The Rubens already know a thing or two about fast fame, but now they're learning how to make a quick success into a lasting career.

In 2012, the Australian quintet took the music world by storm with their self-titled release. Immediately, they began to shoot up the charts in their native country, landing in the top 10 of the Triple J Hottest 100 with their second single, "My Gun."

But long before they were the new rock darlings of an entire continent, the Rubens were just five guys from the small town of Menangle. Brothers Sam, Elliott, and Zaac Margin combined their vocal, keyboard, and guitar skills, and they brought in a pair of friends in Scott Baldwin and William Zeglis to round out the rhythm section. That lifelong bond is what helped the Rubens look beyond the success of their first record and on to making last year's Hoops just as powerful as their debut. It's also what brought them to Night + Market (formerly known as Talesai) in West Hollywood one afternoon while touring through Los Angeles.

Now that it's been out for a while, each member has a slightly different opinion of Hoops, but one note rings true for all of them: it's different than the previous record.

"I enjoyed making this record, because we could put our foot down on some things," Sam says as he sips on a glass of Patron on the rocks. "On the first one, we didn't know any better. This time, we got drilled sometimes, but we also did some drilling of our own."

"Every band has a certain amount of regrets on every record they make, but we try to minimize those regrets," Elliott says while picking at a few of the various noodle dishes going around the table. "I think we don't have a lot of those regrets on this one, which is a good thing."

"As a drummer, it's a little more hard beats and straight up, which is cool," Baldwin adds between bites of coconut rice. "I think a lot of people enjoy it better, you can see that in the crowd."

Sam agrees that the crowd tends to like the new material better, save for the one or two songs on the first record that some fans come to their shows specifically to see. Now that they can provide as much diversity in a live set as they do in the studio, it seems like a the Rubens are primed to take the next step among American listeners and begin to infiltrate households on this side of the Pacific.

"It was kind of hard to work a crowd before," the singer says. "These songs have much more energy to drive the set now. They're like weapons that we can use whenever we need to energize our set. The crowd doesn't need to know the music to like these songs live."

But while the Rubens may be a new name for American audiences, they've already covered about as much ground as a band could within their first two albums. The 2012 release went platinum, won awards, and brought the guys all over the world. The title track of their sophomore effort finished what their early singles started by topping the Triple J Hottest 100 chart, and there's no reason to think the record as a whole won't go on to be just as successful as the first.

More than anything though, five years and two records have transformed the young rockers into experienced veterans relatively early in their careers.

"The first time through, you think you're a good band but you're not," Sam says. "You don't know shit. This time, we know what we're doing, kind of."

"But the good thing about it is the first time you're doing everything, it's exciting," interjects Baldwin. "You go into a recording studio and you're like 'Wow!' Whereas now you're picky about everything. The songs have to be right and everything has to be a certain amount of minutes. You're concerned about selling records. There are certain things about it that aren't as cool anymore."

The three Margin brothers joke about how much smaller the crowds in America are -- and therefore how much smaller the population of America must be -- as the band finishes off a handful of bottles of Beerlao, but ultimately they open up about their favorite part of touring in America.

"The crowds here are really quiet and nice," Sam says. "They're not as cynical as the crowds in Australia."

"I think our entire culture is much more cynical," Elliott adds. "People are a lot more open to things here."

"It's like if you want to be the best at something here, everyone wants to get behind you and cheer you on," Baldwin says. "In Australia, everyone just wants to cut you down, like it's a sign of ego to want to be the best at something."