Battle of the Bands (The Naked Brothers Band)
| "Battle of the Bands" | |
|---|---|
| The Naked Brothers Band episodes | |
| Episode nos. | Season 1 Episodes 11 & 12 |
| Directed by | Polly Draper |
| Written by | Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi |
| Produced by | Polly Draper |
| Featured music | Nat Wolff |
| Cinematography by | Ken H. Keller |
| Editing by | Craig Cobb |
| Production code | 110 & 111 / 999 |
| Original air date | October 6, 2007 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Battle of the Bands" is the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the first season of the television series The Naked Brothers Band on Nickelodeon, which was first released direct-to-DVD on September 4, 2007 and later aired as a television movie on the network on October 6, 2007 to 3.8 million viewers; it was among the highest rated for children in the 6-11 and 9-14 age groups.
The TV movie episode follows the series format of a rock-mockumentary. Battle of the Bands was written by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi and directed by Polly Draper, who is also the showrunner and mother to the show's stars, Nat Wolff, the lead singer-songwriter, and Alex Wolff, the drummer. Keli Price guest stars as punk-rock singer and opposing bandleader Bobby Love.
Plot[edit]
The Naked Brothers Band and another band, The L.A. Surfers compete in a “Battle of the Bands” charity event benefiting Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free instruments and lessons to kids in low-income cities.
Rosalina starts to fall for the L.A. Surfers' lead singer, Bobby Love (Keli Price). Nat and Alex Wolff learned his false intentions while in the bathroom as Nat is trying to wash out the orange hair dye that he put on as part of his latte-drinking bad boy image that he attempts to pull off to impress Rosalina. Nat did this after seeing a video online of Bobby Love riding a motorcycle earlier that day and he is concerned whether she prefers bad boys.
Nat then says he will try to get along with Bobby, but as he enters the bathroom, Nat and Alex hide in a stall. It turns out that Bobby is just hitting on Rosalina to get to The Naked Brothers Band, and is a con artist (he speaks in a faux British accent, stamps his signatures, does not actually write his own songs, and his birth name is Robert).
Bobby even misleads TV reporter Matt Pinfield into thinking that Nat does not write his own songs, which Pinfield announces on the news. Nat wants Bobby to confess about his lies and he won't. At the concert for Little Kids Rock, Nat asks Bobby to disclose the fibs once again, and he does not. Instead, Bobby continues to hit on Rosalina and call Nat "Nate" which angers him, and Alex stands up to Bobby and steps on his foot, causing a physical fight. During the fight, Nat declares that the benefit concert is now a battle of the bands, and whoever loses has to give all of their profits from their next CD to the charity.
Cooper Pillot, the band manager for The Naked Brothers Band, apologizes for the band's behavior, and Cooper also sorrows on his own behalf because he felt that if his mother did not schedule his orthodontist appointment for a head gear that day, he could have precluded the dispute from escalating.
Cooper later books a meeting with Ms. Patty Scoggins (Emily Richardson), the girl representative of Little Kids Rock, to formally apologize for the incident by offering them a “huge band in Old Europe” called “The Honey Bunnies” (who are actually Mr. Wolff and his girlfriend Betty singing, as well as playing the accordion and ukulele, respectively) to be the opening act for the event, which she approves. During Mr. Wolff and Betty's band rehearsal on stage, however, Cooper allows Ms. Scoggins to borrow an extra pair of his ear plugs.
Bobby and his band later try to come up with new songs for the concert. Since Bobby does not write his own songs, this is very challenging. He comes up with mediocre songs called “My Feet Are So Nice” and “I Love My Hair”. His bandmate's girlfriend, Rita, explains to him how silly the songs are, and he just continues to tell her that she is not the boss of the feet or the hair song as "she is not even in the band."
Later, Nat fails to get Rosalina to believe the truth about Bobby, and while practicing "L.A.", the song Nat wrote for the event, he and his band ridicule Bobby twice, which leads to her quitting the band.
Rosalina finds Bobby to inform him that her former band members think he is a liar and does not care about the charity, but Bobby claims he is genuine and that "the children are our future." Bobby also tries to use words of encouragement like "Have you ever noticed that the word 'lousy' is in the word 'jealousy'? That's because jealousy makes you feel lousy," but Rosalina reminds him that he said that to her the day before. She then questions if he was the one who told Matt Pinfield that Nat does not write his own songs, which he denies.
