FasterLouder is sitting, drinking tea and chatting with Darren ‘Daz’ Cordeaux, over the phone about his recent endeavours. The chirpy guitarist and vocalist of Australian pop punk band Kisschasy seems to be in a particularly chipper mood today, but the conversation quickly strays from his main band’s activities to the new light on his horizon.

“Actually I’m really excited about this new project I’m just starting up with my girlfriend,” the songwriter gushes. “It’s called Fuzz Phantoms. The name is just like it sounds, like, a bit of distortion and fuzz. I just feel like it’s time to take some of the old songs I’ve put away on the shelf and put them to use. With Kisschasy, since we’re onto our third record, I have fans to think about and three other band members, so to have this new way to release songs feels really liberating.”

While Daz is in writing mode for other projects, but band commitments are never far off. “We have Push Over festival coming up, but I’ve been a bit lazy,” he laughs. “Refresh me again on whose playing it?”

I mention Urthboy and Wherewolves and he seems pretty stoked. “It will be great fun, because it’s in our hometown! At the Big Day Out we got to know all the bands and they were great fun. It was awesome playing on the Green Stage because it’s like one big pub. Everyone who comes over there sorta knows what they’re there for. I feel like a lot of people flock to the main stage because, you know, it’s the main stage and they’re not necessarily into the bands.”

So with all these festivals and gigs, does he ever get bored with the band’s older repertoire? “I really hate playing any song written more than six months ago in rehearsals; but as soon as were playing them onstage to a crowd, they take on this entirely new life. I kind of feel like we have grown up over the past few records; gotten better. And I’m sure there would be people who disagree with that, but for every fan you lose you gain a few more.”

Lyrically, the inspiration for all the songs off their latest record Seizures came all within the space of a year. The first song was written a year after Daz turned 23 and the last the day before turning 24 – so it gives the impression, almost, of a diary. Musically, though much of Daz’s inspiration come from way back in the day.

“When I was a little kid, Mum and Dad used to play heaps of old records like Roy Orbison and the Beatles. In that way, I think I’ve come full circle in my listening habits. Big Star is one of those bands that I think should have been way bigger. They’re definitely a huge influence on me. But, you know, they had distribution issues and stuff and for whatever reason they just didn’t make it huge. If I could only pick one record to take with me somewhere, it would be Big Star’s Third/Sister Lover record.”

And indeed one can hear the influence of Big Star’s jangly, melodic lilt in Kisschasy’s own brand of pop punk. The third record is often a watershed moment in a band’s career – and whether this will take this four-piece into the stratosphere remains to be seen.

But whereas Big Star disbanded after their third record, Daz remains optimistic about his band’s future. “We’re like a wolf cub. I mean, we’re only little now but we have the capacity to grow up into something really big and powerful.”

Kisschasy plays the all-ages Push Over Festival at the Abbotsford Convent on Saturday 7 March, alongside Break Even, 50 Lions, Carpathian and many more.