In mint condition

From left, Kody Nielson, Ruban Nielson, Michael Logie and Paul Roper.

There is a fine list of insults which perfectly describes the Mint Chicks of a few years ago. "Pretentious" and "art school" were near the top of it, usually coupled with another term ...

"We're probably less like wankers now than when we started out," says guitarist and songwriter Ruban Nielson.

He's slouching at the dining table of his warehouse flat in the inner city Auckland suburb of Kingsland, chowing down on pistachio nuts, and remembering how his band's initial burst of energy polarised opinion about them.

They were destined for big things after releasing their Octagon, Octagon, Octagon EP in 2003, signing to Flying Nun that year, and making a name for themselves with blistering live shows.

Then, detractors started calling their maniacal performances contrived and - because they shied away from the media - ("we were scared") they got a reputation as snobby art-school rockers.

And when the Auckland band's debut album, [Expletive] the Golden Youth, came out last year it failed to live up to the hype. Despite a few great tracks, like the Apra Silver Scroll-nominated Opium of the People, the album was hard going at times..

In contrast, the follow up, Crazy? Yes!Dumb?No!, which came out last week, is the best local rock album of the year.

It is catchy, clever and bent pop music, without compromising their jagged sound.

"And that's a fine line we've been trying to walk from the start, I guess," says Ruban. "With the last album we didn't realise how much of a big deal it should have been.

"Golden Youth was a sketch book, but the new one's like a finished painting that we've spent a lot of time on."

He admits the band, also made up of his brother and singer Kody, drummer Paul Roper and bass player Michael Logie, were aloof in their early days.

"I think it's probably my fault, because I'm the only one who went to art school," jokes the 26-year-old.

"Being pigeonholed as art rock makes people think you're going to be a certain type of person. They imagine that you're this wanker. But hey, I'm not, and he's all right," he says, pointing to his brother standing nearby. "He's a bit tense, but he's all right."

He's right. Kody, 24, is tense. He stands for most of the 45-minute interview, his legs jittering, and he looks down when he talks. It's a big contrast to the last time I saw the band at the Kings Arms pub when the twig-thin singer was hanging from the rafters.

When the song finished he let go and plummeted to the floor. ("I find it easier to scream at 300 people than talk to a couple of people.")

They played a number of songs from Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No! that night and the difference between the old and new material was striking.

"Kody and I still like Golden Youth, and like the sound of that record but we can understand it was a bit confusing for some people," says Ruban.

"That album was quite defensive in a way - you know, the name of it, the art work, and the production was less accessible. In hindsight it seems like we wanted to defend our position and not be sucked into the homogenised New Zealand music thing.

"Our thinking was it's worth your money because there were so many ideas in there. But we realised there were lots of different ways that people listen to a record, and some of them aren't counting how many ideas are in there."

On Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No! the ideas are still plentiful but "we've made it polished, poppy, and imaginative".

This refinement has a lot to do with their dad, Chris, who took on co-production duties with his sons.

"He made us see that if we had a poppy song there was no point in making the vocals sound really screwed up because it would make people not be able to see how good the song was, which we actually thought was never really a problem - but it is a problem," says Ruban.

The pair, who grew up mostly in Auckland and spent time in the Bay of Plenty town of Katikati with their father, have diverse and odd music tastes.

One of their favourite bands is San Diego hardcore noise outfit, the Locust - it's no wonder the Mint Chicks describe themselves as the Locust meets the Beach Boys.

"And I've been listening to a lot of Swingers, Scavengers, and a little bit of Split Enz lately too," says Ruban.

There's an overwhelming pop sensibility to the Mint Chicks' music that is not only inspired by bands like the Beach Boys and the Beatles, but also, says Ruban, by punk bands like the Misfits and the Buzzcocks.

"It was only after listening to them that I got into the Beatles," he says.

"I had a friend at high school," says Kody, "who was always trying to get me into the Beatles and it just sounded old. But it started growing on me."

Talking of old, I suggest the song Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No! could be something out of Grease. " Yeah, it was basically a 50s pop song rearranged a little bit," says Ruban.

That Fateful Funeral Day, with its raunchy keyboard, includes the line, "don't cut your wrists you've got beautiful fists" which sums up the album's tone.

"Most of the music that comes out of New Zealand talks about how great it is living here. But I never really needed music to tell me what was good about things, I needed music to convert bad things into good things."

"It's kind of, like everyone gets down, but it's not that bad," says Kody.

Ruban: "It's about making something positive out of something really boring and horrible, which is what life is like for a lot of people."

Lowdown

Who: The Mint Chicks, noisy Auckland pop act Line-up: Kody Nielson (singer/wurlitzer piano); Ruban Nielson (guitar); Michael Logie (bass); and Paul Roper (drums)
Albums: [Expletive] the Golden Youth (2005); Octagon Octagon Octagon EP (2003)
Latest: Crazy?Yes!Dumb?No!, out now
Playing: September 14, Underground Bar, Wellesley St