Rosalina asks what part of England he is from. Bobby hesitates for a brief moment, as he is not actually from Britain. He then responds, “Hogwarts." She asks, "As in Harry Potter Hogwarts?" Bobby quickly changes the conversation by asking Rosalina if what she is holding is the music from The Naked Brothers Band. She said that she "won't be needing it since she quit the band," so Bobby throws it away in the garbage. He then attempts to kiss Rosalina, but she refuses, stating that she is "confused" and walks away. After Rosalina leaves, Bobby pilfers her music sheet.
At the concert, Bobby talks to Nat, saying he is sorry that Rosalina departed from the band but she "was a good kisser." Nat subsequently looses his temper and tackles Bobby to the ground. Nat is initially losing the fight until Alex suddenly appears and scares Bobby away with a balloon that a little girl gave to him.
The Honey Bunnies open the show, but the audience strongly dislikes them. Nevertheless, a European producer backstage approach Mr. Wolff and Betty telling them that he was actually impressed by their performance. Soon after, Bobby's band plays Nat's new song, "L.A.", which distresses Rosalina in the audience, as she discovers Bobby's true identity. She runs over to The Naked Brothers Band explaining how Bobby stole the song. Rosalina then hugs Nat while sobbing in his arms, as he accepts her forgiveness.
Noticing a net of balloons above the stage, Rosalina wishes that "all of the balloons were made of cement and they would fall on Bobby Love's big, fat, phony head." Then, Alex reminds Nat that he is afraid of balloons. Rosalina pulls the rope, releasing the balloons. Balloons fall all over Bobby and his band members, which causes him (in a non-British accent) to panic in fear for his mom and jumping on his bandmate, Pork, saying: "I'm not playing games! They're touching my face!"
In the midst of Bobby's hysteria, Cooper and Patty show footage of The Naked Brothers Band recording the music video for the song “L.A.” on the screen of a projector. Seeing this, Matt Pinfield, who previously supported The L.A. Surfers, gives an explanation of what just happened: The L.A. Surfers stole the song from The Naked Brothers Band, and Bobby Love is really "balloon fearing surfer dude Robert Love from California. I repeat, Bobby Love is afraid of balloons, and is from San Diego" before chanting with the audience that "Bobby is a thief!"
The LA Surfers are booed off of the stage and gather at the dressing room. Bobby expresses his anger because the band will have to dedicate all of the money from the next CD to the "stupid" charity. Rita points out how due to the outcome of the evening's performance, there most likely won't be another released CD. Bobby hides his face in his hands in defeat.
Meanwhile backstage, Nat shows Rosalina how to play the chords for his new song, "Girl Of My Dreams".
Nat and the band appear on stage, and he tells the audience to give a round of applause for The Honey Bunnies and The LA Surfers; nobody cheers at all. Then, Nat introduces the newer song, which is dedicated to a “very special person” (referring to Rosalina) and notes that he wrote this when he was in emotional pain and now that he's happy, he can actually enjoy it.
The Naked Brothers Band performs "Girl Of My Dreams" and wins the battle of the bands.
Cast[edit]
| Actor | Character | Character overview |
|---|---|---|
| Nat Wolff | self | The lead singer/songwriter and keyboardist. Nat also plays piano, drums, and guitar. |
| Alex Wolff | self | Brother of Nat Wolff/drummer in a do-rag usually red white and blue. Alex can also play piano and guitar, and he is a "milkoholic." |
| David Julian Levi | self | Keyboardist |
| Thomas Batuello | self | Cellist |
| Cooper Pillot | self | Band manager, in a suit and glasses |
| Allie DiMeco | Rosalina | Bass player and back up singer |
| Qaasim Middleton | self | Guitarist |
| Michael Wolff | father of Nat and Alex(Dad)/Sonny | Accordion-player |
| Jesse Cook Draper | Jesse Cook | Crazy band tutor and babysitter, not always "into it" |
| Catherine Curtin | Betty | Sonny's crazy girlfriend |
| Matt Pinfield | self | Television critic |
| Keli Price | Bobby Love | Lead singer of the L.A. Surfers, movie's main antagonist |
| Emily Richardson | Patty Scoggins | Representative for Little Kids Rock |
| Grant Monohon | Pork | Bassist of the L.A. Surfers |
| Lyle Mackston | Drummer | Drummer of the L.A. Surfers |
| Ty Daniel Smith | Guitarist | Guitarist of the L.A. Surfers |
| Karen DiConectto | Rita | Girlfriend of the L.A. Surfers' guitarist |
Reception[edit]
Common Sense Media awarded it a dim 2 stars, citing an “unrealistic plot”. It also recommends a showing age of 10+ because of some inappropriate content.[1]
It was the number-one show for the week of October 6 for children ages 6–14, with 3.8 million viewers.[citation needed]
