Kid Confucius are hanging out at the Bat & Ball Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills, a locals’ pub with a rough-and-tumble sort of charm and the place they played their first official gig (there was an unofficial one too, but we’ll get to that).

“It was August 9, 2001,” recalls lead vocalist, Rob Hezkial. “We were meant to bring 50 people to the gig, and I think we had over 150 in the end,” says MC/guitarist Andrew ‘Pre Fab’ Guirguis. Around the table, they’re joined by fellow band mates, lead guitarist Ray Wassef and drummer Bart Denaro. Five more members – James Branson, Nathan Murray, Michael Lion, Daniel Cilia and James Blaxland – make up the band (yes, there’s nine of them).

There’s a tangible energy around the table, like being surrounded by kids who’ve just got all their Christmas presents early. Not surprising given the band have finally released their self-titled debut album, a project essentially three years in the making.

Despite building up a serious live following after some 140 gigs under their belts, with no recorded material behind them, Kid Confucius have been flying just underneath the radar of mainstream media. But now, the blips have started to appear. FBI radio has already made it their ‘album of the week’, and added their brash new single, ‘Words’ – which features the infectious chorus of “I build words like Lego / Available in more flavours than a Freddo” – to high rotation. Triple J have followed suit, and at present, the tune’s sitting damn comfortably at number 4 on the publicly-voted Net 50 show. ‘Words’ stylish video clip (done for next to nothing) has already got a fair playing, and word is the factory’s already sold its first pressing of the LP.

It’s all good news for the boys who are just thankful it’s finally out there. “It always felt like it was next phase, next phase, next phase, and every phase you got to, there was one more before the release point,” explains Andrew. “The first single was the icebreaker for me… and because it’s doing so well, it reassured me there’s nothing to worry about with the album release.”

“I’m still riding on the high of the single,” beams Rob. “The response to it has been nothing but positive. I’m still in la la land and hopefully I can spend as much time there as possible.”

Sounding like the local love child of soul legends Stevie Wonder and Curtis Mayfield crossbred with The Roots and D’Angelo, the LP channels the band’s potent live energy and distils it on disc, trading power for polish, as it struts between funk-fuelled soul, quick-fire rhymes and rockin’ party jams. Their press release touts them as “Australia’s first soul-hip hop band”, a claim that may just well be as true as it is ambitious.

Like many bands, Kid Confucius’ story started at uni. Bart and James, the keyboardist, were trying to pick up one of Andrew’s friends, but the boys ended up talking about music instead. They decided to form a band, adding Nathan as the bassist. The girl was left out of the picture. “We had a jam a week later in the UNSW music department, and it was surprisingly tight for a first jam,” recounts Andrew. “We played some tasty grooves, including ‘Suck My Kiss’ on the harpsichord,” says Bart. The guys continued to jam, never thinking anything of it, a swirling, nameless essence waiting to take form. Then they scored their first unofficial gig, for which we can literally blame Canada.

Bart: “We scored a gig of sorts through our bass player’s dad playing to Canadian exchange students at Sydney Uni. We played in front of a bin to all these students. We rehearsed that day, and Andrew was talking about this amazing singer [Rob] from his church who was going to come sing for us. We rehearsed one time, went to the gig and he tore the roof off.”

“The guys had given me the lyrics to everything which I quickly abandoned within thirty seconds,” laughs Rob, who’d never performed outside of holy grounds before that night. “So I basically freestyled the whole set.”

It’s not clear how the international audience responded, or the bin for that matter, but the five guys on the stage knew they were onto something. “It was only after playing that gig, we all thought ‘shit, let’s turn this into a proper band,’” says Andrew.

So they did, gaining four more members over time and a name born in a uni creative writing course. After the Bat & Ball, the guys scored a Friday night residency at Balmain’s Cat & Fiddle that lasted for almost eight months of 2002. Following it up with another at the Lansdowne a year later, it was the “ultimate schooling” for the group, and by the end of it, they were boasting a fierce live reputation, packing venues and being begged to stay. The band were building a visible momentum and an audible buzz in live circles, selling out The Basement several times over, but the feat of capturing that live energy on disc still eluded them, despite several attempts.

As Ray explains, “we were in the rut that most bands that have built themselves up live get into…” Says Bart: “All the parts were there…” They just needed something, or someone rather, to pull it together. Enter Tony ‘Buchman’ Buchen, Sydney producer, owner of the fledgling Brighton Boulevard imprint and member of Baggsmen (ex-The Hive). “The easy option would have been to go into the studio and put the live songs down as live songs and say ‘here we’ve got an album,’” reasons Andrew, “but we tried to push ourselves beyond that and sound more polished than we could have ever wanted to.”

As the working relationship and the mutual appreciation grew, it became obvious Kid Confucius’ debut would come out through Brighton Boulevard, acting as a duel launching pad for both parties. “They are as excited about it as we are,” explains Bart.

Three days after our interview, the band have once again returned to The Basement; this time to christen their new baby at their official album launch. Tickets sold out days ago and the place is packed tight with a legion of sexy young things. A little further back are many of the band’s family. The band come on like they own the joint, and tonight they do, kicking off what will become their biggest Australian tour to date. Like true performers, they hold onto ‘Words’, the ace in their deck, till the very end. And with the crowd in their hands, it’s obvious this passionate nine-piece are destined to build something far bigger than just Lego…

Kid Confucius’ self titled debut is out now through Brighton Blvd/Inertia. You can catch them live around the country this April:

Sat Apr 2, The Zoo – Brisbane
Thu Apr 7, Wollongong Uni Bar – Wollongong
Fri Apr 8, The Holy Grail (Civic) – Canberra
Sat Apr 9, The Esplanade Hotel – Melbourne
Sat Apr 16, Caringbah Bizzos – Sydney
Sun Apr 17, Fairfield Youth Festival – Sydney
Sat Apr 23, Crown and Sceptre Hotel – Adelaide
Fri May 6, Great Northern Hotel – Byron Bay