Say hello to Cape Town’s indie-pop darlings, Al Bairre.
If you’ve heard their name making the rounds recently, good for you for paying attention. If you were one of the 24 000 people who watched their video for their tune ‘We Move On’, 1 giant *lick* for you.
And if you’ve paid to watch them in action then you’ll know that they’re most likely going to slay this year’s Oppikoppi. I caught up with the group pre-Koppi to chat dust, speedos and uuuh, Bewilderbeavers.
As a band playing Koppi for the first time, what are you most looking forward to?
The people. We’ve had some well-received shows up north this past month and I think because we don’t often get to play that side, people seem to give it their all when they come to watch us and that obviously gets us going and generally creates a memorable show. Other than that the line up is looking incredible, we’re super excited to see other artists we might not have been fortunate enough to see back in the Cape.
Oppikoppi is the biggest festival in the country, but it’s also the harshest when it comes to the elements. How well does your band deal with dust?
We’re actually not sure yet. Recently we were in Pretoria for Park Acoustics but came up a couple days early to experience the north without a rugged tour schedule and every morning Nicholas would wake up either coughing blood or with a nosebleed because of how much dryer it is up there compared to home. For a lead singer this isn’t the most amazing form of vocal warm ups but he seemed okay when it came time to perform. It seems Alcohol acts a cure to almost anything when on tour but we’re not completely sure about dust.
What are your 5 essential Koppi items?
We’ve been receiving advice all week and it seems the essential Items are a tennis ball, beach bats, snorkel, goggles and speedo.
If you could duet with 1 other act playing at Koppi, who would it be and why?
Finley Quaye, because then we’d be able to watch him perform from on stage.
Out of all the international acts playing this year, which one are you most amped for?
Finley, He’s been on repeat ever since we heard he was confirmed.
This year’s Koppi is all about the BewilderBeast, what would your band’s BewilderBeast be?
BewilderBeaver
Describe in 5 words what kind of music you make.
Exquisite hegemonic symphonic indie pop.
And before you go when and where are you playing at Koppi?
~ Saturday 12.00 – James Williams Stage ~
