POPULAR children’s entertainers and YouTube sensation the Mik Maks will return to Swan Hill in October.
In what is a family affair, brothers Joel and Al McInnes are joined on stage by Joel’s 15-year-old daughter Ava performing songs that have become popular through the group’s hit YouTube channel.
Drums the panda, a long-time friend of the brothers and always a popular character with the children, will be drumming up a storm.
Joel and Al, former teachers, grew up in the farming districts of western Victoria and much of their music has a country and farming theme running through it, reflecting their upbringing.
YouTube has given the group worldwide exposure with more than seven million subscribers, and they have more than six billion streams of the 300 clips on the platform.
Al McInnes said the Mik Maks always asked parents after the show where they found the band’s music and the answer was usually YouTube.
“That’s where kids go to these days to enjoy music,” he said.
“As far as our audience goes on the channel, Australia only makes up about 1.5 per cent of our YouTube viewership.”
This will be the fourth time the group have performed in Swan Hill and after last year’s performance Joel McInnes said they had noticed a marked increase in the confidence of the children in the town as they got up to dance with each other.
“It’s great having a worldwide audience, it’s a huge honour but it also comes with tremendous responsibility that we are delivering quality content that is engaging, colourful and educational that can also be understood and comprehended by a global audience is a challenge,” Joel said.
“Although we do a lot of major events in Melbourne, we really love getting bush and going out to smaller communities and getting back to roots.
“The whole family jump on the bus and away we go.
“We love performing far wide and remotely and we love coming to Swan Hill.”
Al McInnes said other members of the family helped with merchandise and the social media business.
“It really is a big family thing,” he said.
