Advertisement

Jedward blow into Perth

Forget keeping up with the Kardashians - try keeping up with Irish twin pop sensations Jedward.

In a phone interview experience surely like no other, the exceedingly fast-talking, high- energy duo - aka John and Edward Grimes - veer off course and go off on tangents at astonishing speed.

And like the Kardashians, the exhaustingly random but endearingly fun-loving 22-year-olds - who were speaking to AAA from Sydney during a recent promotional visit to spruik their upcoming Australian tour which opens in Perth - are masters of seemingly impromptu self-promotion.

"Right now we're in black-and- white and look really cool - John's wearing white Converse and I'm wearing black Converse..." Edward says, just in case anyone was wondering.

Then there's the unstoppable celebrity name-dropping.

"We're friends with Roberto Cavalli ... we met him on a St Tropez yacht and he said 'You guys are totally different and have a really unique energy'," Edward says.

There's also the time they were invited by Britney Spears to join her on stage in London, the time they bought Ed Sheeran *a studded jacket as a birthday gift, the time they got their own flashy blue jackets signed by Paul McCartney who then put them on the phone to fashion designer daughter Stella, and the time they provided the in-flight entertainment for pop starlet Demi Lovato.

"She was wiping off her make-up and we went over to talk to her and had her laughing for ages," one of the twins says. "We gave her our CDs and I think she went home and listened to them."

Since shooting to stardom via Britain's The X Factor in 2009, the Grimes brothers have released three albums - their first single Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) featuring Vanilla Ice debuted at No. 1 in their native Ireland and No. 2 in the UK charts.

They have also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and were voted to represent the Emerald Isle in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 and 2012.

Aiding their rapidly growing celebrity is a fiercely faithful fan base.

A recent online report claimed a 49-year-old British woman had postponed a lifesaving kidney transplant to see the twins in concert.

It's a level of devotion that's certainly not lost on team Jedward, who describe their fans as a "tattoo of our lyrics and songs".

"We had a fan who spent over £30,000 ($50,300) on Jedward tickets," Edward says.

"A lot of fans print out like 1000 leaflets and go around to the local shops to promote us."

Bullied at school in their previous life, the twins - who say they are currently single - have never made any apologies for their idiosyncrasies.

They now serve to inspire their worldwide legion of fans to do the same.

"Just because everyone else is doing the same thing, it doesn't mean you have to be that way," John says.

"You can kind of break out and it doesn't mean you are different or weird, it just means you are doing your own thing."