With just 100 followers on Facebook, Queensland garage punk trio The Chats were virtually unknown before they uploaded a video for their song Smoko in October, 2017.
But that video changed the lives of teenagers of Matt Boggis, Josh Price and Eamon Sandwith forever.
Fast-forward 16 months and the video has had nearly 6 million views on YouTube and the Sunshine Coast teenagers have toured Europe and received plaudits from rock superstars Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.
"It definitely wasn't on our radar," says Sandwith. "When we put that song online, we pretty much had no fans at all."
The song, which is a hilarious and hooky ode to the classic worksite breaktime, originally featured on their 2017 EP Get This In Ya.
Sandwith (19) credited Australian online surf brand Modern Vintage for boosting the group's profile after it shared the song on social media.
"It just went nuts from there, pretty much overnight."
The band touched down in New Zealand earlier this week after selling out shows across Australia and the United Kingdom over the past year.
Sandwith says the 2018 shows were a real eye-opener.
"Getting to play stages that big was great.
"We've got more fans in England than we do in Australia."
Although, not unlike your typical punk rockers, there is an undeniable rowdiness to The Chats, Sandwith says they do take their performances seriously.
"We're still learning how to play tighter. I think we're playing the tightest we ever had right now because we're always learning how to play off each other."
"I guess a few people think we're comedic, but at the end of the day, whatever we're writing about, we're still serious in our performances. We never wrote songs about girls or any of that stuff."
With plans to release a debut full-length album this year, The Chats are ready to unleash a new batch of songs tonight when they play in Dunedin as part of Ori 19 at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
"I hope we can bounce off those students. We've had people asking us to come to NZ since last year, so I'm glad we can finally make it happen."
