It's propelled the unlikeliest of motley crews to success and fame. Guys like John Lydon and Joey Ramone and Australia's own Ross Knight, of The Cosmic Psychos, were never meant to be rock stars.

Yet that's where they found themselves due to the sheer simplicity, and vitality, of punk music.

The latest unlikely lads to find success in punk's manic embrace is Sunshine Coast three-piece The Chats.

Their combination catchy riffs and Aussie larrikin humour has made The Chats one of the country's hottest bands.

Their singles Smoko and Pub Feed have gone viral and attracted high-profile fans like Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, Foo Fighters chief Dave Grohl and Arctic Monkeys' frontman Alex Turner.

The trio famously turned out for the Queenslanders' sold-out LA gig last year.

The Chats are also increasingly popular on the other side of the Atlantic in the UK, where they sold-out London's 2,300-capacity 02 Forum and featured heavily in music bible NME, as leaders of Australia's "bogan rock" revival alongside Melbourne punks Amyl & The Sniffers.

Until COVID-19 wrecked havoc on the global music industry, The Chats had sets booked for Coachella and Splendour In The Grass.

The hype has only continued after The Chats released their long-awaited debut album High Risk Behaviour six weeks ago.

With colourful songs about mum stealing his "darts", going on "smoko" or chicken "snitties" being his favourite pub meal, even Chats bassist and vocalist Eamon Sandwith finds their international appeal surprising.

"That's especially a part that weirds me out," Sandwith said. "I don't really understand it. They must like the music and they must get a little bit of the lyrics.

"I think England gets it a bit more than the Americans do. But when we play in Europe and their first language isn't English, they might come up to us after the show and be like, 'What's this mean?'"

High Risk Behaviour is full of fast-paced '70s-style punk that Sandwith and his bandmates Matt Boggis (drums) and Josh Price (guitar) first honed on their EPs The Chats (2016) and Get This In Ya (2017), but there's an added layer of polish.

There's songs about Sandwith being refused entry into a nightclub due to his mullet haircut (Keep The Grubs Out), racists on public transport (Billy Backwash's Day) and the perils of catching chlamydia (The Clap).

"Some of the stories are true and some of them are total bullshit," Sandwith said. "Stuff that I think would be funny. I feel it's easier to write about real stuff and that makes it more relatable too."

The songs are clever and humorous, but does Sandwith ever see a day when The Chats music will become more serious?

"We're only 20 so we're not aspiring to be f--king Elton John or anything," he said. "If it's not broke, don't fix it."

The Chats formed in 2016 while in year 12 at St. Teresa's Catholic College in Noosaville due to their shared love of classic Australian punk bands like The Saints, Radio Birdman and The Cosmic Psychos and legendary acts The Sex Pistols and The Ramones.

St. Theresa proudly lists them as their famous alumni, alongside biomedical graduates and professional soccer players.

The Chats were most recently in the Hunter for FKA Festival last October and before that played the Small Ballroom in January 2019 and with US rockers Queens Of The Stone Age at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in 2018.

"A band like Queens had like 100 crew people and to make those big tours work there's a lot of people who have to do their job right," Sandwith said.

"They taught us a lot. We spoke about drinking and how it's important not to get too drunk before a performance and that kind of stuff. They were kind of, not role models, but they were like mentors."

While most people know The Chats for their clever kitsch Australian humour, the boys recently displayed their vulnerable side following the suicide of one of their biggest fans.

The band wrote on social media that their fan, Louie, would often travel from Melbourne to catch The Chats' Sydney shows and hoped to draw attention to youth suicide rates and depression, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdown.

"That really hurt me," Sandwith said. "I've never had anyone I've known in my life who did that.

"I didn't know him particularly well, but we did meet him a few times and he was always really nice to us and loved our band. It something I'd never felt before."

The Chats might look like any young Australian bloke working as an apprentice tradie, but they're anything but when they can call rock stars like Homme and Grohl mates. So has fame changed the Coolum boys?

"I still don't consider us famous," Sandwith said. "I think we're well known a little bit. We're not famous in the way you walk down the street and everyone's like, 'Oi oi.'

"We're not that kind of band. It's probably changed how we thought about music. It was always just a hobby, and now it's something we can make a living from.

"That's the main thing, it's changed our attitude to take it a little more seriously."

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