KEY POINTS:
Bic Runga has a lovely smile - not that we get to see it much. Her album covers are beautiful but solemn. And her concerts are a mix of passion and timidity with the occasional shy sparkle.
Today, though, sitting on a picnic rug among the vines of a West Auckland vineyard, for a photo shoot and interview with her older sister, Boh, she's beaming and at times giggly.
"She makes me laugh," says Bic.
"I'm extremely funny," offers Boh with a smile.
"You are. Yep, you're one of the funniest girls I know. Maybe the funniest."
"Gosh. Thanks. I don't know if that's good or bad."
They're teaming up for the Bic Runga Acoustic Winery Tour which takes in seven vineyards around New Zealand, starting with Ascension in Matakana on Sunday and Monday. The first show is already sold out.
"It just seemed like a good idea," says Bic of the tour, "and they're beautiful places and there'll be good food and good wine."
The pair get on well, even though they admit they're quite different - even down to the wines they like. Bic prefers red (Two Paddocks Last Chance pinot noir from Sam Neill's Central Otago vineyard is her pick) and Boh white (the Trinity Hill viognier from Hawkes Bay is "yum", apparently.).
However, during the summer months they're both fond of a glass or two of rose.
Personality wise Boh (35) is the party girl and the bolshie, strong one. The staunch Maori girl - with pursed lips and a challenging tone to her voice - comes out a few times during the photo shoot and interview.
Bic (31) is the quiet, polite homebody, and the slightly eccentric one who counts crazed Puerto Rican prog-rockers the Mars Volta, as one of her favourites.
"I'm the youngest but Boh seems younger. You go out more than I do," she says of her sister.
"That's because you never leave the house," laughs Boh.
"Yeah well, that's because I'm cultivating a weirdo vibe. You should try it. People leave you alone," she sniggers.
Of the three Runga siblings - middle sister Pearl is a teacher and also "such an amazing singer" - it's Bic and Boh who are the closest because they live in the same city and see each other more often.
"We do spend a lot of time together. So yeah, we're close, definitely," says Bic.
"But we're not huggy, kissy close," adds Boh. With this she starts hassling the Herald photographer for making them cuddle each other when he was taking photos.
"Don't live out your fantasies through me buddy," she laughs.
Apart from a joint radio chat to promote the winery tour this is the first time the sisters have done an interview together.
It's fair to say Bic is by far the bigger star. Boh has sold a few albums herself, with her band Stellar* notching up sales of nearly 100,000 across three albums. But that's nothing compared to Bic's close to 320,000 sales of her three albums - Drive (105,000); Beautiful Collision (165,000); and Birds (45,000) - in New Zealand. And overseas she's sold more than 250,000 copies, toured extensively, has lived for stints in New York, Paris and London, and made fans of both Elton John and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.
So how does the older sister feel about being in the shadow of the younger? She's pretty chuffed by it all, actually. She remembers how excited she was when Bic charted in Ireland ("I thought, 'Who am I going to tell?"'), and, even better, when she first saw American Pie, which includes the song Sway from Bic's debut album Drive.
"It's in the part of the film where everyone gets lucky and it's just so weird to hear a song that I knew so well from someone that I know so well in this huge movie."
But she's also honest about why she thinks Bic is successful.
"I think with Bic her music has a much broader appeal. They are really timeless, classic, beautiful songs. But with what I do, I think I'm much more pop and immediate. That's probably the way I am in personality too."
"I really liked your first album," deadpans Bic. "I remember being overseas and playing it lots. That was really cool, having your sister round and that's one of nicest things about being a musician when you know someone who has made an album and you have it with you and it's kind of like a privileged insight into the music.
"I'm really interested in what makes a good song," she continues. "It's sort of got to be predictable enough but not too predictable, and there's one bit that's so seamlessly made that it's kind of complex but it doesn't seem that way."
Boh: "You know when you've written something satisfying and everything works well together and it pleases your ear."
The Rungas, from Christchurch, were a musical family. Their mother Sophia, who bought Bic a set of drums when she was 11, was a lounge singer and father, Joseph (who passed away a few years ago), was an Army man who loved music. You could say music was in the blood and they started writing songs from an early age.
"I don't think I'd be a songwriter if Boh hadn't have told me that you could actually do that," says Bic.
Boh: "Did I say that?"
Bic: "Yeah, when I was 6 you used to say let's go and write some songs."
Boh wrote tunes called Boysenberry Jam and Teddy Bear Teddy Bear while Bic came up with ditties like Snow Flake, on which she accidentally ripped off Born Free. Some of these songs they recorded and their dad kept the tapes.
"It's some of my finest work," laughs Boh.
There are also other memories of growing up in Christchurch, especially at Kairaki Beach, just out of the city near Kaiapoi, where they went tadpoling, made treehuts, and had cherry fights with the neighbours.
"It was like a full-on red war. We were little tomboys, really," says Boh. "Dad always told us we could do anything we wanted to do and to look after ourselves and be tough. You know, a good Army upbringing."
As kids Bic copied everything Boh did. She calls her older sis one of her idols.
"I thought you were incredibly annoying," remembers Boh.
"Oh thanks. But Boh was cool. She used to make me mix tapes so I wasn't just listening to the radio."
They're both looking forward to hitting the road together on the winery tour. Boh opens the show with a set of Stellar* songs and plays guitar in Bic's band, made up of former Supergroove member Joe Lonie on bass, harp player Natalia Mann, and former TrinityRoots drummer Riki Gooch, for the main event.
"Going on tour with Bic is going to be a lot of fun ... because I get to hang out with my sister and I get to go to these wonderful places. This will be a really wonderful and elegant way to see the country.
"And Bic wrote me a cute list of songs [that she has to learn]. It had, 'name of the song, lead guitar, and BVs'. 'Name of the song, lead guitar, and BVs'. 'Name of the song, and slide guitar (if you have time) and BVs'," she laughs.
Bic: "You don't play slide guitar do you?"
Boh: "No. But I'm going to give it a go."
Bic: "Yeah, every girl should play slide guitar."
But don't expect a siblings' album any time soon, as the Finns have done. It might never happen. Bic reckons Boh is able to write with other people because she's such an extrovert, but she prefers not to co-write songs because it's "too weird".
"It's a bit personal. I find writing with people a bit personal."
Boh: "You're not naked when you're doing it!"
Bic: "Yeah, but it is a little bit like that."
What about starting a Runga family business then? Perhaps another celebrity vanity vineyard? That name is a strong brand already.
Bic: "That requires a lot of thought."
Boh: "I'm not business-minded either."
Bic: "And we'd need a calculator."
Boh: "And I'd have to stop going out and Bic would have to leave the house."
"So no. I doubt it," smiles Bic.
LOWDOWN
Who: Bic and Boh Runga
What: Bic Runga Acoustic New Zealand Winery Tour
Where and when: Ascension Vineyard, Matakana, Feb 4 (sold out) and 5; Pegasus Bay Winery, Waipara, Feb 9; Millbrook Resort, Queenstown, Feb 10; Okurukuru Winery, New Plymouth, Feb 16; Morton Estate, Katikati, Feb 17; Black Barn, Napier, Mar 2; Alana Estate, Martinborough, Mar 3
Also: Boh Runga and Andy Lovegrove (Breaks Co-Op) team up with the Auckland Philharmonia for the SkyCity Starlight Symphony concert in Auckland Domain on February 24
