There isn’t enough happy, groovy music in the world. In fact, apart from “Don’t Worry Be Happy”, it seems to be extinct – or at least, it was. Al Bairre have brought their unique brand of happy awesomeness to our ears for the last three years and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down, which makes me even happier.

By Kyle Gregorowski

Published Sunday, 28 June 2015 15:40

We asked them about pets, tunes, and thumb wars against Van Coke Kartel. I personally guarantee that this will bring a smile to your face.

What makes you smile?

Toilet humour.

What’s the weirdest mispronunciation of your name you’ve ever heard?

Dj Moosa once introduced us at Ox Braai as “LA Blur”. A good name actually.

You guys have come a long way in 3 years – what’s the secret to your success?

We are just flipping lucky. We are always in the right place at the right time. I think it’s because we all carry a rabbit’s foot, have the letter 7 in our names, wear horseshoes and have all found at least one four-leaf clover in our lifetime.

Although your music initially comes across as jovial and light, you do touch on some darker tonal areas. Would you attribute that to your 80’s influences?

No, I think we all just like to dance and have a jolly time at shows so when we write songs we usually write them with the live performance in mind. So the songs always start out happy but then one of us will say “hey guys, I think this would be a fabulous spot in the song for that dark tonal area”. And they are usually right. So that’s why our songs do that.

What do you think of the current indie scene in South Africa?

We think it’s gorgeous. Everyone dresses so well. Looks so good.

We love the way you bring in unexpected instruments – are you all classically trained or does it come naturally?

The Twins are classically trained since they were 3 years old. They used to do music competitions as a duet and would win every time. They have so many trophies. You’ve gotta see it, you’ve just gotta.

Kyle and Nic will say they are classically trained if you ask them.

Success brings with it the need to progress musically without straying away from the sound that your fans enjoy. How do you balance this tension?

We haven’t been worrying about that yet. But now that you bring it up, maybe we should. I think the combo of Nic and The Twins‘ voice is part of our sound that people enjoy and that will never change. Also, we love dancing too much so the energy and fun will always be there.

But we also get sad. So maybe there will be some sadness there too.

Cats or dogs?

Dogs. Kyle’s cat vomits too much. It’s off-putting.

Lastly, who would win in a thumb war between you and Van Coke Kartel?

We would. They act tough, but we’ve seen their thumbs.