The Wanna Bees

Songwriter Chuck Riepenhoff heard about the Song of Toledo contest when FOX Toledo and Toledo Free Press announced it in March. He was already a part of The Wanna Bees, a children’s entertainment music group, and thought the Song of Toledo contest sounded too fun to pass up.

“I thought, ‘Hey, let’s give this a shot,’ ” he said. “I have a group of guys with this Wanna Bees project, and we were getting together every couple of weeks to write songs and record songs for that project.”

The band will join the other top five contestents — Empire Drift, Kyle White, Purpose and Highbinders, plus People’s Choice Award winner Buck 69 — at an acoustic concert, 3 p.m. May 20 at the Downtown Main Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. The bands will play their contest entries, and the contest winner will be revealed.

The four members of The Wanna Bees, Mike Hayden, Brad Bury, Tom Pokornik and Riepenhoff, meet every other Thursday in Toledo to record music. Kurt Hattendorf helped with their contest entry, “You’re In Toledo, Baby!”

“I literally wrote down and made a list of all the Toledo landmarks off the top of my head and crossed them off until I incorporated them into the song,” Riepenhoff said. The list included more than 20 landmarks.

“I have a 2-year-old daughter, so the zoo is big for me,” Hayden said. “We try to go to the art museum and we try to go there — it’s one of the jewels of the city.”

Riepenhoff said he began writing, “You’re In Toledo, Baby!” with the chorus first, focusing on making it catchy and energetic — since The Wanna Bees, after all, is a project for kids.

“Typically, there’s not a lot of people who talk upbeat about the city,” Hayden said. “So we wanted to make it upbeat and not a ballad or something slow.”

Riepenhoff said the song came together during their second recording session.

“When you have the four guys hovering around the microphone and yelling ‘Oh your in Toledo Baby,’ it was a lot of fun and we were all laughing and having fun with that,” Riepenhoff said. “And then when you hear that on tape, you realize ‘Oh, this is pretty cool.’ By the end of the night, we were pretty proud of the song and felt that we had a chance in this contest.”

However, their recording process hit a minor hitch when Riepenhoff went to the studio to record the second verse.

“I didn’t realize I hadn’t written full lyrics for the second verse yet,” he said. “It was just like, ‘Oops.’ I started singing and I didn’t quite write that yet, just a piece of paper with ‘Jeep’ here and ‘Jamie Farr’ there. So, that was a group effort. We all had our list of Toledo trademarks that worked to incorporate into the song, so together we worked to write the second song.”

After 10 hours of recording, Hayden said he mastered and produced the song in his home studio. Riepenhoff turned in the contest entry just before deadline.

“Our intent was to write a commercial for the city of Toledo,” Riepenhoff said. “We wanted to write a song that you could listen to but at the same time visualize all the cool things that Toledo has to offer. I could totally see a video going right behind the song with The Wanna Bees hopping on a TARTA bus on a quest to get to a Mud Hens game Downtown.”

The Wanna Bees plan to release a CD, “Work Together,” this year. Follow the band at www.myspace.com/whatuwannabee.

- Toledo Free Press

Songwriter Chuck Riepenhoff heard about the Song of Toledo contest when FOX Toledo and Toledo Free Press announced it in March. He was already a part of The Wanna Bees, a children’s entertainment music group, and thought the Song of Toledo contest sounded too fun to pass up.

“I thought, ‘Hey, let’s give this a shot,’ ” he said. “I have a group of guys with this Wanna Bees project, and we were getting together every couple of weeks to write songs and record songs for that project.”

The band will join the other top five contestents — Empire Drift, Kyle White, Purpose and Highbinders, plus People’s Choice Award winner Buck 69 — at an acoustic concert, 3 p.m. May 20 at the Downtown Main Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. The bands will play their contest entries, and the contest winner will be revealed.

The four members of The Wanna Bees, Mike Hayden, Brad Bury, Tom Pokornik and Riepenhoff, meet every other Thursday in Toledo to record music. Kurt Hattendorf helped with their contest entry, “You’re In Toledo, Baby!”

“I literally wrote down and made a list of all the Toledo landmarks off the top of my head and crossed them off until I incorporated them into the song,” Riepenhoff said. The list included more than 20 landmarks.

