Kids Imagine Nation Throws a Party to Educate Children
Even by pre-pandemic standards, Aaron Bertram and Rachel Charest had an extraordinarily busy 2021. They performed approximately 700 shows as the pop-rock children’s band Kids Imagine Nation. Each season they write and star in a brand new, fully original stage musical for the toddler set. So far, they’ve primarily performed around Southern California, in places like Downtown Disney, Disneyland Resort, Legoland, and, currently, Santa’s Village, although they’re looking to expand and tour throughout the US or even other countries. They’ve released their fourth album, created and filmed a Kids Imagine Nation webseries, and are constantly doing live shows and classes on their website and social media (five times a week currently, although during lock-down, they upped it to twice daily). Like many working actors and musicians, they hustle incredibly hard.
Yet the bright, charming couple who greeted me on Zoom showed no signs of burn-out. In fact, to the contrary, they were more outgoing and energetic than I’ve ever been on a Monday morning at ten a.m. Both Bertram and Charest have the sheen and instant friendliness of someone who has worked extensively in theme parks and spent many hours talking to kids but without any whiff of the plastic phoniness that can sometimes accompany it. You can see why kids gravitate towards them.
Bertram and Charest – partners both in business and life – along with musician Vincent Walter, have been doing Kids Imagine Nation [KIN] for eight years, although it’s been their primary focus since 2018. Before that, Bertram and Walker toured with the California ska band Suburban Legends, and both Bertram and Charest taught music in pre-schools. Kids Imagine Nation started as a desire to combine their interests – rock and roll, musical theater, early childhood education, video production – into one project, the bedrock of which are its live shows.
“It’s participatory. We get the kids involved and a part of our infectious party,” Charest told me over Zoom, sitting outside of their Tiny House in the California sunshine, “sometimes parents say, ‘it’s like a rave for children.’” That vibe isn’t incongruous with KIN’s aesthetic. Between neon-hued outfits and some synth-heavy tunes, videos can occasionally feel The Wiggles crossbred with LMFAO. Yet the goal for Bertram and Charest is both a healthy mix of entertainment and education through storytelling.
Each original KIN live show has a theme and reoccurring characters, which are mirrored on their webseries and in their music videos. “In our stories, Kids Imagine Nation is sort of like a neighborhood watch where people call us via a magic hologram,” Bertram explained, “We go through the story of helping people with music and comedy.” They also post acoustic covers of movie songs and music lessons that introduce kids to the trumpet and other instruments.
Their recent album, “Best Day Ever,” is “basically an hour-long musical radio play with all new music and a storyline” that mirrors their live show. “If [kids] like the live show, they can go home and listen and vice versa,” Charest says, “People find us on YouTube and then come experience it in person, so it kind of creates the whole world that they can continue at home.” The songs on the 24-track album – which range from pop-punk-lite to kindergarten-friendly musical theater – are interspersed with scenes following the protagonist’s school day, from a science fair to a birthday party. The album’s goal was to “represent what we do live, so if somebody comes and sees us and then goes and listens to the album, they know each character and their little quirks. They’re already invested.”
Not one to rest, KIN is already working on a new album structured around a pre-school classroom’s circle time for both teachers and parents, as well as making new content for their website, KIN-TV, a “Netflix for Kids Imagine Nation.” Parents can subscribe to the site where their “stories and our music videos and past classes are being rotated through all day long.” They also do live-streamed shows where kids can interact via a chatbox. “We want to make sure that it’s, like us, interactive, energetic, and very personalized to the children that are watching,” according to Bertram.
Whether it’s live or live-streamed, both say performing is their favorite part of the process. As for audiences, Bertram told me with a laugh that it wasn’t a big adjustment going from the adult audience of a rock show to the kindergarten crowd. “We realized pretty quickly children are like adults. They’re there to have fun, and we just provide them with the avenue for that.”
You can find Kids Imagine Nation’s tour dates, videos, music and more on their website. You can also follow them on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. They will be performing at Santa’s Village in Skyforest, California throughout January.