LIVING THEIR DREAM

by FKO! Cub Reporter Danielle Azzolina 

What rock and roll band featuring two mega talented brothers is the highest-rated Nickelodeon television show for kids 6-11 in seven years? If you said the Naked Brother’s Band your right!! I got to interview Nat and Alex Wolff from the Naked Brother’s Band. I found out there is a lot to these guys!! They are both genuinely nice guys!!
     
Nat, 13, and Alex, 10, are two of the stars of the rock band reality show the Naked Brothers Band which is in its second season on Nickelodeon.
     
The show revolves around the relationships of the band members Nat and Alex Wolff, Qaasim Middletown, Allie Dimeco, Thomas Batuello, David Levi and Jesse Draper (real life niece of Nat & Alex’s mom Polly Draper). The show also has scenes of home life for Nat and Alex and their dad, played by their real life dad musician Michael Wolff.

     
After speaking with Nat and Alex, I realized they are very serious about their music and it is THEIR music. They made it clear that they write their own music and songs and don’t allow anyone to edit them.

I asked Nat which of the songs he’s written is most revealing of who he is. 
     
He replied, “I Don’t Want To Go To School. Actually, I think a little of me is revealed in each song. “Body I Occupy”, is sort of a biographical piece.”     
     
“I Don’t Want to Go to School” and “Body I Occupy” are two of 15 original songs which have both music and lyrics written by the shows stars, Nat and Alex Wolff. Nat wrote all of the songs with the exception of “Why” and “Three is Enough,” both written by Alex Wolff. Nat sings lead and also back up vocals and plays both the piano and guitar. Alex plays the drums and provides lead vocals on two of the three tracks he penned for the album.
     
I had to ask Nat if he thinks the songs the Naked Brothers Band sings send a message to adults about kids.

“Yeah, I hope so.  Kids listen to a lot of adult music and you can relate to a grown up, but you don’t know at all what their going through. It’s a totally different experience. 
     
That’s a good thing about our band…we know what kids can relate to and I hope adults hopefully can listen to that and pick up on it. Even adults can remember about not wanting to go to school and things like that. I hope they can. I hope everyone listens to our music including adults,” he said.
      
The next question I targeted for Nat was probably different than the kind of question he is usually asked. I asked him if there was a certain time of day or place where he liked to compose.
     
“At night.  Definitely really late at night. Usually, I write the songs and lyrics together under a tent in my living room. For some reason, I just get really creative late at night. But, then I don’t ever want to get up in the morning, so it’s like the worst system ever, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
     
I wondered how long it takes once Nat has an idea for a song to finish writing it”
     
“Generally, It takes about 15 minutes to get it down the first time.  Usually, I have to go back and really finish it, write new lyrics second verse lyrics, and third verse lyrics.  Or right a bridge, I never usually write a bridge the first time.” Nat Explained.  When I started to speak with Alex, I knew right away that Alex keeps people on their toes!!  I asked him what was the most unusual thing a fan ever wrote or did.
      
“Once this guy hand made a guitar for us.  It was really nice and it played, but we couldn’t keep it because it was like way to generous!” he revealed.
      
Nat added, “I thought it played really well and then I realized there was a cd player inside it. (he was just kidding.)
      
Nat said, “A fan recently sent us an entire script for the show. That was pretty cool to know that show that well that you could write a whole script.  I hear it’s really funny too.”
      
Nat also told me that fans do some crazy stuff too…like the time someone pulled out some of Alex’s hair!
      
“Once I was mobbed at a party so much that I didn’t know where I was and ended up outside in a big grass areas. I was like…where’d the party go. I kind of lost the party,” Nat said.
       
When I asked Alex if he prefers writing or performing best, he said was split in the middle.
      
“I’d say 50/50.  I really like to express myself in writing,  but I think I express myself performing too,’ he said.
      
Then he turned the question on me!  He asked me, “What about you Danielle, what do you like best?”

I answered, “Definitely writing”.

He also asked me, “You write music too?”

I replied, “Yes, I write and play the piano too.”

Alex and Nat both said, “Cool, that’s great.”
     
I had to ask Nat if school was a drag for them being that they have such a busy life and of course because the title of their latest CD is “I Don’t Want to Go To School!”
      
 Nat replied, Well, I enjoy doing the show so much and performing and it’s such a high that going back to school seems like such a low after that. I do love English though.”
     
 Speaking of school, did Alex think that tutoring or going to a regular school was best.  He told me he rarely had a tutor so he really didn’t know, and he couldn’t decide because they’re both “school” so how good could they be.  I thought that was funny.
      
I told Nat, their band was unique because of their ages and they can sing and write about stuff kids can really relate to, unlike the older bands.  I had to ask them how they think their band will change as they get older.
      
Nat said, “Wow, these are really awesome questions!  We will change so the songs will change. As we get older, it will get older too. When I’m an adult, you will be an adult.  If you listen to our music now, and when new stuff comes out as we get older, you will be experiencing the same things we will, so our music will grow as we do and it will be the same for our fans. 
       
