Being an Irish music reviewer, your desk can become a sea of green ink. Emerald-tinged CD jewel cases and Kelly green graphics in Celtic fonts blend into one another in all of the clutter, especially leading up to St. Patrick's Day.

The Wanderluste press kit, though, is a beacon of shocking pink. A coy lass fiddles on the cover while the lead singer, a cross between Freddie Mercury and The Love Boat's Captain Steubing, peers through a telescope.

The packing ploy worked, and I opened their CD, Sink or Swim, over anything else. I am glad I did!

At the risk of stating the obvious, Wanderluste is not your father's show band. Thank God for that.

From the opening claps on "The Wanderluste Song," their signature tune, the listener is treated to a polka party heavy on the glitter and eyeliner. The song chronicles life on the road "with rhythm in our bones," lifting trad lyrics from songs like "Whiskey in the Jar." They place that legendary ditty into an utterly contemporary setting.

"Symphony for the Sole" is a furious fiddling instrumental that has the violin doing battle with the button accordion, while a rocking backbeat bubbles under the surface.

Hailing from Co. Armagh, Wanderluste - Emmanuel McStravick, Patrick McGurgan and Louise Smyth - launched their career in style in 2004 at the Belfast Waterfront Hall with a keynote appearance in the concert for the Special Olympics. They have gigged regularly in Belfast, including a St. Patrick's Day gig with Shane MacGowan. Recently, they played in the star-studded 02 In the Park concert at Dublin's Phoenix Park to an audience of 100,000.

They have been compared to both the Pogues and Scissor Sisters for good reason. You might want to throw in Wham, the Chieftains, the Housemartins, Fatboy Slim and Horslips into the mix while you're at it.

I spoke with Paddy McGurgan (accordion, flute, keyboards, and piano) about the Wanderluste sound. Here's how it went:

How would you describe your sound?

It's energetic music and we are not afraid to have a good time with it onstage.

I love your lead singer's voice.

We have this Irish vibe, but Emmanuel doesn't have a brogue or an Irish tinge in his voice. He likes theater, so he comes from here.

There is a real campiness to the music, and the packaging is certainly out there. I would imagine the gay community in Belfast would eat this up?

Myself and Emmanuel are both gay. I work full time as a makeup artist, so I am exposed to glamour. That goes into the show, and they obviously respond well to that.

I think the gay community does love us, but we have fans in other places, like the trad scene. We try to rock the place with instrumentals. We might bring a certain theatricality to the music, but we don't want to just impress people with that. We want to show we can play.

I can't imagine a trad musician getting this version of Irish music. Do they?

We invited a number of serious trad musicians to see us play when we released the album. Once they see the imagery they don't understand, obviously. In some cases, they don't take it seriously. They are skeptical. Can these people play and deliver and show?

The response at our record release party was amazing. We shine and show off in the instrumentals, and I think that's what the trad musicians saw.

What are your influences?

I love bands like Great Big Sea, who mix rock with Celtic influences. Louise is more indie rock, like the Killers. Emmanuel loves divas, the likes of Madonna, Kylie, Midler and the great artists that consistently reinvent themselves. Those influences are a small part of what we do, though we love the rock and trad.

Exactly what you said is what we've talked about. It's not easy, especially being over here.

What does the creative process look like in this band?

It goes well. Each of us has our own strong idea. We sometimes have to fight and kill each other to get it right. Sure, we fight for one part for three days, but we do get happy together in the end. If one of us is annoyed by it, then we know it's not right for us.

I am more by the book with harmonies, while Emmanuel is more natural. So it is structured versus spontaneity.

What does the Irish press think of you?

Whenever you are looking at local press, they get the camp and costume of it, while others don't. You just move on if they don't understand it. The gay community loves it.

You will never be popular in your own land when you are pushing the boundaries to the degree that we do. A lot of people don't get it. We don't want to make an alien form that has no relation to trad, but we try to do something contemporary. We try to be tuneful. If doesn't have a hook to it why bother?

An act like this might go better in America. They're typically more forgiving and open minded about bending genres.

I think that Americans would get the concept better. Maybe it's almost better somewhere else. We are looking for a reason to get out there. It's quite hard when you try to do things yourself. It is hard to get it out there. We are trying to email people and get responses back.

What can people expect when they go see Wanderluste live?

The songs on the album sound great, but they really make sense when you perform them. Some of the Latin undertones come to the surface when it's live.

We are never mundane when we put something out. Sometimes it doesn't translate on a CD. We never just do a gig; we want to put on a show. It is so lively and in your face, so there really is no sense of showing up in jeans. We want to do to Irish music what Riverdance did for Irish dancing, with the use of theater in the music.

For more information, visit www.wanderluste.com or myspace.com/wanderluste