's so, that's so interesting. So then they would re-sing, or maybe they could just use the English song.
Jonny
I think, that you know what, now that you're saying that, I really think there was a discussion about this. But again, Matt and I were probably focused on the craft services. I think the songs will remain in English.
Alicyn
Okay. Yeah.
Jonny
So, I think I remember a conversation about that. Don't quote me, but I'm pretty positive the songs are going to remainn in English.
Matty
I don't see that working another way.
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
That's so great. Awe, you guys, people are saying they already saw it. Maybe, maybe the promos on Nickelodeon.
Jonny
Oh, that's awesome.
Matty
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you imagine seeing a commercial for your own show. I mean, it's like,
Alicyn
Have you seen it?
Jonny
Yeah. You know, it was, it's the coolest commercial because they have, as I said, they're running this Beat Bash, which is really, you know, that's our thing is the Beat Bash. That's the big concert that we're heading to. And they're having a week long Beat Bash on Nickelodeon. And they have all the characters from all their other shows showing up in the promo for it. And, you know, Goby from Bubble Guppies, and the Paw Patrol gang, and everyone in there, and this Baby Shark thing, right? Everybody's there. And like, halfway through they go, And our newest stars, The Beatbuds, and we feel like we're just this wonderful thing now.
Alicyn
Oh my gosh. I have to see if I can track that down. I want to share that so bad. I want to, I want to share it with everybody.
Matty
It's so awesome.
Jonny
Yeah, it's really neat.
Alicyn
I think I can track it down. Wow.
Jonny
You know, even, even though we've had this launch day, we've been working towards it for last year and a half, and Matt and I both, we didn't really feel like it was real until we saw it in the guide, you know? Where it says The Beatbuds animated series, bla-bla-bla. That's when it really hit us. And Matt and I both were like this is happening.
Matty
While we're making the show, they're talking about the technical aspects of the animation. I'm like, listen, is it going to be in the guide? Because I really want to see it there.
Alicyn
Oh, like you mean like the DVR guide.
Matty
That's what tells you that you, you got a show on television.
Alicyn
Yeah. You guys set your DVRs now, it's you can set them now I think for, that's in five days, you guys.
Matty
Yeah.
Alicyn
Oh my god. You're, you have to have like a party or something, like invite all your kids over. Thank for jumping on Devii. You guys, Letstlkcartoons is an excellent resource for everything that's going on in the animation industry. Devii on letstlkcartoons. I get a lot of great information from him. So he loves you guys and he shared your post earlier today.
Jonny
Yeah, spoke on Instagram today. It was really cool.
Alicyn
Yay. Awesome. Wow. So I mean, you know, I think there's just yeah, I mean, I know that we don't have, we don't have too much longer. Oops, accidently pressed play on music. Like your music. I know we don't have too much longer so I want to just you know, wrap it up slowly and have a couple quick questions left but I'm wondering you know, of all the songs to perform live, do you have a favorite song that you, that like is your like, jam?
Matty
I mean, there are I mean, there are ones that I mean "Get Outside Rock" is pretty awesome.
Jonny
That is easily my favorite.
Matty
Yeah, that's, with the full band scenario, that's, that's the one that really gets my, my motor running.
Jonny
It's most like what we did when we were playing you know, grown up music for lack of a better term and and that's that's the one that's easily the most fun for me.
Matty
And that's your favorite of the episodes.
Jonny
Yes.
Matty
Is the "Get Outside Rock"
Jonny
Yeah, that's my favorite of all.
Matty
But I mean, look the "Hello" song, the Hello to you all, you know, we're Hello Beatbuddies as it is, is the calling card, you know? It's, people love that. And once again, the idea of inclusivity and bringing the languages into it and and everybody gets so happy when we, when we say hello in their language. And so as much as I love "Get Outside Rock" I think the "Hello" song is just will always be to me like, wow, that's that's the one I think that we that really cemented it for us.
Jonny
Yeah, I think so.
Alicyn
Is there a fan favorite? Oh, cuz I think your top performing song on Spotify is actually "The Dino Dance."
Jonny
Oh, really?
Matty
Wow.
Alicyn
By a landslide.
Matty
Wow.
Jonny
Really?
Matty
I did not know that.
Jonny
Very interesting.
