Kisschasy

The Perfect Pop Song is an elusive beast but in the right hands those three power chords can change your world for three glorious minutes. Throw in some twisted lyrics and a band with Attitude and you've got a memorable brew like "United Paper People" - the debut album from Melbourne rock band Kisschasy.

Darren ("Daz") Cordeux - singer, guitarist and songwriter for Kisschasy - is only 20 years old but for the last six years he's been obsessed with penning The Perfect Pop Song. While his peers were still struggling with quadratic equations and the French revolution, Daz had already dropped out of school and was holed up in his bedroom with his guitar.

As Cordeaux explains it... "we don't write 'poppy' music to be digestible or to appeal to radio, we write it because we love it. We're suckers for a sweet melody. The careful thing to do in a rock band is to avoid being cheesy, as long your passionate that's what makes it a hard hitting song".

Even though their average age is only 20 years this young quartet has been touring nationally for the last three years. They've released two successful EPs on indie label Below Par, and played alongside a host of Australian and International acts including Brand New, Gyroscope, Pennywise & The Ataris. But even with the indie success of the band's debut singles ("Darkside" and "Reminder"), it's always been clear that their best was yet to come.

And it's in their debut album - "United Paper People" - that the band has truly delivered the set of songs we all hoped they would. Bass player Joel Vanderuit gives us an insight into the disc's title:

The album was recorded and produced by Phillip McKellar (Silverchair, Grinspoon) in Sydney over a couple of frantic weeks in February 2005. The band then flew to Seattle in March to mix "United Paper People" with Barrett Jones (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Evermore) - sleeping on floors and dining on two minute noodles so that they could afford his help.

The resulting 13 songs is a beautifully balanced collection with all the ingredients expected of a great alterna-pop/rock album - a mix of uncontrived emotion and straightup fun with the musicianship to make each track deliver its worth.

"I wrote the music for that song before the lyrics and it sounded like such an immediate pop song. So I thought 'that's what the song is gonna be about'", Cordeux chuckles. "It's not so much a pisstake as it is a song to let people know who we are. We're a pop band, we're not afraid to let the world know that. It's written in a tongue-in-cheek sense but it's more about having a good time and letting loose: a real kind of sing-a-long."

It's moments like these that Kisschasy displays a maturity beyond its years - both for writing songs with a wealth of new ideas and sensibilities, and for having the musicianship and attitude to make the songs work.