As the brothers, best mates and band members Oli and Louis Leimbach arrived for our photoshoot at the Harbord Hotel, the buzz in the air was electric. "They're here," hushed whispers could be heard.

The brothers have played there before and they wander in oblivious to the excitement that's been building in the wings. They're cool, instantly likeable and so relaxed, that Louis continues chomping down on a cup full of mixed nuts while our photographer gets ready.

This duo is nothing to do with a famous Aussie cordial brand, and everything to do with the sweet sounds of summer, surf rock and everything that's good about the northern beaches. The bronzed brothers are just as at home surfing local breaks, as they are playing to thousands of fans across the world.

On the day we met them they'd just sent a truck load of gear to Victoria for their biggest headline show to date, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, which was on Tuesday this week.

For the next few weeks, they're playing their final Australian gigs, including April 20 and 21 at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, before they jet off to Europe for the next five months to focus on building their following there.

Their distinctive brand of indi pop has captured audiences across the globe. Lime Cordiale's music is just as well known as the band's kooky video clips and fashion sense - think 1970s outfits, streamlined suits and loud Paisley shirts.

This week Oli, 32, and Louis, 30, released their latest single, Facts of Life, and it comes ahead of their third studio album due out later this year. The video clip for the song is being edited and is due out any day.

"The majority of the time we make them with friends that have kind of grown with us as filmmakers. It's great because as our music matures their filmmaking abilities mature and Louis' artwork [more on that later] changes along with it, there's just this natural development on all sides," Oli said.

"We always try and make it not too silly and mucking around, but it always ends up going that way."

Their first two albums - Permanent Vacation (released in 2017) and 14 Steps to a Better You (released in 2020) - produced a barrage of hits. 14 Steps peaked at number one on the ARIA charts, and they've also had ARIA wins for Breakthrough Artist (2020) and Best Australian Live Act (2021).

They've had numerous songs in triple J's Hottest 100 countdowns, and, they're so popular that the Wiggles recently covered their song Apple Crumble.

They've also got more than 1.7 million monthly listeners and more than 218 million streams on Spotify.

When Lime Cordiale first began releasing music, they'd go through social media and read all the comments, but these days not so much.

"We don't put out a song until we're happy with it," Oli said. "The best reaction you can get from a song is when people are singing it at a concert, that's when you really feel like the song is getting received well. It is an amazing feeling, there's nothing like it."

In their early day their backstage shenanigans were pretty wild, but as they've gotten older and their gigs have gotten bigger this has toned down.

"As the venues have gotten bigger, there's way more to think about," Oli said. "We definitely like getting everyone out and just being with us in the band, just so we're not just talking about shit and getting straight on stage."

They do vocal warm ups and Louis had his "crazy Chinese medicine that he drinks for his vocal chords". Then it's a "nice shot of tequila" and a huddle where trombone player Nick Polovineo, also known as Nicky Night Time, gives a "hype up speech".

"You just need to give yourself a little bit of a moral boost before getting out there so you can really have fun and get rid of all negative thoughts and then you can just get wild," Oli said.

As they work towards their third album, Louis explains they're in a culling phase right now.

"We've finished about nine songs, but we went over to America to write a bunch more and came back with 25 new songs, so now we're back in the culling process, what makes it, what doesn't," he said. "You're giving up your babies a little bit when you have to decide to throw one away."

They admit there's no real structure to the way they write. Sometimes they write melodies or lyrics separately and then come together to fine tune things, other times they write together.

Not only is Louis a talented musician and singer, his distinctive lino print artworks have graced the covers of the band's first two albums and other merchandise.

While he gets some inspiration from Reg Mombassa (who is well know for Mambo's artworks), it's renowned Palm Beach printmaker Bruce Goold who provides most of the inspiration.

"Bruce showed me how it works and that's when I fell in love with it really hard. I became a bit obsessed with it," he said.

"It's quite a long process where you're carving out the negative linoleum, and then it's essentially like a big stamp. It's quite a slow process so I put an album on, or put a doco on, or listen to an audio book and I find it really relaxing."

While they're keen to play at a few well known festivals, such as Splendour in the Grass, Glastonbury and Lola Pelusa in the future, they're also keen to focus on a few areas including Europe, Japan, South America and complete a more extensive Canadian tour.

"There's so many territories, you've got to choose where you're going to go," Oli said.

"Unless you have an absolutely smashing commercial hit that goes everywhere, you need to invest time in these places, so basing ourselves in London is our next investment."

Before they head to the UK, they've asked fellow northern beaches band The Rions to be their support act for a few Australian shows.

Both bands scored a place in the triple J Hottest 100 for 2021 - Lime Cordiale at #41 for What's Not To Like and #14 for Apple Crumble. Both songs were with Idris Elba. The Rions came in at #51 for Night Light, the video for the single was filmed at Manly's Q Station.

"They had their first hottest 100 entry, it was amazing to be able to share that with them," Louis said of The Rions.

"They did so well. I think they were predicted to get in the 60s, and they ended up in the 40s which is pretty incredible for a band just straight out of high school. It took us eight years for that to happen so they're way ahead of us."

They may be getting used to touring the world, and often having to share a room and sometimes a bed because they've overbooked their hotel, but Oli and Louis are northern beaches boys at heart.

Oli calls Freshwater home, while Louis lives with seven mates in Elanora at a place they've nicknamed 'The Ranch'. The Elanora home used to be owned by former radio kingpin Doug Mulray. Louis and his housemates have converted Mulray's old helicopter hanger to a recording studio, and there are veggie gardens on the helipad.

The classically trained musicians have come a long way from playing gigs so small that often the crowds were too busy enjoying the wedding or birthday party to notice who was playing.

"I played clarinet and Louis played trumpet," Oli said of when they were growing up.

"It wasn't really an option to not play music, mum wasn't cracking the whip too hard, but it was just part of our daily routine, we had to practice an hour a day. It was just a given.

"When we got older and were listening to artists that we loved, we picked up guitars in order to be able to sing and write other songs."

Often they played the old LA Bar in Avalon in their early days, later Icehouse frontman Iva Davies (who lives at Whale Beach) spotted them at a band competition at Palm Beach RSL. Oli and Louis went on to record three songs with him.

And if you're wondering about the band name, they were originally calling themselves The Limes (because of their surname), but all that changed when they were on holiday in the south of France. Their aunt runs a classic music festival called Music Cordiale and "we just said maybe we should call ourselves Lime Cordiale. Cordiale [in French] means a group, to be cordial, a friendly group".

With the federal election now called, the brothers are keen to do their bit for the local environment and have decided to help Independent candidate for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps.

"We're pro climate action and she's very much there," Oli siad.

"We've never been political before, but we definitely think things need to change in Australia with climate action so that's why we're getting behind her."

They're so passionate about wanting climate action that they'll play at Dr Scamps' rally in Avalon on May 1. Stay tuned for further details.

Lime Cordiale play at Wollongong Uni on Thursday May 5. The tour also heads to the Sunshine Coast, Kingscliff, Hobart, Adelaide and Coffs Harbour before embarking on a 29-date tour of UK and Europe.

More details - https://www.limecordiale.com/