It’s been a few months since local musicians Sam Lemos and Jean-Francois Thibeault have seen their friends dancing, jumping, singing and clapping at one of their live shows around town. Before the live performances shuttered, the duo performed in many shows and bands on and around the Las Vegas Strip. They have missed them so much, they created a little song to help kids to remember to use their imagination and get up and go every day!
Offstage they are dedicated fathers and have expanded their professional life to include kid-centric music, books, videos and a thrilling stage show. They miss performing for kids at The Smith Center and local libraries and schools.
“The main goals of our shows are to explore the nature of the imagination and its role in the creative process, the importance of being yourself, and the power of collaboration,” Lemos said. “We craft our shows so kids will learn something, stimulate their imaginations, and most importantly we’d hope we’ve helped them to feel more confident in their own ability to create out of their authentic selves!”
The busy dads, Lemos has two daughters and Thibeault two young sons, began the project with the goal of creating children’s entertainment that can be enjoyed by parents.
“We know all too well the way kids imbibe their media, and their proclivity toward repetition,” Lemos said. “If kids will ever want to play our music on repeat we would like it to be something parents would be happy, or at least content, to hear over and over again.”
The Nik Naks have a book to go along with the catchy tune “My Best Friend is a Monster,” that includes a 4-song CD.
“The song has a definite narrative to it and became the first of our musical ideas that we wanted to bring to life with images,” Lemos said. “JF lives down the street from a brilliant husband and wife visual art team, Mike and Dasha Biggs (of Biggs Studio), and our collaboration with them on the book happened very organically. The words in the book are the lyrics to the song verbatim, and the art gives a visual dimension to our story.”
Last year they completed tracks for a shoe company’s summer campaign that turned into a larger collaboration. The pediped® Footwear, created by Angela Edgeworth, are unique and beautifully designed shoes for kids.
“That developed into the creation of the music video for our song ‘Get Up & Go,’ which ended up being our first music video,” Lemos said. “It turned out really great and we’re incredibly grateful to pediped for helping us take the next step forward with our project.”