Matty
We gotta get on Spotify cuz I haven't checked.
Alicyn
Over 200k. 217.
Matty
Good enough for Alicyn to say on air.
Alicyn
I know it'll be interesting to track those numbers after the show comes out. And everybody in the US starts going in and driving more energy behind those numbers. That's so exciting. Awe, guys, I'm so happy for you. It's very, very, very exciting.
Jonny
Thanks. And you know what, we have to say it means a lot coming from you because you're a mom, and you're mom who has a kid that we've done a birthday party for, and that means a lot you know, we've, we've survived on the support of the moms and the dads too. But you know the moms are the ones that we really communicate with the most. We do the mommy and me classes and all that other stuff but yeah, you know families is really how we had any kind of longevity doing this and we're able to continue doing this and make a career out of this and then have it turned into a show so for, for it to come from a mom means means a lot.
Alicyn
Do you guys have a mom song yet?
Jonny
We mentioned mom's in our songs but we don't have a dedicated mom song.
Alicyn
I think that could be, guys I'm pitching you a song idea.
Matty
Next Mother's Day drop it huh?
Jonny
Yeah.
Alicyn
Next Mother's Day, drop it like it's hot.
Matty
Then a dad song, then a dad song later.
Alicyn
Then a dad song, and then you know, yeah. You know, I want to be inclusive.
Matty
Ideas come directly from, from, you know, parents asking us hey, will you write a song, you know, for my child. A child is having a tough time going to the bathroom. So we wrote a potty song. Or having trouble going to sleep. So were going to write a sleep time song. So thank you for that input, because,
Jonny
That's a good idea.
Matty
We're definitely gonna consider it.
Alicyn
Music kills folks.
Alicyn
So I want to wrap it up with one more question tonight. And thank you guys so much to everybody that joined in live, if you're not already following me feel free to do that. And next week, we actually have Robbie Daymond coming o,n who is a voice actor, very talented. He was on Breadwinners for Nick and has done a ton of anime, One Punch Man and blah blah blah. And I just got a text and that was awkward. So yeah, stay tuned for that. And we have Brian Hall, content creator Sharena Brian from his multi millions of views on YouTube, doing his impressions and now he's also starring in the new Hotel Transylvania Four as well as the Tangled animated series, and so lots of fun stuff, so stick around and one more question before you guys go. If your life, if there was a song in your heart, what would be the title?
Jonny
Song in our, in our heart.
Alicyn
A song in your heart. What would be the title of that song?
Matty
Oh, man. Let's see.
Jonny
I'm gonna say "I Love My Mommy." Because I'm a mama's boy.
Matty
I don't know, "Keep On Pushing."
Alicyn
Keep on pushing. Keep pushing wait that's not a labor song though. I mean.
Jonny
What's a song in your heart?
Alicyn
I was gonna sing "Let It Go" all of a sudden and then I was like that's already a song, Ali. People of the world, that's already song. How about "Let The Love Shine through" those are all already songs, Ali. How derivative.
Matty
That's why there's so many song titles named after those, hundreds of songs. So it's very bad.
Jonny
They're all good, all good titles.
Matty
They all work.
Alicyn
My song would be "Thank You For Your Time" I'm so grateful you came on this show and spend a whole hour at seven o'clock and not six o'clock like I pretended it was. I'm so grateful to you guys for coming on the show. It's been so fun getting to talk to you. I'll see if I could find that promo to share here and if not, I'm definitely looking forward to keeping everybody abreast. Do you guys mind before you go in just saying hey, you're watching. Like thanks for watching Alicyn's Wonderland. Like, we're The Beatbuds, hey this is cool. Check it out. Like some like that.
Jonny & Matty
1, 2, 3. Hi. We're The Beatbuds. Thanks for watching. Alicyn's Wonderland. See you guys soon.
Alicyn
That was so awesome. Thank you guys. And everybody, make sure you're following The Beatbuds and we'll see you next week. Bye, guys.
Jonny
Bye, guys.
Outro
Thanks for tuning in to Alicyn's Wonderland, where we explore the wild and wonderful world of animation and video games. Please remember to subscribe and leave us a review. For more episodes of Alicyn's Wonderland. Please visit us at www.AlicynPackard.com. See you next week.