INTERVIEW: The BeatBuds are taking over the world — one song at a time
Photo: The BeatBuds are taking over YouTube Live and soon Nickelodeon. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Lee / Provided by Waldmania PR with permission.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit earlier this year, The BeatBuds, a child-oriented party band that always brings the fun, saw their entire in-person business dry up. Matthew “Matty” Shapiro, the drummer for the outfit who goes by Matty Maracas, and Jonathan “Jonny” Jonah, the guitarist who goes by Jonny Jingles, were having a blast bringing musical enjoyment to children around the Los Angeles area. They were bringing smiles to so many people’s faces, and then the coronavirus … well, took those smiles away.
Never fear, The BeatBuds had an idea. They quickly took to YouTube Live and started offering their energetic and offbeat antics to a global audience, and those audience members — no doubt many children and parents — have responded in kind. These new fans join some of the dedicated celebrities who have shown a liking for The BeatBuds sound: Jimmy Kimmel, Kim Kardashian, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, James Corden, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake, among others, according to press notes.
This is a big time for Shapiro and Jonah for a number of reasons. As their entertainment star begins to shine for a global audience, they are also gearing for their first-ever television show — and on Nickelodeon, to boot. The preschool series will go into production soon (hopefully), with a target release date in 2021 (again, hopefully).
To tide over fans until that TV show premieres, The BeatBuds host weekly live-stream shows on their YouTube Channel on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. PST. Audience members can expect songs, scavenger hunts, puppet shows and movement activities.
To celebrate their new online entertainment, Hollywood Soapbox recently chatted with Shapiro and Jonah, who have been lifelong friends and performing together since the age of 6. Here’s what they had to say …
On their decision to offer their entertainment on YouTube Live …
Jonah: “We had this really thriving in-person live business. We were doing upwards of 70-80 performances a month, three-four gigs a day, every single day, six-seven days a week, and when this whole thing hit, it went down to zero instantaneously. And it wasn’t that we were scrambling to figure out what was next, but it was more the fact that we were such a constant in so many children’s lives. We were in their living rooms. We were at their birthday parties. Some of these kids were seeing us two, three, four times a week, and their lives were changed so drastically by this whole thing. And it was so different for them that we really just wanted to give them some sense of normalcy into their lives again and let them know that not everything had to be so drastically different.”
On how The BeatBuds got the virtual programming off the ground …
Jonah: “The intent behind this whole thing was it was never to be an ongoing thing … because initially when schools shut down, it was only supposed to be that week before spring break, and it wasn’t supposed to be this ongoing thing. After that, they announced it was going to be closed down for the year, but when Matt and I decided that we would do this live-stream thing, we were really just doing it as something to give the kids a sense of normalcy into their lives and let them know you can see us, we can be there with you, we can interact with you because this is something that you’ve been doing with us regularly.”
On when they realized they were now reaching a global audience …
Jonah: “When we were doing it, and we were in the throes of doing it, we started to realize that it started to have this national reach, then this global reach, and people started asking us, would you guys be willing to do a virtual birthday for us out here in Australia and on the East Coast in New York and Boston. And it kind of opened a new revenue stream for us that really wasn’t our intent with this whole live-stream show. That’s what it did. It opened up a new revenue stream for us, and we started moving forward on that task.”
On the overall mission of The BeatBuds …
Shapiro: “I think the whole idea for Jonny and I is always to get the music out to as many kids as possible, and here was a situation where everybody was in the same boat. Nobody was working. Nobody had any income. It’s almost like for a split second, we were able to put the money thing and all that aside, and just figure out how we were going to move forward being wholesome people and being parents and what would we want.”
On the inventiveness of live-stream entertainment …
Shapiro: “So here was the opportunity where we could just give all the kids everything that we wanted to give them. Obviously the live-stream is a different type of thing than what we normally would be giving them in their homes, but it was an opportunity to just give it to the world in a sense. And for me that was really fulfilling, and it continues to be fulfilling. Like Jonny said, I see it continuing in some way, just because we found the beauty in it. It wasn’t just a band-aid, although at that moment there was the element of we want to keep normalcy, but we really started to see it as woah, this is the way to give the music to the kids in a more routine type fashion. I felt pretty strongly about giving this to them and not thinking about, hey, that person, their parent had enough money to buy a birthday party, so now we can go as The BeatBuds and rock that kid. Now everybody can get The BeatBuds.”
On the plans for the Nickelodeon show …
Jonah: “We’ve been moving forward with everything with Nickelodeon because as it stands … none of that really takes any in-person manpower. Everything that we’re doing at this stage, it’s writing, it’s scripting, it’s animation. Really we don’t have to be in person for any of that as it is. I don’t think that had COVID not come around I don’t think we really would be sitting in boardrooms doing any of this stuff to begin with. We are trudging forward with that as it is, so we’re still on track. And we’re working on it.”
On the next steps for the TV show …
Jonah: “We’re reading scripts today actually and getting back to writers and our team. We are on track with that, and we’re really excited about it because it’s another way for us to bring our brand to the world. Matty and I always say we’re in the business of smiles, and we really feel that we’ve been able to give this brand on a local level to so many children and make so many children happy on a local level. And we really feel like the world deserves this because we’ve seen how happy it’s made kids locally, and we want to see this happen on a global level.”
On the late breaking news involving The BeatBuds …
From their press rep: “Kids and families around the world can experience a live BeatBuds performance as a first-of-its-kind, interactive, virtual concert experience in the comfort of their own homes with the first-ever virtual BeatBASH on Sunday, July 12 at 10 a.m. PST. Click here for tickets. A portion of the proceeds from this concert will be donated to Rock The Vote.
“Together, The BeatBuds and their audience will explore a 360-degree immersive and interactive tropical island featuring an abundance of digital touchpoints, virtual instruments for kids to play, trivia games and, of course, plenty of rockin’ BeatBuds songs and sing-along action. Families and friends will even be able to see each other singing, dancing and interacting! A highlight of this special show will be the world premiere of a new BeatBuds single, ‘I Have a Voice.'”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The BeatBuds can be experienced now on YouTube Live. Their Nickelodeon show is slated for some time in 2021. Click here for more information.