“I have a 2-year-old daughter, so the zoo is big for me,” Hayden said. “We try to go to the art museum and we try to go there — it’s one of the jewels of the city.”

Riepenhoff said he began writing, “You’re In Toledo, Baby!” with the chorus first, focusing on making it catchy and energetic — since The Wanna Bees, after all, is a project for kids.

“Typically, there’s not a lot of people who talk upbeat about the city,” Hayden said. “So we wanted to make it upbeat and not a ballad or something slow.”

Riepenhoff said the song came together during their second recording session.

“When you have the four guys hovering around the microphone and yelling ‘Oh your in Toledo Baby,’ it was a lot of fun and we were all laughing and having fun with that,” Riepenhoff said. “And then when you hear that on tape, you realize ‘Oh, this is pretty cool.’ By the end of the night, we were pretty proud of the song and felt that we had a chance in this contest.”

However, their recording process hit a minor hitch when Riepenhoff went to the studio to record the second verse.

“I didn’t realize I hadn’t written full lyrics for the second verse yet,” he said. “It was just like, ‘Oops.’ I started singing and I didn’t quite write that yet, just a piece of paper with ‘Jeep’ here and ‘Jamie Farr’ there. So, that was a group effort. We all had our list of Toledo trademarks that worked to incorporate into the song, so together we worked to write the second song.”

After 10 hours of recording, Hayden said he mastered and produced the song in his home studio. Riepenhoff turned in the contest entry just before deadline.

“Our intent was to write a commercial for the city of Toledo,” Riepenhoff said. “We wanted to write a song that you could listen to but at the same time visualize all the cool things that Toledo has to offer. I could totally see a video going right behind the song with The Wanna Bees hopping on a TARTA bus on a quest to get to a Mud Hens game Downtown.”

The Wanna Bees plan to release a CD, “Work Together,” this year. Follow the band at www.myspace.com/whatuwannabee.

- Toledo Free Press

For many parents, watching The Wiggles with their children is a chore. For Chuck Riepenhoff, it’s an inspiration. He created The Wanna Bees while watching a Wiggles video.The band’s debut CD, “Work Together,” was released Oct. 25.

“The idea of The Wanna Bees goes back to February 2002, when I was sitting around watching The Wiggles with my two boys,” Riepenhoff said. “At that time they were toddlers. Now they are a freshman and a sixth-grader. I had been in some bands where we’d write good catchy pop tunes before. I thought it was something we could do. Shortly thereafter, the concept of The Wanna Bees popped into my head with all the characters. Right along with that came songs; the theme song came pretty quick. The idea was that we’d be introducing careers to kids through catchy songs and dance.”

Riepenhoff has been playing in bands since college. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1995 with a degree in pharmacy.


“Whether out and about at bars and events or down in the basement writing songs, I’ve always had something musically going on,” he said.

“Work Together” introduces kids to careers through the characters Doctor Dan, Mailman Mike, Builder Brad and Officer Ollie, each with his own sidekick. The CD includes a theme song, a title track and a song from each character.

The band’s second album will introduce more characters, such as Fireman Freddy and Hydie Hose and Terry Teacher and Charlie Chalkboard. The project has a working title of “Dream Big.”

The concept for The Wanna Bees came to Riepenhoff while watching The Wiggles, but the comparisons stop there. He prefers to compare the band to more contemporary groups such as Barenaked Ladies and Weezer, and he describes the genre as “kindie” music. Riepenhoff envisioned The Wanna Bees as a video-based band but decided to record a CD after the songs started coming together.

“I had a group of musician friends that whenever I had song ideas, they’d come help me jam them out,” he said. “We worked the songs out in my basement. At first I felt this was more of a visual thing and that the songs couldn’t stand alone. I pictured putting together a DVD with the songs as a backdrop. We were working on a demo DVD. The more songs we wrote and input we got from other people, we realized they were catchy pop tunes and can be on a CD to just listen to and have fun with.”

The project stalled from 2003-07 as Riepenhoff and his friends got busy with other musical projects such as The Wow Factor and The Skoobie Snaks.

“We each found ourselves in other party bands doing events,” Riepenhoff said. “The Wanna Bees kind of took a backseat to that and got forgotten for about five or six years. After a while, those bands weren’t going to be playing routinely, so it got back in my head to finish this thing. We started refocusing on The Wanna Bees.”

