There's something funny about Warpaint

Warpaint perform at Laneway Festival in Auckland, 31 January 2011. Photo / Richard Robinson

"We're definitely dorks," says Stella Mozgawa of her band Warpaint.

"We can be very loud and really annoying to be around when it's just the four of us.

"Unless you join in," she adds after a pause.

Throwing herself into any situation is a skill the Sydney-raised drummer has perfected since moving to Los Angeles in search of session work three years ago.

Mozgawa drummed for a number of local bands before being introduced to the three founding members of Warpaint - Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman and Jenny Lee Lindberg.

Then came the challenge of ingratiating her way into a tight trio of LA musos who'd been playing music together since 2004.

Initially treated as a gun for hire, soon Mozgawa's skills as an engineer, co-producer and fun-time musician won her the affections of the band.

"On the surface I was a little intimidated by the idea of them knowing each other so well and having another entity come into that circle which was so comfortable and so considered," Mozgawa says.

"But from the outset it felt pretty natural."

Critics and fans have suggest that Mozgawa actually proved the final piece in Warpaint's woozily weird but occasionally frustrated jigsaw.

She became pivotal to the completion of their debut album, The Fool, a record which won the band worldwide recognition and a place in the BBC's Sound of 2011 list.

Categorised alongside fellow shoegazers Beach House, Memory Tapes and Toro Y Moi into a loose genre known as chillwave, Warpaint are looking beyond any passing fad.

"There are a lot of artists who haven't been together long and they come across success after a year or two and it can be a shock for them," Mozgawa says.

"With us nothing has been to spontaneous or crazy, it's all happened piece by piece which is more conducive for longevity."

Warpaint have become a tight foursome, a team including five when Wayman's five-year-old son joins them on tour.

Fora band founded on Valentine's Day its members have little time for romance due to long distances and a never ending tour schedule.

Instead the title of their album, The Fool, gives an indication of how the girls amuse themselves on the road - even if their music swells with intense lyrics and brooding melody.

"It's about being comfortable with being goofy and being yourself in an ego-less state of mind where you're not very self conscious," Mozgawa says.

"That's a healthy way to be sometimes."

-AAP