As a teen, Virgins frontman Donald Cumming left his mom's home in Florida to crash with friends in New York, where he peddled ketamine at raves, couch-surfed and later quit high school to party full time. A decade later, the rocker is in a band whose members' addresses (below 14th Street), pants (skinny), famous fans (Chloë Sevigny) and fashion pedigrees (Cumming and guitarist Wade Oates are ex-models) have inspired Strokes comparisons. But the group's background and looks belie its sound. "Everyone said, 'You guys are going to make a filthy, downtown, avant-hip record' — it was annoying," says Cumming, 27, who started the Virgins after meeting Oates on a (nude) shoot by fine-art photographer Ryan McGinley in Mexico in 2004. Bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman chimes in, "We didn't want to be another fucking low-fi New York band."

So the trio hired Gym Class Heroes producers S*A*M and Sluggo to record The Virgins, a supercatchy set of disco rock with beats inspired by Chic and lyrics drawn from the band's own after-dark adventures. On the Stones-y "Rich Girls" (featured on Gossip Girl), Cumming seduces a socialite; on "She's Expensive," he partakes in a "cocaine brunch." Still, the band isn't as debauched as its lyrics suggest. "I've grown out of partying like a 17-year-old," says Cumming. "Now I party like I'm 27."

Signed before they'd even played a gig, the Virgins had work to do before hitting the studio — like learn to play their instruments. (Zarin-Ackerman and Oates picked up tips from Zeppelin and Bowie records.) "You always hire guys that make you sound better," says Oates. "Donald hired me because we look cool together."

Now, on their first headlining tour, the Virgins are proving they're not just hipster dilettantes, drawing big crowds in places like Ames, Iowa. "We were like, 'Is anyone gonna show up?' " says Zarin-Ackerman. "Then the kids came, and they brought home-baked cookies."

[From Issue 1073 — March 5, 2009]