As anyone in any walk of life will attest, sometimes it pays to have luck on your side. Just ask Australian rockers The Rubens how a few serendipitous moments have catapulted their careers. Raised on the sounds of Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, Tracy Chapman and Led Zeppelin as well as old soul, hip hop and gospel records, the band has melded these eclectic influences into a sound that’s caught on with the music listening public in their native land.

Still in their early 20s, the brothers Margin (Sam, Elliott and Zaac) along with a friend (Scott Baldwin) have taken Australia by storm, landing hits with “Lay It Down” and more recently, “My Gun,” which went Gold. After playing a string of shows in Austin at SXSW, the band played one final show in the States before heading back to Australia for much deserved few days off before opening for Bruce Springsteen this week. Before their show at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles, we spoke with singer Sam Margin who got us up to speed on what’s doing with the band before they head back here for the release of their self-titled U.S. debut in June.

How did you decide to call the band The Rubens?

It was a nickname I had for my little brother, the one that’s not in the band. His name is Jess, but at the time we were forming the band, his nickname was Ruben. It started as Jet, Jetroy, Roy ben to Ruben.

So you wanted to pay tribute to him since he’s not in the band?

Well that and to take the piss a little bit as well.

You aren’t a big fan of the Reuben sandwich though?

No I hate the Reuben sandwich. We did promo once in Australia and they were like we should get The Rubens to try restaurants’ Reuben sandwiches. It was disgusting. There was way too much beef and other crap.

The story of how the band linked up with your producer is crazy. Is there anymore to it than that?

We had a friend who is an engineer and was going to produce our record in Australia and he had gone to the south of France to do this conference thing where engineers from around the world go. It’s basically a week of learning and they were in the studio doing a mix and he played the demo to David Kahne and he asked, “What’s this?” And they started emailing back and forth. I was actually in London at the time on holiday and Dean (engineer Dean Tuza) came to London and said, “Dude you don’t know how big this thing is.” I didn’t want to get my hopes but eventually it happened.

When you guys first recorded the demo, did you expect it to be shopped around or played for others like it was or maybe have these be the skeletons of what you wanted to do but with a more polished version?

That’s what a label would tell me to do, but to be honest with you, when I was buying cheap music equipment to record on, which was really basic straight to the laptop type of stuff, I asked the dude at the store if the stuff we recorded on here that could get played on to the radio and demo-y stuff. I was like fuck that because I don’t want to record something twice and I want it to be good straightaway. I tried to make it sound cool from the demos. I always had the intention for that to be it.

How did “Lay It Down” get on Triple J radio in Australia?

They have a thing called Triple J Unearthed. There’s like 40,000 bands with their songs on this website. They try to listen to as much as they can and one of their hosts found it and played it and then played it twice and it was in rotation within a few months. It was crazy.

Are the rumors true that you’ll be opening for Springsteen?

Yeah! Our touring company brought him over and put us on the bill. It’s this amazing outdoor arena an hour outside of Melbourne in Victoria. He never has a support but for this one he did.

Are you gonna hang with him backstage?

I don’t know dude. I heard he’s a nice guy.

What would you say to him if you saw him back there?

I don’t know but I hope we can get a photo with him.