Mette Lindberg‘s on a lucky streak. Not only has she managed to be in New York City the one week of the winter when it’s above 35 degrees, but good fortune is grinning on The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, the band she formed roughly a year and a half ago with fellow Dane and friend Lars Iversen. Consider this: their first show was opening for Amy Winehouse (surprise, surprise: "she was drunk," Mette recalls, "But maybe we were drunk, too."), they had a song in an Apple commercial back in September and they’re poised to be the darlings of this year’s SXSW music festival. All this before their first record, Fruit, is released in May.

"It’s strange," says Mette, relaxing on a bench in Madison Square Park, where’s she’s eliciting the attention of every passerby headed to Shake Shack. This is in part due to her stunning good looks (she’s typically Scandinavian pretty, all snow-white hair and enormous blue eyes) and in part because of her wild get-up: white Ray-Bans, an enormous Mad Hatter-style chapeau and skin-tight leopard-print jeans.

"You think about getting your music out and suddenly it’s out. I don’t understand it. It’s like, ‘okay, I just heard myself in the park when I was out having a beer. Then I was in a bar and it came on during the commercial breaks on the flat-screens. That was weird," she says, referring to hearing the group’s song, Around the Bend, on an iPod Touch commercial.

To define The Asteroids Galaxy Tour’s sound is, er, fruitless (zing!). There’s a little bit of dance, a little bit of soul, a little bit of psychedelic, a little bit of pop. There are both modern beats and old-school production values, drum machines and horns, songs that bring to mind everyone from Duffy to the Ting Tings.

There’s a little bit of everything – which is not surprising when you hear Mette tick off her own list of musical influences: "I heard a lot of Beatles when I was a kid. Bob Dylan. Stevie Wonder. I love Motown, The Supremes. I also like hip hop like Jay-Z, stuff like that. And Billie Holiday. Michael Jackson. Everything!"

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour came to be in 2007, when Lars approached Mette in Copenhagen with a batch of songs he had been working on. Both had been making music – separately, for fun – for awhile.

"Lars had so many ideas and sketches, he had this whole great sound and was like ‘I want you to listen to it," Mette says. "And when I heard it, I was like, ‘Whoa! This is what I felt like doing.’ And then we started working and gave it all we got. We stayed up late and just worked on it and found the vibe of the band. It was like, ‘why haven’t we done anything earlier?"

The duo got to work in Lars’s apartment for the summer, where they did nothing but write, record, drink and sleep. When they were asked by Winehouse’s people to open up for her, they recruited four of their friends to play back-up instruments. Their addition, Mette says, put the finishing touches on the group’s overall sound (as well as provide the band with their moniker, which was originally conceived by trumpet player Miloud Sabri.)

"They bring something special to the music," she says. "It’s me and Lars who are the main core, but it’s like a collage: you can put in everything, all the influences, then you cut it together and this is the Asteroids Galaxy Tour."

This collage of groovy pop attracted the interest of ie:music, a London management firm whose roster includes Robbie Wiliams and Sia. Eventually, a deal was struck and in September 2008, Around the Bend was released as a single on Small Giants record label. An EP followed in November.

In anticipation of Fruit‘s release, TAGT is hitting the road, with several dates in Europe planned and SXSW in a few weeks. The band savors their live shows, and Mette’s particularly excited about playing to the U.S. crowds. "Over here people are really open and good at giving a good vibe. It’s great. They’re not afraid of letting loose. I feel that. We want to play here more."

The good audience feedback isn’t the only thing the Asteroids Galaxy Tour is ready for when they play in Austin. "I’m looking forward to the hot sauce!" she says with a laugh. "And the margaritas. All the tequila. Hopefully, it’ll surprise me and I’ll like tequila again."

*** CLICK HERE for YOUR chance to win a pair of tickets to see The Asteroids Galaxy Tour LIVE at Le Poisson Rouge! Don’t fret if you live outside New York City! We’re also giving away two signed CDs of the band’s upcoming release titled Fruit. ***