People stop to sit and watch from the other side of the road

WHEN the sun comes out in Dartmouth Park, there’s a good chance of catching an impromptu gig from the balcony above a shop on the corner of Highgate Road.

On the first warm spring day in north London last week, Kish and Peps Bahra – brothers behind the band Paisley Daze – dragged their instruments through the window to play.

Fans and passers-by sat on the patch of grass in front of Highgate Road Chapel, opposite the 312 Natural food shop, to enjoy the music and evening sun, just as they did this time last year when the brothers first played from the balcony.

Peps, 28, told the New Journal: “We weren’t planning on doing it last week. We were rehearsing the whole day and it was still sunny at 6pm, so we just thought, f**k it. We love being out there – any chance we get, we’re out there.

“We love the Beatles and we’ve been watching their rooftop concert since we were kids, so we always wanted to do something similar. The drum kit fits through the window, so the stars aligned.”

The Paisley Daze on the rood and, below, back on the ground

The brothers grew up in Hong Kong and moved to London for university, but their Punjabi heritage is part of what made them obsessed with music from an early age.

“Our grandad was heavily involved in temple music, and we would always go with him and sit on his lap while he was playing Indian instruments,” said Peps.

Both Peps and Kish play several instruments now, and though they had guitar lessons when they were small children, that one took a while for them to get into.

“Our teacher hated us because we just wanted to strum,” said Peps.

“We left it for a bit, and then my brother started teaching himself. When he left for uni I was really upset – it’s losing your best friend, you know – so I would just sit in his room with all his guitars and that led me to start learning how to play my favourite songs.”

The dream, he added, is to quit their day jobs and be “the best band in north London” – they’re not too fussed about being famous, as long as they can create music full-time.

Catch Paisley Daze al fresco in the meantime, then, before they get too big for the balcony.

Paisley Daze’s next gig is at the Old Blue Last in Shoreditch on 30 April.