The Fresh Beat Band brings preschool pop to Planet Hollywood

By Andrea Domanick

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012 | 12:33 p.m.

Who says Las Vegas is for grown-ups? The stars of Nick Jr.’s hit music series “The Fresh Beat Band” come to Planet Hollywood this Saturday amid their first-ever, 15-week nationwide tour to perform their original pop songs. A month-and-a-half in, the quartet has already been wowing young fans and their parents with a full concert experience. I talked to stars Tara Perry (who plays Marina the drummer) and Thomas Hobson (who plays Shout the keyboardist) from a tour stop in San Francisco about their upcoming Las Vegas show and how they prepared for life as a live band.

Andrea Domanick: So this is the first time you’ve performed live on the road as a band. How’s the tour going?

Tara Perry (“Marina”): It’s been great. What’s awesome is how excited the audience is. They keep getting rowdier and rowdier! Somehow each one is more excited than the one before it.

Thomas Hobson (“Shout”): I’m still getting used to sleeping on the bus! That’s been the weirdest thing for me. We’re in a hotel right now, and I don’t even want to get out of bed, I’m so happy to be sleeping in a real bed.

A.D.: What can we expect from the show?

T.H.: For many of these kids, it’s their first concert -- and that’s what the show is: It’s a real, high-energy concert. There’s bright lights and a Jumbotron and all of that.

T.P.: One thing we’ve noticed is that everybody really gets into it. When we first walk onstage, all the kids get so excited. But then after a few songs, you start to see the parents getting into it. And then you see the older brother and sister, who just came along for support, starting to bob their heads and dance. It’s really just a lot of fun for everyone.

A.D.: What have been some of the biggest differences or challenges between performing live vs. in a television studio?

T.H.: Well, for one thing, the audience is right there. A sound stage is such an adult space. Kids come visit the set sometimes, but we really don’t have much regular interaction with our audience. So now to get an immediate response from the people we’re doing this for is amazing. In a way, the tour feels like a big "thank you" for all the fans of the show.

T.P.: I love the idea that there is no second take. For example, at last night’s show [in San Francisco], Twist’s turntables stopped working in the middle of the set, so we were forced to improvise. He got on the mic and started beat-boxing instead, and we worked off of that. It was a lot of fun!

A.D.: How did you prepare for the switch?

T.P.: We went to boot camp.

T.H.: Seriously! We did 3 1/2 weeks of boot camp in January to train so we won’t sound winded for our shows.

T.P.: For hours every day, they’d have us do any kind of exercise or dance move that you can think of -- but we had to do it all while singing.

T.H.: We had two vocal coaches, and one focused on our voices and the other focused on our conditioning. It was maybe the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done. It was like being a kid back on the soccer team for season training -- jumping rope, doing jumping jacks, running.

A.D.: Considering your show is geared toward toddlers, Las Vegas seems like an unusual choice for a tour stop. What makes it a good fit?

T.H.: People think of Vegas as an adult city, and it is, but a lot of those adults have kids. So our show is a great way for them to have something to do as a family. And the show goes on at 4 p.m., so you can still have your evening out. The only downside is that we have to be well-behaved -- we won’t have any time to go out before we leave for our next stop in L.A.

A.D.: You still have 13 weeks and 87 shows ahead of you -- are you concerned about it getting monotonous, or getting worn down?

T.H.: We’ve actually had discussions about this, the four of us. What we remember is that no matter how many times a week we’ve done it, for those kids in that city, that day, this is their first concert. And I’ll never forget my first concerts. So much of my desire to do what I do came from seeing those people perform when I was the exact same age as the people I’m performing for now. So you do whatever you have to to remind yourself of that. And usually it’s as easy as walking out onto the stage and seeing how excited the kids are.

T.P.: In this day and age, so much funding is getting cut for the creative arts in school, which is really unfortunate. So if we are an outlet for children to get to see and hear music and dancing, and it inspires them to want to play music and dance, that’s the most wonderful thing that can come out of this whole experience. I take pride in that.

T.H.: We had a 15-month-old baby playing a tiny set of drumsticks at one of our shows! Because this baby loves our show so much and it wants to be a drummer. There’s a huge sense of responsibility when you see that kind of stuff.

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