Who A sex-obsessed, T. Rex-loving, glam foursome from San Diego, whose self-released album and EPs scored local radio play, a slot opening for the Killers and a major-label deal.

Sound Dirty-sweet guitars, swinging beats and lead vocalist Jason Hill's talk-singing dominate the band's new CD, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept. Lines like "We don't have to go to the pool if you want me to make you wet" sound like a parody of Eighties hair metal, but they're no joke, says guitarist Brian Karscig: "There's decadence in certain aspects of our lives. We're big fans of women." Adds Hill, "On the Killers tour, there were lots of little girls, and that's who I like playing to. One night in Seattle, there were some guys up in the front trying to start a mosh pit, and I was thinking, 'Get the fuck out of here.' "

City Of Lights In 2003, Karscig and Hill (friends since childhood) and drummer Mark Maigaard bolted from an alt-rock ensemble called Convoy. "There was too much compromise," says Hill, "too many things that weren't right." Weeks later, they jetted to Paris, where they recorded Louis XIV's first songs in an empty magazine warehouse beneath a friend's apartment. Even before the Paris sojourn, they had decided to name their new group after the Sun King, in homage to a song they'd penned with that title. "It was a king of a song," says Hill of the track, which kicks off their new album. "As soon as we started banging around with the riff, we knew that it was going to change everything."