The Beanies
The Beanies are an Australian children's music group, formed in 2016. The band consists of three theatre performers, Canberra-born Laura Dawson and Miriam "Mim" Rizvi, and Newcastle-born Michael Yore. The group have drawn acclaim and garnered an Australian Podcast Award for their educational podcast of the same name, and their second album was nominated for an ARIA Award. About. The Beanies were formed in Sydney in 2016. As a response to the rising usage of tablets and smartphones amongst young children, the group aimed to produce Australian-made children's entertainment which encourages creativity and  imagination without the use of screens. They write and produce all their own material, in collaboration with Sydney-based composer and music producer James Court. In October 2018, The Beanies premiered their one-act musical for children, entitled "The Beanies' Eggs-traordinary Day", at the Sydney Fringe Festival, which has since been performed at various regional locations throughout NSW. The group performs regularly at fairs, festivals, and community events Australia-wide, including shows at City Recital Hall and the Australia Day Sydney Children's Festival, and their episodes and songs are broadcast internationally. The trio has also been guests on  ABC's Weekend Breakfast, Channel 9's Today and Weekend Today, several parenting and productivity podcasts, and at Australian podcast conference OzPod. In early 2020, The Beanies were signed to the ABC Kids music label, who released their fourth album in April of that year. The group also began live-streaming concerts, due to live shows being postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and released a single called "Quarantunes" during that time. In July of that year, the group also moved their podcast to the Podcast One network, which has since rebranded to LiSTNR. The group also maintains a YouTube channel , where they release music videos, comic sketches, and concert livestreams. Members. The Beanies consists of Laura Dawson (Laura Beanie), Miriam Rizvi (Mim Beanie), and Michael Yore (Michael Beanie & Professor Know-It-All). The three also play all of the characters in the podcasts. Singer and drummer Brendan Paul occasionally performs with the group (as understudy Brendan Beanie), as does James Court as keyboardist and 'Music Wizard'. For larger concerts, the trio perform with the 'Big Beanie Band' - a live band which consists of a number of Sydney-based session musicians including Court on keyboards, Rachel North on saxophone/clarinet, Michael  Napoli on guitar, Amanda Jenkins on bass, and Brendan Paul on drums. Podcast. With the support of the Mamamia Podcast Network, The Beanies produced ten 15-minute podcast episodes, which were released in April 2017. A second season was confirmed soon after, with sponsorship from Kinderling Kids Radio, and was released in December 2017. A third season was released in July 2018, and in its leadup a series of mini-episodes, Beanies Breakthroughs, were released weekly. Since the fourth season, released in late 2019, the podcast has expanded to include three separate formats: The podcast is currently produced on an  ongoing schedule, with a 'Kids News' episode released every Monday, and 'Story Time' and 'Show & Tell' alternating fortnightly on Fridays. As of January 2022, the podcast consists of over 70 regular 'Story Time' episodes and have amassed in excess of 1.5 million downloads from over 30 different countries. Each episode of The Beanies podcast is written, performed, and edited entirely by The Beanies. Music. The Beanies' songs and albums are produced independently, and released on the ABC Music label. All tracks have lyrics by Dawson, Rizvi, and Yore, with music composed and produced by James Court. As of August 2021 , The Beanies' songs have collectively been streamed over a million times. Awards. In 2018, The Beanies were winners of an Australian Podcast Award for their eponymous podcast, in the category Best Podcast for Family and Kids. The group was nominated again in 2019 in the same category. In 2019, the group's second album, "Imagination Station", was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Children's Album, but lost to Dan Sultan for "Nali & Friends".