The Japanese Popstars are not Japanese. They count The Prodigy as an early influence, are often compared to The Chemical Brothers and write big house anthems that wouldn’t be out of place at a warehouse rave in Brixton – but they’re not English, either.

The Japanese Popstars are, in fact, Irish. And it doesn’t get more Irish than their names: Gareth Donoghue, Gary Curran and Declan McLaughlin (aka Decky Hedrock).

The Japanese Popstars’ original material can be categorized as classic house, filled with electronic riffs and pulsing synths. Their repertoire veers from rave-like tunes such as ‘Face Melter’ that are techno-heavy and pumping with a strong bass to songs like ‘Electronic Poet’ and ‘B.T.C.C.’ that are lighter, airy, more delicate and dreamy. Particularly pretty is ‘We Just Are (Finalizer),’ with its breathy electronica vocals and happy melody.

So far, their real strengths lie in their remixes, like their reworkings of Depeche Mode‘s “Peace,” The Chemical Brother’s “Star Guitar” and that beloved Beyonce tune, “Single Ladies.”

And it all came to be from these three dudes – who came of age and formed around the same northern Irish club scene.

At 14, Gary Curran, enamored with watching a friend’s older brother who DJed, took his paper route money and splurged on turntables. He spent the next decade DJ’ing and promoting at a local club, where he became friends with Decky (whose then-band, The Hedrock Valley Beats, he had booked).

“Me and Deck figured we could do better than some of the bands we’d seen,” Gary says. The two wanted get into the prestigious Oxegen Festival – without paying the entrance fee – so, along with Gareth, the they began producing their own tracks and performing them live.

MySpace buzz and a dedicated following began building. They started receiving requests for remixes. Their energetic live shows yielded more and more bookings and subsequently, time on the road.

The trio soon had to figure out how to reconcile their day jobs (Gary was working full-time with disadvantaged kids, Decky was doing tech-support and Gareth was working for a telecom company) with their nightlife spent scratching, beat-matching and performing for hundreds of sweaty, enthusiastic Japanese Popstars fans. The solution?

“It was just becoming too much,” Gary says. “There were loads of gigs coming through and we weren’t able to balance our jobs. When we got in a plane to Australia this past December, I left to pursue this full time to see how far it could go.”

As for now, it looks like a wise wager. When we spoke two weeks ago, Gary was recovering from the group’s first U.S. tour, where they played well-received shows everywhere from Cinespace in L.A. to Webster Hall in New York City to the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. (Unfortunately, he notes, his Irish complexion wasn’t bronzed by the L.A. or Miami sun).

While building on the success of their remixes and live shows, The Japanese Popstars hope to broaden their original material.

“The original stuff has been harder [to get together],” Gary said. “We keep getting asked for remixes. You just sit down and play loops and beats and stuff and try to get a bass line that you’re happy with. We try to pick up what we can do with it. With Beyonce and The Ting Tings, they gave us full vocals. If we can find a hook or something from the vocal that can give it a lot more energy, we’ll use that.”

There are a few collaborations in the cards, but they can’t yet say with whom – just that they’re “pretty cool.”

“Believe it or not, we were supposed to have an album finished in May,” Gary said. “We’ve got a lot of ideas. Right now, we’re keeping the remix work and we’re trying to build on the live show and take that to a different level. We’ve only started looking outside of things that can make or break a show, things like the right lighting.”

This summer will present opportunities to work on live-show elements, as the group’s hitting up Europe and Asia to play festivals like Glastonbury and Fuji Rock.

And as for their initial dream of getting into the Oxegen Festival for free? It’s been realized. This summer, they’ll be playing at it and opening for Deadmau5.