I hope our music crosses over to all ages.  We don’t try to do that in the band, just write for one type of audience. I don’t know how you would do that.  Hopefully, everyone will pick up on it.”
       
I wanted to know how the guys relax and unwind since they ARE so busy.  Nat said he likes to hang out with David Levi from the band. He plays basketball and might watch a movie once in awhile.  Alex said he does a lot of stuff like play basketball, soccer, skateboard and play with their dog, Lucky to name a few.
       
I also wondered is being SO successful at such a young age in their music meant that Nat and Alex would always be involved with music or did they feel that their futures were still open to anything?
      
Nat said, Well, I’ve always wanted to be a musician or actor.  There was a point when I wanted to be a basketball player. I feel free to do anything, but I just always loved music. I am doing just what I wanted to be doing!  I’ll always be playing music or be involved with music or acting in some way!” said Nat.
      
I asked Alex if kids at school ever try and give the guys ideas about songs to write?”
“No, not really”, he said.  Oh, yeah, once someone suggested we write a song about Pork Fried Rice. It was very funny.
      
They both agreed that if they could have ANYONE as a guest on their show it would be Paul McCartney, both Nat and Alex are huge Beatle fans. Alex said, I would be so amazed if Paul McCartney were there! That would be awesome!”
       
I found out the guys practice their music about every other day. They said, “I’m in front of my dad so I better not say.”  And, then I heard a lot of laughter.
      
Did anything outrageous happen when they w ere touring I wondered? “We haven’t toured much yet.  We’ve done scattered shows. To get rid of pressure lots of times we’ll have a food fight right before we go on. We did that before The View and the Kids choice Awards.  It’s actually not that wild for us, we’ve done some really wild stuff, but RIGHT before we went on we had a food fight. It was perfect and it made it all less      nerve racking because we were having food thrown at us,” Nat said.
       
My last question was for Nat and I said that I’d heard that The Jonas Brothers are going to do a rock and roll reality show a lot like The Naked Brothers band has and I wanted to      know what he thought about it.
      
“Well, we wish them good luck.’ Nat said.  Their father, Mr. Wolff said, “Yes, we want all brothers to do well.”
      
There are a lot of rock and roll bands out there, but the Naked Brothers Band is unique because of their age and their talent.
        
Nat and Alex write about their personal experiences,  feelings and thoughts which most of their peers share. I think because their parents try to give them as normal life as possible it is important for their music too.
       
How else could they have written and continue to write about the things ALL kids go through if they didn’t. So, just be writing honestly about things kids experience they help all kids be understood.

BREAKING NAKED BROTHERS NEWS – HOT OFF THE KIDS NEWS INC. PRESSES!

Nickelodeon kicks off the third season of the hit mockumentary series, The Naked Brothers Band with a special hour-long movie titled “Mystery Girl,” premiering Saturday, October 18, at 8:30 pm with celebrity guest, iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove.  The new season follows the fortunes of the band as  they make their first motion picture, from shooting to the red carpet premiere, and features four, prime-time hour-long television movie events and three hald-hour holiday specials filled with special guests and all-new music.

The band’s latest songs include, “Blueberry Cotton”, “Face in the Hall”, and “Scary World,” three of 13 original new songs written and performed by Alex and Nat Wolff. “Face in the Hall” is featured on the recently released album from Nickelodeon and Columbia Records titled “iCarly – Music From and Inspiredby the Hit TV Show.”

The new season will also feature a star-sstudded celebrity line-up including Whoopi Goldberg, Natasha Bedingfield, David Attell, Questlove (The Roots), Simon Kirke (Bad Company), tobin Esperance (Papa Roach), David Desrosiers (Simple Plan), Leon Thomas and Victoria Justice, star of the upcoming Nickelodeon television movie, Spectacular.

In “Mystery Girl”  Nat and Alex face emotional twists and turns with Rosalina, Alex’s s kateboarding buddy, Juanita, a bullying director, and Miranda Cosgrove.
   
 

 THE NAKED BROTHERS TOUR SCHEDULE
*   Saturday, Nov. 1, Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
*   Sunday, Nov. 2 Westbury, NY   Captial One Theatre at Westbury
*   Saturday, Nov. 8 & Nov. 9 – NYC- Blender Theatre at Gramercy
*   Sat., Nov. 15, Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head Live
*   Sunday, Nov. 16  Philadelphia, PA theatre of the Living Arts
*   Saturday, Nov. 22  Chicago, Ill  House of Blues
*   Sunday, Nov. 23 St. Paul, MN Myth
*   Fri. & Sat. Nov. 28 & 29 Orlando Fl  House of Blues
*   Sunday, Nov. 30  New Orleans, LA House of Blues
*   Satruday, Dec. 6 Washington DC  Sixth & I Memorial Synagogue
*   Sunday, Dec. 7 Boston, MA  Berklee Performance Center
*   Saturday, Dec. 13 Anaheim, CA  House of Blues
*   Sunday, Dec. 14  Los Angeles, CA  The Roxy 

*Mystery Girl Photos by Paul Schiraldy / Nickelodeon