Early childhood learning just found its cool kid status. The Punk Rock Socks have moved into town and shaking up learning in a big way.
Look out, Sesame Street, there’re some new kids on the block, and they mean business. The Punk Rock Socks are Australia’s latest team of pre-school entertainers, and they have a new way of making learning fun. Punk rock!
The Punk Rock Socks are the brainchild of New Zealand born punk-loving brother and sister team Samuel Walters (aka Gerry) and Jolene Young (aka Sheena) along with Jolene’s Aussie husband and musician, Adam Young (aka Vern). The NZ/Sydney-based team have combined their passions in the best possible way. They’ve given our young minds a creative outlet to learn from combined with the addictive energy of punk rock music.
The trio came up with the idea when soon to be parents, Jolene and Adam, were looking for fun educational outlets for children. When Samuel suggested, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a punk rock band that did children’s songs”, the seeds were planted. Once the momentum started and the three imagined the possibilities, the whole concept came together quickly.
Samuel recently spoke to Punktuation Magazine and remembered the moment well. “When we first started talking about this, I thought, ‘how would you do it? We could do something like The Wiggles and dress up.’” Their first idea was to keep the Australian concept with an echidna costume. How punk are spikes, right? However, keeping the idea simple but effective was key. Samuel remembers, “We thought, how hard is it to make an adult-sized echidna costume. Then someone came up with, ‘How about we do sock puppets? We could do that.”
Within days their creative department, Jolene, had come up with sketches for the sock puppets. Within a week, she had created the first sock puppet and sent the photos to Samuel and Adam. The reality and excitement of what they were about to embark on set in. “It was brilliant,” remember Samuel. “We got some little guitars and fixed them onto the puppets.” In such a short time from the original concept spawning, The Punk Rock Socks had become a reality.
The creativity of the team doesn’t end with Jolene’s design skills. Adam is a talented musician, and Samuel is a creative writer; in the past, he tried his hand at writing children’s stories. Through this creative outlet, Samuel had a friend who was a gifted artist. He approached him to create the backdrop of the video’s they were about to film for the project’s launch. The whole idea was coming together in true punk DIY style.
With their custom-designed classroom background, The Punk Rock Socks filmed their first video, the Counting Song. They pinned the image to the wall, put a camera on a tripod, Adam and Samuel were the sock puppeteers, and the track played in the background. “Adam’s written all the music. He’s done all those cool punk riffs and drum beats,” says Samuel. They sang as a group, their first four educational punk rock songs for kids evolved in one afternoon.
With one video releasing a week, this exciting new concept in early childhood learning is quickly causing a stir. With their Facebook page picking up momentum fast, one new fan sharing the post with original Red Wiggle, Murray Cook and commenting, ‘Hey Murray, look at some young competition that’s coming your way.’
Look out Wiggles, your newest competition is here and ready for a Wiggles/Punk Rock Socks playoff.
You can follow The Punk Rock Socks on their YouTube Channel and Facebook.
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Everyone should have a soundtrack playing loudly in the background of their life. I was born moshing to my own beat and have never swayed from my love of music. Spreading my passion through the written word is my soul’s purpose. My punk heart beats loudly with the rhythm of my rock soul. I plan to continue to mosh like no one gives a shit.
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