Tribute to the Road Dogs

My granny is one badass mofo. You cannot beat the awesomeness that is her flabby grey self, but oh, like most people in my family, she was left outside when they revealed the skill of gift-giving. I have received many questionable gifts from this fair lady. Let's have a quick flashback to the horrors that have made their way to me through pink polka dotted wrapping & bows:

- A Britney Spears CD
- Ugg Boots
- Crocs
- A "Gooi Mielies" T-Shirt that read: 'Ouma se klein Bloubul' (Whaaaaa...????)
- A Kurt Darren CD
- Tickets to Justin Bieber

Now, I love my gran, but you can understand why I was less than enthusiastic when she visited last week & brought me another polka-dot wrapped surprise. She assured me that the man at the store promised I would love it. Much like he promised I would love 'Meisie, Meisie." Who is this idiot and why is he allowed to prey on delusional grandmothers like this? Off with his head I say!

So the pink little package was to be opened while darling Granny Rose stood by in anticipation. Well, this was a surprise all right. "Al Bairre?"



Turns out this 'man at the store' was my gran's neighbor who spends all his time on soundcloud.

I knew of this Indie masterpiece that was taking the South African music scene by storm. But, sadly, I had not had a chance to experience these 'aggressively unfancy' people. Listen to my genius fair people of the land! Listening to their music is like being inside a hipster's handbag; It's a very happy place.

Al Bairre consists of 5 very talented bonnies & bastards:

-Kyle Davis
-Tom Kotze
-Tessa Johnson
-Julia Johnson
-Nick Preen

Now there's no way for me to fairly say who plays what instrument, 'cause except for drummer Tom Kotze (as drumming is kind of a full time gig, using most of your limbs and such), everyone kind of plays everything. And they do have everything. Violin. Cello. Even ukulele.
Super talented twins Tessa & Julia is what got me though. And then I read that they're from Belville. Of course they're from Belville. Nothing else would make sense.

The name of the band was, as is completely expected, gnawing at my brain. It sounded French-ish? But Google translate did not agree. So I dumped the translate and just tried Google. I came across an article on 'Gray Matter' (A blog by Gray Kotze: http://graykotze.wordpress.com) that solved the mystery for me:

 “Tessa, as usual, was late”, describes Preen. “The twins live in Belville and they were driving to Hout Bay – where we reside. We were in a panic ‘cause we had a show later that night, so we were trying to get them to rush here. Tessa was talking on the phone – while smoking whatever she was smoking – and she drove over a dog somewhere along Constantia Neck. So she pulled over to see whether the dog was O.K. – it wasn’t O.K., ‘cause it was dead. On the collar of the dog’s tag was ‘Al Bairre’ so,ja, we felt that we had to name the band that now that the dog died. I suppose we’re actually a tribute band.”

Not how most bands get their names. Keeping it interesting. 

I think I'm a little in love with this band. Mostly because there music makes you feel like summer breezes. And daisy fields. And makes all the fucktards in the world melt into an awesome bowl of chocolate custard that tastes like rainbows & magic. You're training hipsters. You do realize that right?

Just to be more awesome, here's a video:

Now I'm gonna go dream of butterflies and caramel fountains in the glitter of the moonlight.



I really need to add more metal to my playlist.
Next track: AnythingGoryInvolvingOveruseOfTheWordFuck. Don't you dare turn me soft with your hippy tunes.

PS: You go Gran!

Peacexx