Down Under Sugar Babies

Band: Wa Wa Nee.

Personnel: Paul Gray, vocals, keyboards; Steve Williams, guitar; Mark Gray, bass; the Sween, drums.

History: Wa Wa Nee (the group says the name has no particular meaning) formed in 1984 in Sydney, Australia, when Paul Gray hooked up with Williams. Though Williams had played in several Sydney bands, Gray’s musical experience was restricted to classical and jazz studies. Nonetheless, Gray set to writing pop songs, and with Mark Gray and the Sween rounding out the lineup, the quartet began performing around Australia and recorded a six-song demo tape. After signing to CBS Australia, the group recorded its debut album, “Wa Wa Nee,” which was released Down Under in September, 1986. The song “Stimulation” quickly reached No. 2 on the Australian charts, with “I Could Make You Love Me” following close behind, making Wa Wa Nee the first Australian band to ever have its first two singles in the Top 10 simultaneously. A third single, “Sugar Free,” also reached the Top 10. This past summer, the band signed on with English manager Simon Napier-Bell, who has guided the careers of the Yardbirds, Marc Bolan and Wham! The album was released worldwide by Epic this fall, with “Sugar Free,” the first American single, currently at No. 36 on Billboard magazine’s chart. Don’t be surprised if the song turns up as a diet soda jingle.

Sound: If you think the range of current Aussie rock reaches only from the clever tunefulness of Crowded House to the post-punk Angst of the Lime Spiders, think again. Wa Wa Nee specializes in frothy dance-pop, lighter and cleaner than even Men at Work’s. Gray’s bouncy keyboard patterns--essentially modified Madonna and Prince rhythms--form the core of the songs, with Williams’ Jeff Beck-influenced guitar lines providing some measure of rock spice. Lyrically, songs like the lo-cal “Sugar Free” (“Oh my love and me, oh we’re sugar free”) and the treacly “Jelly Baby” (“Jelly baby you make me high”) are pure ‘80s bubble gum, though “When the World Is a Home” is an earnest call for global peace. The antipodean answer to the New Monkees? Could be.

Show: Thursday at the Roxy.