When hard lockdown was introduced a month later, Darren said they “had time to play around at home, get recording software” and make music. They had met their producer, Denholm Harding of South Africa’s hit rock band Just Jinger, in February 2020, a month before COVID-19 hit. “Lockdown brought a lot of inspiration,” said Justin. With this multifaceted lifestyle, it is no surprise that they broke from the norm with their reaction to the pandemic too. “All of them are fulltime but we are managing,” said Justin, clearly exhilarated by their hectic schedule as he rattles off how they had filmed a music video until 11pm the previous night, were up at 5am to train with a boxing coach to perfect their moves for another music video to be filmed that weekend, and were dashing off to Rustenburg the next day to meet with mining companies about Gaztron. The twins signed a licensing deal with Sony Music Entertainment Africa, which gives them the exclusive right to distribute Alter Ego’s music, particularly their hot property, the album #SkreeNetSag, released in mid-March. They are the founding executive directors of a company, Gaztron, that converts vehicles to run on gas they take part in competitive motorsports and although they maintain all three take precedence and none are a side-hustle the enterprise that is taking over most of their time is their band, Alter Ego. “It doesn't matter what you do in life and what I end up doing (but) I wouldn’t like being average,” said Justin.

They pride themselves on being independent thinkers who don’t choose obvious paths, and are happy as long as it leads to success. And they enjoy that, negating any suggestion they might have chosen UP because it was a natural progression from attending Afrikaans Boys’ High School (Affies) in Pretoria. Nothing about the Oates brothers, 25, fits a mould.

Being alumni makes the twins, mechanical engineering graduates of the class of 2019, very proud – but that’s where any attempt to group them with others stops. Darren and Justin Oates are among the 304 239 graduates of the University of Pretoria (UP).

What year is my singer 304