Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Forman.
Todd (aka Dr. Todd) was on tour with Sublime with Rome on a tour bus watching Disney’s Princess and the Frog with Bud Gaugh. He turned to Bud and said, “Wouldn’t it be great to create killer music geared towards families? Something our kids could dig now rather than later?” A father of three, Bud immediately said yes and once Todd got of tour they set about assembling the best singers, songwriters and musicians he could find. Thus, was born the baddest family rock band on the planet — Jelly of the Month Club.
The band plays a wildly entertaining and eclectic mix of rich genres aimed to inspire the creative tastes of children and parents alike. Their original songs challenge developing minds to absorb a diversity of musical instrumentation, melody, and style while digesting taciturn and humorous stories, educational messages, and strong universal values.
Jelly is about to release their second album and for the past four years they’ve played everywhere from hospital rooms to outdoor festivals. Currently, Jelly will play a series of shows at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park as a part of Woodstock’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. Jelly will be jamming alongside Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang every weekend throughout the month of February.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Jelly of the Month Club’s biggest challenge is finding enough time to meet the incredible demand for quality family-friendly live music in our schools and communities. The vacuum is primarily created by the lack of funding for the arts, the increased demands of standardized testing in our classrooms, and the fierce competition for time between our children’s school and sleep. Along the way, Jelly learned how to adapt to our live show to any crowd are now just as comfortable on a festival stage as we are in a kindergarten classroom.
Jelly of the Month Club – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Jelly of the Month Club does not “baby down” their music – instead, they want kids to get down to their music. The pedigree of the band boasts accomplished singers, songwriters and musicians from some of the top musical acts to come out of Southern California, including Sublime. This is a fun family band and club that inspires ages 1-100 to celebrate timeless American musical traditions with jaw-dropping live shows that are entertaining, interactive and educational. Like Bugs Bunny and the Muppet Show, Jelly of the Month Club follows highbrow musical choices using a multiplicity of genres.
Jelly of the Month Club is a band committed to serving others and has won-over fans from music festivals to hospital rooms. Highlights include performing for patients at CHOC and Miller Children’s Hospitals, winning “Best in Show” for two holiday city-wide parades, playing the Music Tastes Good Festival and having the songs “Brand New Friend”, “English Language”, “Lemonade Standoff” and “Gone Squatchin'” debut on Kids Place Live XM radio. In their spare time, Jelly is busy visiting dozens of schools for their classroom music series, giving blacktop concerts for school carnivals, raising money for inner-city music education programs, caroling with Girl Scouts for Veterans and packing the Anaheim House of Blues with over 500 screaming kids.
Members of Jelly of the Month Club are rock monsters that hail from a deep musical forest and are: Dr. Todd Forman (horns and keys for Sublime and Sublime with Rome), Michael De La Torre (lead singer and guitarist for the funk rock band Zen Robbi); and Chris Caplan (lead singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for his own alternative rock group, Mr. Crumb). We add professional Jelly members for our live shows, including Scott Wittenberg on drums and James Kee on bass. Jelly of the Month Club will continue to play for venues that give families an opportunity to laugh, dance, have fun, and enjoy great music. Please join us!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Jelly of the Month Club set out to write a song to break the “Curse of the Cubs” in 2016. Because the song was so well received, the band was summoned to Chicago’s most famous sports bar, Harry Caray’s, for a rally during the 2016 Playoffs. Jelly ended up singing the word “Cubs” over 5000 times in one morning. Indeed, our song, “Cubs, Cubs, Cubs” did break “The Curse” bringing a World Series Championship to the North Side of Chicago for the first time in 108 years.
Contact Info:
- Website: jellyofthemonthclubband.com
- Phone: 3109181281
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: jellyofthemonthclub
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JellyOfTheMonthClubMusic/
- Twitter: @Jellyclubmusic
Image Credit:
Josh Coffman
Lantz Simpson
Rob Perez
Judy Faris
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
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