It's about 204 degrees and I'm fanning my face with a press release as I head to Liberation Record's Sydney office, to meet up with the boys of Melbourne's latest buzz band, the Temper Trap - Jonny (bass), Dougie (voice) and Lorenzo (guitar). The drummer Toby is at work. After whinging about the heat, Lorenzo offers me his half-shaded seat, but Dougie outdoes him: "Yours is still in the sun! Here, take mine instead... But you have to say in the article how well mannered we are!"

The Temper Trap are Very Well Mannered.

They were just in Sydney to launch their self-titled EP, and will be coming back Very Soon. If you haven't seen them, you should see them. Seriously.

The buzz around the band began when you were the only unsigned band at the Laneway Festival in March this year. Was that the best gig you've played to date?
Lorenzo: I dunno.. We played with Damo Suzuki before we played Laneway, that was pretty exciting. It was at Revolver in Melbourne, and there was a line going all the way down the street and around the corner. Three of the Stooges were there, Omar from Mars Volta... Damo Suzuki is a legend, from Can, he's been around forever.
Jonny: He's coming back in January and we'll be playing with him again, so that will hopefully equally as exciting for us.

The band is happy with their EP, in which they heap together a bunch of different styles. I ask them who they compare their sound to. Jonny evades, Lorenzo looks down. No one is keen to answer this question.
Dougie: To be honest I don't actually give it that much thought. I think it's a lot more interesting finding out what other people think we sound like...

I mention names like Mars Volta or Wolf Parade - there are lots of similarities there, especially in Dougie's voice. But there are also traceable Brit Pop influences in songs like Peter Parker's Alter Ego - Very Editors-ish. The band is nodding. They've heard this before. They've got so much in there - do they worry they'll just get pigeon holed into the indie pop scene?
Dougie: I think we already have been! It's not really a big concern... We'll come out with a hip hop album soon just to throw everybody off..
Jonny: The thing is, we all have different tastes in music, and we don't really sound like any of them -
Dougie: - As people found out at Purple Sneakers on Friday...

Ahh yes, you DJ'd there... How was that?
Dougie : Yeah we did a full on R & B and hiphop set and got told off..
Lorenzo: They thought we were being ironic... But no irony intended!
Dougie: Iconic maybe, but not ironic. Ahhhh we'll never work in this town again!
So, spit it out: Sydney Vs Melbourne?
Dougie: No, no, no! I just made a comparison in the last interview, and Melbourne people are gonna hate me if I say it again.

Say it again! Say it again!
Lorenzo: I suppose because there's so many bands in Melbourne - and so many good bands as well - it's just harder to stand out. It's great that we have an equally big a following here as we do in Melbourne. We've been blessed.
Jonny: People stand there with crossed arms in Melbourne and really just want to be shocked. Every second person is like an artist in Melbourne, and they have a really strong idea of what something should be. But in Sydney people are just up for a dance, for appreciating what's going on.
Lorenzo: In Melbourne you have to be on your toes the whole time in order to play the best you can, and try and stand out from the crowd. Someone once said to me that it seems like everybody in Melbourne works a day job to fuel their passions at night time -
Dougie: - Which is: copius amounts of drug taking.
Jonny: Shit, I just feel like I bagged Melbourne, and I don't really want to do that. I love Melbourne with a passion! I don't want to come across like - For the record, I would never live in Sydney.
Dougie: I WOULD!
Lorenzo: Dougie and I are re-locating

They tip Mercy Arms, Young and Restless, Snowman and The Instant as the next Aussie bands poised to make it big. But how can a band hold onto the hype?
Lorenzo: By not getting caught up in it.. That hype, it's just all the NME effect. They're the best people at creating and destroying bands.

So what sandwiches sustain the energy of the Temper Trap?
Dougie and Lorenzo: WE JUST HAD THEM!!
?
Dougie: Vietnamese. Pork. Rolls.
Lorenzo : That's where its at. Same with me, same with Toby as well. Anything with chilli, coriander and weird pate goes down. Either that or a roast beef sandwich.
Jonny: I like Vegemite.