They've got everything covered, from surfing to mixtapes, friendship to video games, and it's all there in short, sweet bursts of jangly pop joy. It tackles the rites of passage and the relationships we form and break in our primitive years and underneath the upbeat musicianship are the heartfelt lyrics of someone trying to find their feet. It’s impossible to resist their infectious buzz.

It was inevitable that these four school friends would become a band. Music was always in their blood. Jordi Davison (19, guitar/synths/vocals), Josh Biondillo (21, guitar/synths/vocals) and Nick Gardner (20, bass) were at the same high school in Western Australia as Scarlett Stevens (20, drums/ vocals) was being schooled just down the road. They eventually came together in their first incarnation, King George, in 2009.But the story of San Cisco goes back even further than that. Jordi and Scarlett have known each other since birth. “We all grew up with our parents passing down their musical tastes,” explains Scarlett, whose dad owned a venue. “And my dad would take me to Scarlett's dad's bar to see bands,” adds Jordi.

The two started making their own music at a very early age,but it took a while for them to get together. By 12, Jordi was performing as a folky solo artist (“I did a Jack Johnson cover,” he admits), while Scarlett was in her own band, The Flairz. During this time, Jordi got together with Josh, and eventually borrowed Scarlett to record their first ever demo, the song that would become “Rocket Ship”. Their chemistry worked and the gig offers started to pour in – Nick came on board to play bass, and King George was born.

But King George quickly outgrew their sound. “We completely changed everything. We were learning what a hook was, figuring out how to turn shuffles into drum beats,”explains Nick. “We changed a lot of our gear, and we were listening to new music and learning more about songwriting,”adds Josh. The band wrote two songs, which saw everything coming together, and in that moment, they knew they were ready for a new identity. “Josh wrote‘Girls Do Cry’,” says Jordi, “and I wrote ‘Golden Revolver’, and we thought, this is cool. They were the first songs that were properly San Cisco.” This was at the end of 2010.

The name doesn't mean anything, and deliberately so. It's a collection of sounds that operates as a blank canvas for the band to project anything they want onto. They had a near miss with a couple of options –Flippin' Burgers and Aztec Holiday were in the mix – but a survey of friends and fans on Facebook settled on San Cisco. “We like it because there's nothing attached to it,” says Jordi. “It's nothing to do with the city. We haven't even been there yet!”

San Cisco worked on finessing their sound throughout 2011,recording a video for “Golden Revolver”, releasing an EP and playing crowd-wowing sets at Big Day Out, Big Sound, Laneway and Fuse Festival. They say their hometown has been a fantastic place to grow up loving music. Though,as is always the way, San Cisco are already attracting enough buzz to get them called sell-outs – almost a rite of passage in itself. Their song “Awkward” was voted into the top 10 of triple j’s Hottest 100 and the video has scored over 4 million plays on YouTube. “If you get a bit of commercial success people say you've sold out,” shrugs Scarlett. “But if you were so worried about being cool,you'd never do anything.”

This enthusiasm is all part of their charm. They're too young to be jaded and too excited for any seen-it-all-before weariness. They recorded their debut album in the winter of 2012, walking nearly three miles to and from the studio every day. But the chilly winter mornings did little to affect San Cisco’s take on bright, indie-pop. Only two of its 13 songs clock in at more than three minutes. “They're pop songs!”they all shout, in unison. Scarlett elaborates, “Like we didn't know! That was the plan! Some are punky, some are surfy. We even tried screamo,” she jokes, “but I can't scream and drum at the same time.”

Since signing with RCA in 2012, San Cisco have completed three successful tours of the US, including appearances at both CMJ and South By Southwest. In January, the band was invited to open for The Vaccines on their U.S. headlining tour, which allowed them to play in front of thousands of people each night. Their own U.S. headlining tour followed, which included sold-out dates at Bowery Ballroom in New York and The Troubadour in Los Angeles.

With a killer debut under their belt, the future looks bright for San Cisco. This self-titled debut is a collection of the band’s thoughts on life, growth, relationships and love all tied together with infectious drum beats, slashes of synth and bright catchy hooks. The thirteen songs perfectly capture their sunny outlook on life. “We want to make the music we think is cool,” Scarlett says, simply and concisely, which is exactly what San Cisco are great at.