{"id":3657,"date":"2013-10-08T18:53:35","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T18:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/music\/featuring-members-of-sublime-and-the-ziggens-jelly-of-the-month-club-are-the-bad-boys-of-kiddie-rock\/"},"modified":"2013-10-08T18:53:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T18:53:35","slug":"featuring-members-of-sublime-and-the-ziggens-jelly-of-the-month-club-are-the-bad-boys-of-kiddie-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-live.lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/music\/featuring-members-of-sublime-and-the-ziggens-jelly-of-the-month-club-are-the-bad-boys-of-kiddie-rock","title":{"rendered":"Featuring Members of Sublime and The Ziggens, Jelly of the Month Club are The Bad Boys of Kiddie Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"JOTMCgroup\"<\/p>\n

L to R: Dr. Todd Forman, Mic Dangerously, Bert Suskana, Bud Gaugh and Mr. Crumb. Photos courtesy of Jelly of the Month Club<\/em><\/p>\n

More than a decade and a half after Todd Forman became Sublime\u2019s first saxophonist, the now full-time doctor with a practice in Newport Beach took his young son to a Sesame Street show in L.A.<\/p>\n

Unlike the stimulating Muppet Show<\/em> musical performances that Forman remembers from his own childhood\u2014where world-class musicians like Buddy Rich <\/a>would play live alongside Jim Henson creations\u2014this contemporary equivalent was disappointing, to say the least.<\/p>\n

People dressed as familiar Sesame Street characters danced around on stage while canned music played overhead. There was no live band and little originality. He left wondering what his child was supposed to learn from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the kids inspired by? There\u2019s no real music. There\u2019s no real singing. There\u2019s no real talent. It was just a visual gaga,\u201d Forman said. \u201cIt made me realize that there is definitely been a shift in how we\u2019re entertaining our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JOTMConstage\"A few years later\u2014after putting his medical practice on hold to tour the world with Sublime with Rome\u2014Forman decided to make a push for something better. Pulling from the farthest regions of Long Beach\u2019s creative pool, he tapped friends from stalwart bands like Sublime and The Ziggens as well as younger acts like Zen Robbi and Mr. Crumb to form a new children\u2019s supergroup called Jelly of the Month Club, which will be having its record release show tonight at DiPiazza\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Though Forman eventually brought everyone together, he admits that the idea for starting a kid\u2019s band was really shaped by Jelly\u2019s bassist Bert Susanka, a man with slicked-back black hair and a contagious laugh who is most well known as the front-man of the legendary local band The Ziggens.<\/p>\n

A novelty group of expert musicians that never achieved the fame many think they deserve, The Ziggens so straddled ska, punk, surf and country in the late \u201880s that major names like Bradley Nowell couldn\u2019t help but be inspired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought the Ziggens had the sensibility for kid\u2019s music. I loved the way that Bert wrote,\u201d says Forman.<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s first full-length album, Introducing, Jelly of the Month Club<\/i>, is a fun-filled leap across the influences of its eclectic members from Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh\u2019s punk precision to Mic Dangerously of Zen Robbi\u2019s swing sensibilities and Susanka\u2019s silly takes on surf rock, each song features tame-but-clever lyrics about lemonade stands, dolphins and eating waffles for dinner.<\/p>\n