What if Jimmy, Sheen and Carl kept the band that they formed together and added Cindy and Libby? Silly? Yes! But I figure if they can make a show about a talking sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea then why can't I write a story about five pre-teens who go on to form one of the greatest rock bands ever? Read on, Mcduff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron or any of the associated characters thereof or the Babys. Lawyers stay away!

The Babys

Chapter I: The Interview

Jimmy Neutron (The Smart One)

Cindy Vortex (The Cute One)

Carl Wheezer (The Funny One)

Libby Folfax (The Quiet One)

Sheen Estevez (The Chosen One)

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We are honored and privileged to bring you a rare event. The band known as The Babys is still alive and well 25 years later and we have them here to conduct this sought after look into the lives of this group. It's amazing how these five different people withstood the test of time to become one of the worlds greatest rock bands. The have 15 albums, 34 Top 40 hits, and 19 #1 songs putting them in very good company. Not to mention how they withstood each other with all of the well known in-fighting and bickering that threatened to break up this proud band so many times over and still produce great music. But, you can hear some of the reasons when you listen to their songs, they really love each other and love doing what they do.

It's hard to get them all together in the same place these days. They are in L.A. right now putting the final touches on their latest album. We finally gathered them up all together and they are waiting in our L.A. studios for this rare, in-depth interview...which is rather unfortunate as we are all here in New York. But, we'll get that all worked out. In the meantime, we have snippets of interviews we did with them individually for this and we'll piece them together so we can bring you something sort of the program we meant to present. Sorry about that.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know the Babys story, it goes back 25 years when they were all just in elementary school. That's right! ELEMETARY school! The average age of the band then was only 11 years old! No one thought that a bunch of kids could pull of having a rock sound let alone the musical proficiency to pull it off, (hence the name 'Babys'), but one listen to them and one knew they were listening to something special.

The subject matter that the Babys sang about and the tightness of the bands sound was well beyond their years prompting some critics to believe that they didn't write or perform any of their own material in those early days. This rumor has long since been discredited.

"That really made me upset." said Carl. "We worked really hard on those records and to have people say that wasn't us on those records just made us all work that much harder."

"Yeah, I heard those rumors." recalls Sheen. "When our first album came out they said 'They sound like kids singing but there's no way that they can be playing like that.' Only our friends and families knew the real deal."

The topics they sang about covered the gambit. Subjects such as homelessness, mature relationships, commitment, life, death, love and hate were not uncommon. But, they also sung about having fun, boys being boys (or girls), and just about being kids.

One reason for the groups popularity early on was that people thought they were a novelty act. That is that they were so young that people listened to them just out of curiosity. But they soon learned that Cindy's insightful and playful lyrics and masterful lead guitar work, Libby's knowledge of the piano or anything instrument with keyboards, Jimmy's soft, crooner like voice (he was a better singer than given credit for), Sheen's melodic bass playing and loud rock and roll voice, (his singing has gotten better though the years) and Carl's steady and rhythmic drumming style was definately not a fluke.

The Babys play what could be called an eclectic type of rock music. That is they use elements from different musical styles. From hard rock, soft rock, pop, R&B, jazz, blues, funk, electronic dance (no rap), and even a few classical elements thrown in (no doubt meshing all of these styles together is from Libby's influence).Their sound is so distinct however that when you hear one of their songs you know instantly that it's them you're listening to.

Unlike a lot of other bands, everyone contributes something to almost every song that is recorded. This can and does sometimes lead to some 'creative differences' between band members (most notably Jimmy and Cindy).

"We've mellowed out a lot. Jimmy and I still have our differences but it's about music now." says Cindy. "We used to fight all the time about the stupidest stuff. But, we were kids then. We're all grown now and we don't fight...much."

With all of the fighting and people threatening to leave over the years, the line-up still hasn't changed in all this time...

Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex: Principle songwriters. Though everyone writes songs for the band these two write the lions share. Jimmy plays rhythm guitar, sings vocals and acts as the bands engineer. Cindy plays lead guitar mostly and sings lead and backing vocals. She also plays the piano and the occasional bass. Libby Folfax is the principle keyboard and synthesizer player and also sings lead and backing vocals. Carl Wheezer provides the back beat as the bands drummer and vocals. Sheen Estevez plays bass mostly but can be heard playing guitars on a few songs.

How it all came together

The band was originally called "The Llama Lords of Science." The name reflecting Carl's love of llamas. Sheen's obsession with Ultra-Lord. And Jimmy's dedication to science. At that time it only consisted of Jimmy, Sheen and Carl. It was only meant to be a short-lived, one time appearance of the band. Thank God for the rest of us it wasn't.

"It's funny how we got together in the first place." says Jimmy. "There we were, Carl, Sheen and myself, setting at our lunch table in school. We were talking about some talent show or something and trying out for it. That's when Cindy and Libby walk up and show us what they were going to do. Some dance thing I think it was. That's when it all started."

Flashback

"...So, what are you lameos gonna do?" asked Cindy, "Something stupid like blowing nose bubbles?"

"Or spitting water?" adds Libby.

