"I knew we had a hit with 'Walking on the Sun,'" says Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell. "Not only was the sound there, but we had DJs that guaranteed they were going to play it. For us to walk into negotiations with that, I knew I had an ace in my hole."

Smash Mouth had more than just an ace in the hole when they shopped their shtick around to the labels early this summer. With the entire record Fush Yu Mang in the can and a local radio station already spinning their song "Nervous in the Alley," Harwell and his bandmates had stacked the whole deck.

From the get-go, Smash Mouth was a well-planned production. After the breakup of his signed rap group (F.O.S.), Harwell hooked up with drummer Kevin Coleman, then literally harassed local guitarist Greg Camp and bassist Paul De Lisle until they came on board. In the wake of a frustrating first round of label negotiations where all they had behind them was a two-song demo, Smash Mouth made the decision to pull back and record the whole album. "I got pissed off at all the bullshit and said, 'I'll put out the record.' [The labels] can't argue with something that's totally completed."

Confidence and preparation paid off for the San Jose-based quartet, and shortly after recording the record they inked a deal with Interscope Records. Weeks later, the Zombies-esque "Walking on the Sun" was blaring out of car stereos across the country.

"It's kind of a combination of 'where'd all the love go?' and us just telling the world to chill out" Steve explains of the hit single that kicks off with the questionable lyrics, "It ain't no joke/I'd like to buy the world a toke."

Although "Walking on the Sun" does take a stab at social commentary, the overarching theme of Fush Yu Mang seems to be simply to have fun. Its raucous party riffs and delightfully askew blue-collar analogies are a welcome respite from a market saturated with quasi-political ramblings. Smash Mouth's Truths, if there are any, are of the beer-soaked ilk.

Steve's favorite song on the record is "Let's Rock," with its plastic ska rhythms and simple philosophy. "It's about when you're totally pissed off at something, you just gotta say, 'Fuck it. Lets go party.'" Not since the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)" have kids had such a gleefully inane anthem to rally around.

The rest of the album is filled up with un-PC ditties like "Beer Goggles" (self explanatory) and "Flo," a humorous take on the sentiment that your girlfriend dumped you, so she must be a lesbian.

Steve can't wait to make a video out of that one. "It's gonna be like these two chicks that meet up at the party and really dig each other. And all of the sudden they end up in the bathroom just going at it...I think it'll probably get censored."

ISAAC JOSEPHSON