South African indie rock quartet The Parlotones are due to touch down on Australian soil for the first time in October for the One Movement Festival. Since forming in 2003, they’ve become South Africa’s biggest-selling rock band and have played at significant events such as Live Earth, Coke Fest, SXSW, Africa Day and the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. The Parlotones’ singer/guitarist Kahn Morbee found the time to answer some of Andrew McMillen’s questions following a hectic European tour schedule.

First, how’s the current tour going? I was snooping through the band’s Twitter account (@parlotones) and you seem to be having a blast.

The tour is over and was a blast. It’s winter back home, so soaking up the European summer was great. The shows were packed and the response felt like a home show.

Whose idea was it to start using Twitter?

Probably our manager’s. I think all the networking mediums are great. Things like Twitter allow the fans to live vicariously through their favourite artists and follow their progress without having to be physically present.

Do you find it difficult to live life ‘on the road’? Who cuts the grass at your South African home when you’re not there?

That’s the difficult part. We tend to neglect our personal lives and try pick up the pieces when we have some ‘home’ time. The hardest part is missing out on the special occasions of friends and family. However, we love what we do and the negatives very quickly fade into the background

Was there a particularly memorable moment in The Parlotones’ history when you realised that you could live off your craft? I read that you opened for mainstream South African bands like Prime Circle for free, while you gradually won a fanbase.

We opened for years for free just to establish a name. About three years ago we knew we’d reached a level where we could purely focus on our music. We can never attribute an element of success to one moment or event, it’s really been a sum of the parts.

What was your day job before you ran away do join the rock circus?

Bored millionaire - haha!

If I researched correctly, the band hasn’t played in Australia. Any particular reason?

We haven’t yet. I guess we had interest from other territories and so explored those ones first. We’re really excited to play in Australia. Thanks for your time!

Check out the great animated video for their 2008 single ‘Overexposed‘ below, ahead of  The Parlotones’ debut Australian performance at October’s One Movement Festival.