"Or doing algebra in Latin?"

"Actually, our band is going to play." Jimmy said.

"You losers have a band?"

"Yes, we have a band and were gonna stomp your River Stomp."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, we'll see on Friday..."

End Flasback

As it turns out, Cindy and Libby went on to win first place in the talent show and The Llama Lords of Science didn't even perform.

"We were fighting with each other over who was the best in the band." said Jimmy. "I remember Sheen getting so mad he destroyed our instruments by throwing them out the window. He was wild even back then. Well, after the girls won the contest we decided to break up for good. I thought that was the end of it."

Little did he know that the seeds had already been sown almost a week earlier.

Cindy recalls, "I lived across the street from Jimmy at that time so when I heard music playing I thought he had turned the radio up really loud. I looked out of the window and saw all of these people there jumping and cheering so I ran over to see what all the fuss was about. There was Jimmy, Carl and Sheen and they were playing the music. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Libby was so totally entranced. I had to drag her out of there."

"When I heard them I just knew I had to be in it." said Libby. "I mean...I don't know. I just had to be in it."

"The day after the show, I went to Sheen and asked if I could be in the band. He said that the band had broken up and wasn't getting back together anytime soon." This news disappointed Libby but she was determined.

Cindy continues, "Libby came over and started talking about that band almost non-stop. She wanted to be in it so bad. I thought she was crazy but I knew how much she loved music. I just said, 'Whatever. If you want to be in a band with a bunch of nerds go right ahead. But, don't involve me.' Who knew?"

"Two or three days later I went back to Sheen and asked him about the band." said Libby. "He said he had no problem with it since I had looked so sad before but he'd have to talk to Carl and Jimmy about it."

Carl said he didn't mind doing it but Jimmy at this point wasn't sure if he wanted to continue being in the band or not. Sheen was trying to convince him and Carl to let Libby join for her keyboard playing (if not for other reasons which we will get into later).

It was up to Jimmy if the band even existed. It was at best just a hobby to him as science was the biggest part of his life, but Sheen and Carl wanted to go on with it and he would do it for them.

"I didn't know for sure if I still wanted to be in the band but it was fun and we had nothing else better to do." said Sheen.

"They wanted to let Libby in." Jimmy said. "I objected at first because she was a girl but I could tell how badly she wanted this and she never caused me any trouble so I said ok, as long as Cindy wasn't involved." then he laughs at this, "Hey, I had this thing about girls then, alright?"

Libby did want to become a member but she had one condition: she didn't want to join without Cindy. "I wanted to be in it but I wasn't going without my girl."

"When Cindy first joined I was still kind of reluctant. I mean, REALLY reluctant." recalls Jimmy. "She had made fun of the band and now she was going to join it?"

"I didn't want to join up at first. Me and Jimmy had a...strained relationship at the time and the last thing I wanted was to be in a band with him. I didn't want to be in a band period. So when Libby asked me if I wanted to join I thought she'd lost her mind. But they really sounded good. I had to admit it, they could rock."

Unbeknown to Cindy, Libby had Sheen secretly bring some songs Cindy had recorded in her home for Jimmy and Carl to listen to. She and Libby had been writing and recording music on their own for a little while but Cindy wouldn't let anyone else hear them. But, it was on these tapes that one could hear her true potential.

"She had some real talent there but I think she just did it to satisfy herself as a hobby. She was into so many other things then like tai-chi and whatnot and music wasn't at the top of her list. I don't think she cared. Besides I think she was a little embarrassed to let anyone hear her play."

"It totally blew me away when I listened to Cindy's music." said Sheen. "There were about 15 or 16 songs I heard. I couldn't believe it was her playing the guitar like that. But Libby assured me that it was. Well, that was good enough for me."

"I'd watch her play the guitar." Libby states. "But, she didn't play it correctly. She used her fingers to stum and pick the strings instead of a pick. She said she could never get used to the feel of it no matter how hard she tried. But that gave her a unique sound and her fingers moved so fast up and down the neck it really didn't matter anyway."

"I listened to the tapes and I was impressed." recalles Jimmy. "Her singing voice needed some work but the guitar playing and songwriting was amazing. She played much better than I could. It's too bad she didn't know how good she was then."

"There were a few reasons I think Jimmy didn't want Cindy to join at first." said Libby. "At that time they really didn't get along too well and they were always fighting. I don't think he wanted girls in the band anyway, though he didn't mind me so much. I think after hearing Cindy play that he was threatened by Cindy's guitar playing and that she would eventually try to take over."

However, after much cajoling by Carl, Sheen and Libby, and after hearing the tapes one more time, Jimmy finally gave in and was persuaded to let Cindy join.

The biggest thing now was to try and convince Cindy.

Will Cindy join? (Of course she will), but will she want something in return? Will she try to make changes? Find out after this...

Whadda ya'll think? Silly or stupid? Should I continue? Please review.

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FYI: There was an actual band in the 70's called the Babys who had two hit records in the U.S. They disbanded in 1981 so I decided to use the name here. It's been more than 20 years so why not, right? Anyway, if there are any lawyers out there don't waste your time because I have no money.