Riepenhoff handled the majority of song-writing duties with Brad Bury contributing two songs. While his friends helped with the writing and recording, they are less inclined to participate in live shows.

“The live shows are either myself as Doctor Dan playing an acoustic set, or it will be Doctor Dan and a percussionist as another character,” Riepenhoff said. “It’s one thing to know musicians to write music with or play with, but it’s another to make them dress up in a fireman suit. I have a few people at my disposal for that.”

In 2009, The Wanna Bees finished in the top 5 of the Toledo Free Press Song of Toledo contest with its song “You’re in Toledo, Baby!” Last April, the band submitted a song and video to Fox Sports Detroit for the “April in the D” contest. The panel of judges, including Kid Rock, selected their song “Go (April in the D)” for the Top 10.

“We went to Detroit in front of Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena,” Riepenhoff said. “We were running around performing in full costume.”

Riepenhoff is exploring teaming up with another Toledo project called “Benny’s Kitchen” for a TV show. It would be called “Field Trip with Benny and The Bees.”

The Wanna Bees are performing Nov. 6 at the ProMedica Toledo Children’s Hospital “Kids Celebrity Wait Night.” The event starts at 5 p.m. at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle in Maumee. Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for children 12 and younger. Call (419) 291-2809 or email Carolyn.matthews@promedica.org for more information.

The CD is available locally at Culture Clash Records and RamaLama Records and online at CDBaby.com/CD/TheWannaBees and through music distributors such as iTunes and Amazon.

Visit Facebook.com/TheWannaBeesBand for more information. Contact Riepenhoff at thewannabees@bex.net.

- Toledo Free Press

For many parents, watching The Wiggles with their children is a chore. For Chuck Riepenhoff, it’s an inspiration. He created The Wanna Bees while watching a Wiggles video.The band’s debut CD, “Work Together,” was released Oct. 25.

“The idea of The Wanna Bees goes back to February 2002, when I was sitting around watching The Wiggles with my two boys,” Riepenhoff said. “At that time they were toddlers. Now they are a freshman and a sixth-grader. I had been in some bands where we’d write good catchy pop tunes before. I thought it was something we could do. Shortly thereafter, the concept of The Wanna Bees popped into my head with all the characters. Right along with that came songs; the theme song came pretty quick. The idea was that we’d be introducing careers to kids through catchy songs and dance.”

Riepenhoff has been playing in bands since college. He graduated from the University of Toledo in 1995 with a degree in pharmacy.


“Whether out and about at bars and events or down in the basement writing songs, I’ve always had something musically going on,” he said.

“Work Together” introduces kids to careers through the characters Doctor Dan, Mailman Mike, Builder Brad and Officer Ollie, each with his own sidekick. The CD includes a theme song, a title track and a song from each character.

The band’s second album will introduce more characters, such as Fireman Freddy and Hydie Hose and Terry Teacher and Charlie Chalkboard. The project has a working title of “Dream Big.”

The concept for The Wanna Bees came to Riepenhoff while watching The Wiggles, but the comparisons stop there. He prefers to compare the band to more contemporary groups such as Barenaked Ladies and Weezer, and he describes the genre as “kindie” music. Riepenhoff envisioned The Wanna Bees as a video-based band but decided to record a CD after the songs started coming together.

“I had a group of musician friends that whenever I had song ideas, they’d come help me jam them out,” he said. “We worked the songs out in my basement. At first I felt this was more of a visual thing and that the songs couldn’t stand alone. I pictured putting together a DVD with the songs as a backdrop. We were working on a demo DVD. The more songs we wrote and input we got from other people, we realized they were catchy pop tunes and can be on a CD to just listen to and have fun with.”

The project stalled from 2003-07 as Riepenhoff and his friends got busy with other musical projects such as The Wow Factor and The Skoobie Snaks.

“We each found ourselves in other party bands doing events,” Riepenhoff said. “The Wanna Bees kind of took a backseat to that and got forgotten for about five or six years. After a while, those bands weren’t going to be playing routinely, so it got back in my head to finish this thing. We started refocusing on The Wanna Bees.”

Riepenhoff handled the majority of song-writing duties with Brad Bury contributing two songs. While his friends helped with the writing and recording, they are less inclined to participate in live shows.

