The men of Hi-5 are a hit with the kids - and their mothers, reports Jacqueline Maley.
MEET HI-5
Saturday, 11.30am-1pm
Cinema Plaza, Fox Studios, Lang Road, Moore Park
Free
More information: Hi-5 is on Channel 9 weekdays at 3.30pm
Hi-5 have released a DVD called Come On and Party. But when they say "party", they don't mean a bath full of ice, cigarette butts on the carpet and a visit from the cops at 1am.
"We're all pretty good people," says member Charli Delaney. "We don't do wild things, so we're all suited to being in a kids' group."
Trying to find the dark side of Hi-5, comprising Delaney and other peachy-keen members Tim Harding, Kathleen de Leon, Nathan Foley and Kellie Hoggart, is like divining for water in the Simpson Desert.
As any six-year-old will tell you, Hi-5 have the cult popularity of a top rock act. Just like rock stars, they're in and out of the recording studio, constantly on the road and trying to break into the lucrative British market.
Yet they freely admit they don't have the lifestyle to match.
"Kids pick up on honesty," Delaney says. "If we were a kids' band by day and some morbid awful thing by night, kids would pick up on the dishonesty."
What about band rivalry? Is there any Oasis/Blur-style tension between Hi-5 and, say, the Wiggles? No again.
"We usually see [the Wiggles] around the ARIAs or the Logies," Delaney says. "We catch up with them a bit and they seem like lovely guys."
Hi-5's new DVD features segments and songs from series five of the group's eponymous show, all with an emphasis on celebrating and partying - in entirely lawful ways, of course.
Hi-5 have just returned from some rare time off after recording their latest album. They will shortly go back to the television studio and embark on an Australian tour later this year. Hi-5 also tour extensively overseas.
Like rock gods, the group attract their share of groupies. Hi-5 have a devoted set of teenage fans who follow them from gig to gig. All the group members have been propositioned. Harding was recently proposed to with a macaroni necklace and the two male members are reportedly quite popular with the mums.
Harding says that the best part of the job is seeing the pleasure Hi-5 bring to children. They often visit critically ill children, whose dying wish is to see them.
"I've found myself trying to keep it together," Harding says. "When you're actually able to go into a hospital and you see that what you're doing is making a difference in their young lives, it puts everything into perspective."
If there's a downside to the job, it's not snotty children or pushy parents, it's the amount of time they have to devote to it.
"Sometimes you can get a bit frustrated," Harding says.
But probably not frustrated enough to trash a hotel room or throw a TV out of a window.