Lions At Your Door are one of the hottest young thangs to come out of S-town in the last few years. Their hit single LAYD has been spun at Club NME, in NY, Brazil and (of course) been given a fair slog on ye old humble FBI and JJJ. They caught the eye of the Garage To V judges at the start of the year and just recently tickled the fancy of Japan, who have asked the kids to come and flash their wares.

On the eve of their farewell gig and trip to the land of Sushi and Pokemon, Marihuzka (vocals) and Dave (keyboards and vocals) take some time out to shoot the shit with FL Lions styles.

Lions have quite a year – Garage to V, festivals, rad supports – how are you feeling about it all?

Dave: I’m feeling fine, thank you very much for asking Sarah Smith. It has been a fun and encouraging year so far. Playing Come Together was awesome, and a highlight for me personally, especially the chance to wear multiple paper wristbands…oh, and play to hundreds of awesome people jumping up and down in Luna Park.

Marihuzka: I too enjoy a good wrist band, but yes, playing at the festival was a highlight for me too. It’s been a fun year and we’re hoping it’s gonna get better and better!

Is it true you have been spun in the UK and NYC?

Dave: It is true and it is also rad, yes. We have been spun in Brazil too, would you believe.

Marihuzka: Yeah, what a trip. This Brazilian guy sent us a link to this club in Rio, where the crowd was dancing to our tunes. you can check it out HERE. Getting an email from the Gash DJs saying they’ve been spinning our stuff at Ibiza rocks and Club NME was pretty sweet and a nice surprise too.

Lions are getting quite a name for their live shows – what is it that you – œbring’?

Dave: I think we are really tight as a group of friends, and that translates to a fun vibe on stage. We don’t try to put anything on or assume a persona that is anything other than who we are, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We take what we do seriously of course, but we take the piss out of each other too. Also I think these days, with the changes in the way people engage with music as product in the last few years, the live show is very important for bands, aside from being the most fun part of the whole thing.

Marihuzka: It’s definitely the chemistry between the six of us that makes the shows enjoyable and as Dave said, we don’t put anything on. What’s the point, really? People see right through that shit. We’re all quite hilarious so it would be a shame to mask that whilst performing and, of course, we at all times ‘keep it real’. It’s street rules.

What do you think makes Lions stand out from the pack in Sydney at the moment?

Dave: I don’t think we are really trying to stand out. We are just trying to make good music. If you like it, then we are fucking stoked about that, and will probably shout you a beer at some point. That is a bribe, yes.

I hear the Japanese love you – how did this tour come about?

Dave: This is our way of getting on a sadistic game show.

Marihuzka: We’re big fans of vending machines, too! Nah, a guy that puts a popular indie night (kinda Purple Sneakers style) over in Japan stumbled upon us when he was going through blogs to find the ‘fresh stuff’. He really dug our sound so invited us over. Dirk went over first and did a DJ spot at the club and played some stuff for Tomo. Tomo dug it and made the tour happen.

So you’re gonne be “big in Japan”, eh?

Dave: We pretty much run the country already.

Marihuzka: Yes, it’s a little daunting sometimes. Especially because most of the administration is done via Skype and email. The lack of definitive tone in messages is sometimes a problem.

You’re finally releasing your EP – tell me a bit about it?

Dave: We played nearly everything live on this one, cos we were tracking to tape. You have to play as a band and play the whole song, you know, do proper “takes”, as opposed to dropping in bits and pieces if you fuck up or whatever, which requires a little more rehearsal and discipline. Were really happy with the vibe and energy we captured in the studio though. It’s funny – since we recorded the EP, we have written a whole bunch of new songs, so were now thinking maybe we should release a double EP. No, no…not an album, a double EP.

Marihuzka: Stop laughing, we’re not joking.

What’s next for Lions?

Dave: Getting the EP out, getting on more festival bills…We’ll be down in Melbourne again soon and getting overseas again soon also. A tour to the UK next year is definitely on the cards, as we’ve had some interest over there, and we are generally planning world domination.

Marihuzka: Yes, and we’d also really like to make some t-shirts because people keep asking us about them. Other than that, we’re kinda going with the flow.

Lions At Your Door play a – œPre-Japan Farewell Show’ at the Hopetoun in Sydney on 10 July.

And here’s that YouTube of Lions At Your Door getting a spin at a club in Rio. The big time is beckoning…