“The live shows are either myself as Doctor Dan playing an acoustic set, or it will be Doctor Dan and a percussionist as another character,” Riepenhoff said. “It’s one thing to know musicians to write music with or play with, but it’s another to make them dress up in a fireman suit. I have a few people at my disposal for that.”

In 2009, The Wanna Bees finished in the top 5 of the Toledo Free Press Song of Toledo contest with its song “You’re in Toledo, Baby!” Last April, the band submitted a song and video to Fox Sports Detroit for the “April in the D” contest. The panel of judges, including Kid Rock, selected their song “Go (April in the D)” for the Top 10.

“We went to Detroit in front of Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena,” Riepenhoff said. “We were running around performing in full costume.”

Riepenhoff is exploring teaming up with another Toledo project called “Benny’s Kitchen” for a TV show. It would be called “Field Trip with Benny and The Bees.”

The Wanna Bees are performing Nov. 6 at the ProMedica Toledo Children’s Hospital “Kids Celebrity Wait Night.” The event starts at 5 p.m. at The Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle in Maumee. Tickets are $35 for adults and $15 for children 12 and younger. Call (419) 291-2809 or email Carolyn.matthews@promedica.org for more information.

The CD is available locally at Culture Clash Records and RamaLama Records and online at CDBaby.com/CD/TheWannaBees and through music distributors such as iTunes and Amazon.

Visit Facebook.com/TheWannaBeesBand for more information. Contact Riepenhoff at thewannabees@bex.net.

- Toledo Free Press

Lineup: Chuck Riepenhoff as Doctor Dan on guitar and vocals; with various percussionists including Allen Spencer, Brad Bury, Chuck Mauk, or Rico Rosario as Officer Ollie, Mailman Mike, or Builder Brad. Who knows, Fireman Freddy or Heidi Hose might even show up!

Year formed: 2002

Sounds a little like: So what do you get when you put together the funky groove of "Hammer Hank", the country jangle of Builder Brad's "Getterdun!", the rockin' march to "Officer Ollie", and the power-pop feel of "Salute! Betty Badge!"? You get the wide variety of irresistible beats and head-bobbin' sounds that simply "Work Together" to make The Wanna Bees' debut album. With a crafty collection of catchy songs, The Wanna Bees are on a mission to make kids dance and sing along to up-tempo, pop/rock hits that families can fall in love with together.

Influences: Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, The Verve Pipe, Weezer

Favorite local venues: Any event, venue, festival, or party where kids have room to run and dance around, while parents can have the guilty pleasure of singing along to our catchy grooves. We would also like to connect with local restaurant/bars looking to do something different and unique to draw in kids and families.

Upcoming events: Walleye Madness in Port Clinton, New Year's Eve

Any recordings: Just released our debut CD "Work Together" this fall.

Web site: facebook.com/thewannabeesband. Check out the CD at cdbaby.com/cd/thewannabees


- Toledo Blade

Lineup: Chuck Riepenhoff as Doctor Dan on guitar and vocals; with various percussionists including Allen Spencer, Brad Bury, Chuck Mauk, or Rico Rosario as Officer Ollie, Mailman Mike, or Builder Brad. Who knows, Fireman Freddy or Heidi Hose might even show up!

Year formed: 2002

Sounds a little like: So what do you get when you put together the funky groove of "Hammer Hank", the country jangle of Builder Brad's "Getterdun!", the rockin' march to "Officer Ollie", and the power-pop feel of "Salute! Betty Badge!"? You get the wide variety of irresistible beats and head-bobbin' sounds that simply "Work Together" to make The Wanna Bees' debut album. With a crafty collection of catchy songs, The Wanna Bees are on a mission to make kids dance and sing along to up-tempo, pop/rock hits that families can fall in love with together.

Influences: Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, The Verve Pipe, Weezer

Favorite local venues: Any event, venue, festival, or party where kids have room to run and dance around, while parents can have the guilty pleasure of singing along to our catchy grooves. We would also like to connect with local restaurant/bars looking to do something different and unique to draw in kids and families.

Upcoming events: Walleye Madness in Port Clinton, New Year's Eve

Any recordings: Just released our debut CD "Work Together" this fall.

