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Cover of a book including enslave the Mollusk

Enslave the Mollusk (called Fear the Mollusk in the TV show) is a neighborhood garage band consisting of Nate Wright, Francis Pope, Teddy Ortiz, and Artur Pashkov. Nate is the founder of the band. When they began their musical career, before Artur came, Nate appointed himself as lead singer and drummer, with Francis on guitar and Teddy on keyboard.

Imfage

Artur Finally singing falsetto

Nate proved to be a poor singer after singing "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" by AC/DC. Artur came over during their rehearsal, and unknowingly insulted Nate's falsetto, he was allowed to join after a spectacular performance of "I Fought the Law" by The Crickets. Nate was still allowed to be in the band, but was forced to settle with playing the drums. Nate once sang for them at their school dance, but got stage fright, making their performance of "Heart of Gold" just an instrumental, as seen in Big Nate: Here Goes Nothing.

History[]

Music[]

As of what we know about Enslave the Mollusk, we do know some about the music they play. During their early days, the band only has four original songs, including "Hot Cross Buns", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "It's a Pen's world, and I'm a #2 Pencil" and "Wipe Out".  They are barely good at Baa Baa Black Sheep, only getting good at the song by the time Artur quit the band. They do play cover songs, though, by bands like The Beatles or AC/DC.

They ended up being quite good at "Heart of Gold", as they said they had practiced it heaps, but Nate came up with a bout of stage fright once, so it unknown how good at it they really are. The also played "Twist and Shout", but they are not very good at it, because when they played it, Teddy thought they were playing the theme from "Kung Fu Panda", and Francis thought it was just a sound check.

Start of the Band[]

On September 24, 2007, Nate mentioned that a high school band called The Distempers played at the Spring Dance. He wanted Francis, Teddy and him to make a band as well. So Nate picked the name Enslave the Mollusk and started to rehearse in Nate's garage. One day, Artur came to rehearsal and sang a song called "I Fought The Law" when Nate sounded like a wounded animal. Francis and Teddy thought he was a better singer than Nate, so they asked him to join Enslave the Mollusk. Nate was still allowed in the band, but as the drummer. Since he used to bonk on his head with an empty plastic bottle, he revealed himself a good drummer. (This story was revisited in the book "Big Nate: In The Zone" as a comic by Nate.)

End of the Band[]

On April 6, 2009, Artur quit Enslave the Mollusk because his parents wanted to focus on schoolwork.  After this, Francis and Teddy also quit, since the band wasn't fun anymore and they weren't very talented anyway. Nate decided to focus on a solo career, playing the trombone.

Nate has tried to get the band back together on some occasions to play at local shows or school dances. He often is discouraged, though, when Francis and Teddy insist on still letting Artur sing every time Nate asked them.

Many times Enslave the Mollusk has disbanded and re-formed.

Reformation[]

On 8 December 2010, the "Under the Sea" dance comes up at P.S. 38, and Nate suggests that the band reunite to play the dance. However, during the dance the power went out, and the band resorted to Nate doing a drum solo, which ended with him poking himself in the eye with his drumstick, and Artur playing kazoo. It is unsure if the band is officially over, since it is scarcely mentioned in later comic strips.

Enslave the Mollusk has a big role in the sixth Big Nate novel book, called Big Nate: In The Zone. Francis and Teddy seemed to have gained interest in the band, since they weren't bothered anymore when Nate started talking about it. Principal Nichols asked Nate to write a song with the band and play it at the assembly the next day. But during the rehearsal, Artur found an insulting note from Nate, with some of the names being "Fart Bucket," "Barf-o-matic,"and "Pea Brain", so Artur got mad and left the band again.

This time, Francis and Teddy let Nate sing and drum at the same time, since they think Francis has a horrible voice and Teddy can't sing while playing the keyboard since he's too spazzy to do both. At the assembly, Nate got stage fright again and forgot the lyrics, so Francis sang instead of him. The show ended up being a failure, with all the students laughing at the band, especially Nate.

Later, Nate speaks with Artur to convince him to rejoin Enslave the Mollusk, and admits they're better with him. Artur yields, so the band decided to play at the assembly again. They performed the same song as in the previous reunion, but with different lyrics and Artur singing. They had also brought on Chad Applewhite and Marcus Goode, aka "Joe Popular" a popular seventh grader, as guests. Chad bonked on Marcus' head with an empty plastic bottle at the end of the song. This time, the show was a success.

Members[]

  • Nate (Drums and Vocals)
  • Francis (Guitar)
  • Teddy (Keyboards)
  • Artur (Vocals)

Other Members[]

  • Chad (light show, oboe)
  • Dee Dee (Backing vocals)
  • Spitsy (Bass and Backing vocals)

Different names[]

  • Normal - Enslave the Mollusk
  • Fear the Mollusk (TV show)
  • Enslave the Mollusks (Nate's suggestion)
  • The Bobcat Boys (Francis's suggestion)
  • Nate's Nimrods (Franklin's original idea)
  • The Distempers

Behind the Scenes[]

In some books, the band has more original songs. Nine song titles are mentioned throughout the book. Some songs include “Why do They Call it Hot Lunch When my Meatloaf is so Cold”.

Trivia[]

  • The band's name has commonly been mistaken for a different name.
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