Tricycle Music Fest is chugging along nicely and has proven to be pretty awesome thus far. This weekend The Hipwaders, another beloved Bay Area band, will be joining this year’s exciting Kindie lineup.

Catch one or both of the following shows:

• Saturday, September 21 at 11am, Redwood City Fair Oaks Library
• Saturday, September 21 at 3pm, Presidio Branch Library

This energetic trio has acquired quite a name for themselves in the Kindie music scene with their catchy power pop that speaks from a kids perspective. They take their music seriously and have created a series of videos that also prove their dedication to providing a wholly entertaining experience for audience members of all ages.

I recently had a chance to catch up with the lead singer, Tito Uquillas, who shared what inspired him to write his first kids’ song and some thoughts on the importance of making videos.

“As a kid, I was always drawing, painting or attempting some sort of three-dimensional sculpture or craft of some sort.  As an adult (and father), I would always use the family camcorder with the mindset of “telling a story” while filming the kids at an outing or during holidays. The first time I actually set out to write a kids’ song was when I wrote, “Song of the Paleo Pirates.” I only wrote the song because I needed some music to go along with the video I wanted to make of my son’s dinosaur and pirate toys.”

Uquillas continues, “My kids have always enjoyed watching music videos and when opportunities have arose for [The Hipwaders] to have some made for us, we’ve jumped at the chance.  We’ve had high school students make some of our videos and, of course, Planet Sunday has created some wonderful animated videos. I think it’s important for Kindie artists to create a visual component for kids when it comes to their music.  Videos can enhance a story or concept that some kids can’t fully enjoy just by listening to the lyrics.”

You can enjoy a series of Hipwaders’ videos below, including the video for the song that inspired it all.