Web site: facebook.com/thewannabeesband. Check out the CD at cdbaby.com/cd/thewannabees


- Toledo Blade

A police office, a doctor, a teacher—just what do you Wanna Bee when you grow up? Join music-loving parents and their uber-cool children for a special in-store performance by the Wanna Bees on Saturday, January 21 at Culture Clash Records from noon-1 p.m.

At the heart of the Wanna Bees is Chuck Riepenhoff (a.k.a. guitarist Doctor Dan), who writes inspiring "kindie" music. His tunes are said to be made for kids, but enjoyed by all, and are known for their infectious melodies and easy-to-sing-along-with lyrics. A live Wanna Bees performance typically features the acoustic guitar riffs of Doctor Dan, backed by the steady beats of a percussionist named Officer Ollie (filled by a rotating cast of drummers). The line-up will soon grow to include Fireman Freddie on keyboards and Doctor Dan's friend, Henrietta Heart, singing back-up vocals.

The Wanna Bees originally formed back in 2002 when Riepenhoff's kids (who were 2 and 5 at the time) has a soft spot for The Wiggles.

"I was sitting around thinking to myself, 'I could do that!' meaning I felt I could write songs catchy enough to grab the attention of kids, and I don't mind getting a little goofy in front of the camera for the sake of entertainment," Riepenhoff said. "The Wiggles may have been an inspiration, however, I like to think our music is more rockin', poppin, funkin' and groovin', more in the vein of the Barenaked Ladies, Weezer and They Might Be Giants."

2011 was a busy year for The Wanna Bees. After releasing their first full-length album, Work Together, which features notable tracks like "Work Together," "What U Wanna Bee," and "Hammer Hank," they also wrote and recorded a song and music video for the Fox Sports Detroit April in the D contest, and were chosen as a Top 10 Finalist. Overall, playing as The Wanna Bees has been a rewarding ride.

"Playing a song that I wrote live, and having a crowd full of people sing it back to me is a pretty cool feeling," Riepenhoff said.

Don't miss The Wanna Bees live performance at Culture Clash Records, 4020 Secor Rd. on Saturday, January 21 at 12 p.m. Free. For more information, visit www.thewannabeesband.com. - Toledo.Com

A police office, a doctor, a teacher—just what do you Wanna Bee when you grow up? Join music-loving parents and their uber-cool children for a special in-store performance by the Wanna Bees on Saturday, January 21 at Culture Clash Records from noon-1 p.m.

At the heart of the Wanna Bees is Chuck Riepenhoff (a.k.a. guitarist Doctor Dan), who writes inspiring "kindie" music. His tunes are said to be made for kids, but enjoyed by all, and are known for their infectious melodies and easy-to-sing-along-with lyrics. A live Wanna Bees performance typically features the acoustic guitar riffs of Doctor Dan, backed by the steady beats of a percussionist named Officer Ollie (filled by a rotating cast of drummers). The line-up will soon grow to include Fireman Freddie on keyboards and Doctor Dan's friend, Henrietta Heart, singing back-up vocals.

The Wanna Bees originally formed back in 2002 when Riepenhoff's kids (who were 2 and 5 at the time) has a soft spot for The Wiggles.

"I was sitting around thinking to myself, 'I could do that!' meaning I felt I could write songs catchy enough to grab the attention of kids, and I don't mind getting a little goofy in front of the camera for the sake of entertainment," Riepenhoff said. "The Wiggles may have been an inspiration, however, I like to think our music is more rockin', poppin, funkin' and groovin', more in the vein of the Barenaked Ladies, Weezer and They Might Be Giants."

2011 was a busy year for The Wanna Bees. After releasing their first full-length album, Work Together, which features notable tracks like "Work Together," "What U Wanna Bee," and "Hammer Hank," they also wrote and recorded a song and music video for the Fox Sports Detroit April in the D contest, and were chosen as a Top 10 Finalist. Overall, playing as The Wanna Bees has been a rewarding ride.

"Playing a song that I wrote live, and having a crowd full of people sing it back to me is a pretty cool feeling," Riepenhoff said.

Don't miss The Wanna Bees live performance at Culture Clash Records, 4020 Secor Rd. on Saturday, January 21 at 12 p.m. Free. For more information, visit www.thewannabeesband.com. - Toledo.Com