October 1, 2007 (2007-10-01) – October 28, 2008 (2008-10-28)
Happy Monster Band (branded asHappy Monster Band: World Tour in season 2) is an animatedchildren's television series that originally aired onPlayhouse Disney from October 1, 2007, to October 28, 2008. The series was created by Don Carter and produced by Kickstart Productions. It is about a group of monsters who perform songs about friendship, love, exercise, chores, and other preschool themes.
There are four monsters that make up the Happy Monster Band: Frred, L.O., Bluz, and Ink. Each of the monster's name reflects its color: Frred's signature color is red, L.O.'s is yellow, Bluz's is blue, and Ink's is pink. They were designed by Don Carter. All four of the band members are children, but their singing voices are those of the members of the bandTally Hall. In the UK version, children's voices are used for the singing portions.
Frred (voiced byRob Cantor (singing voice) andKurt Doss (speaking voice)) is one of the band's lead singers and plays a purpleelectric guitar. While Ink may appear to be the leader, many fans tend to regard Frred as the actual leader.
L.O. (voiced by Zubin Sedghi (singing voice) and Trevor Gagnon (speaking voice), Nathan Simpson in the UK version) is the other lead singer. L.O. is yellow and plays a greenbass guitar with four strings. He is the only monster in the band that goes against traditional thinking, preferring to paint and write poetry instead of scaring. He is considered to be a shy introvert. He is the oldest member in the band.
Bluz (voiced by Joe Hawley (singing voice), Jonah Lees (Direct from Monsterland), andJake T. Austin (World Tour) (speaking voices)) is the band'skeyboardist, is blue and has four legs. Hiskeyboard ismagenta and has twelveblack keys. Bluz often contradicts L.O.'s opinions, stating that monsters should scare and not care about art. During the World Tour, Bluz knows a little bit about foreign languages, which makes him appear unintelligent. However, he shows kindness and empathy for others. He can also be very friendly. He is the youngest member of the band.
Ink (voiced byTara Sands (singing voice) and Hannah Leigh (speaking voice)) is the band'sdrummer. She has three eyes and is pink. Her drums can glow eitherpink,magenta orpurple. Unlike the other band members, Ink only sings during choruses. However she has a solo verse in "Do the Monster Stomp". During the World Tour, she carries aglobe that shows where the band is and is fluent in several languages.
Roc and Raoul (voiced byYuri Lowenthal andSam Riegel, respectively) are two-headed purple monster brothers and are the show's hosts. They speak inrhyme, except while backstage, and are also present in season two (World Tour).
La, Dee, and Da are the show's judges and are only in the first season. They are all bright green and are based onRandy Jackson,Paula Abdul, andSimon Cowell.
The Beret Monster is a monster with aberet which Bluz talks to inFrance.
The Gondolier is a monster who rows agondola inItaly.
Dwight is a giant monster in Italy who is often hungry and is used as a comedic explanation for theTower of Pisa's leaning and for theColosseum missing a large part of its wall.
"I Will Be Your Friend" – The monsters celebrate their long friendship together.
"I'm the Best at Being Me" – L.O. is not as scary as Bluz because he likes to write poetry and paint.
"Do the Monster Stomp" – Frred thinks that Bluz found what was missing.
"Do Re Mi–Mi–Mi" – Ink struggles to write a song for work until her friends help her.
"Monster Hoe Down" – The monsters have dressed up as three cowboys and a cowgirl and are ready to hoedown.
"Even Monsters Cry Sometimes" – Frred is sad because his father has a flat tire and he worries he will miss the concert, making him cry until his friends comfort him, saying it's okay for anyone, even monsters, to cry.
"Dirty, Smelly Monster Chores" – L.O. does chores, spreading clothes on the floor, bringing in garbage and tracking mud around.
"Get Up and Go Go Go" – Frred thinks that Bluz found what was missing.
"Scare Up Some Fun" – The twins see an empty room and think that the band is not there. The band tries to scare them.
"Practice Makes Progress" – Ink's jump rope contest is coming up, so she practices her skills.
The music was written and performed by Rob Cantor, Joe Hawley, and Zubin Sedghi from indie rock bandTally Hall. The characters and concept for the show were created by children's book author and illustrator, Don Carter.[2]Judy Rothman Rofé wrote all the episodes in Season One and five of the episodes in Season Two.
The shorts have been edited to replace the mention of the playhousedisney.com website with the one for a corresponding country, most notably playhousedisney.co.uk for the UK dub and playhousedisney.de for the German dub, and disneyjunior.com after Playhouse Disney rebranded as Disney Junior.
