At first glance, the two young guys who make up Wave immediately cry out popstars in the making.

The pop identity Dave Thomson and Paul Gigliotti have forged on their debut album Nothing As It Seems, released two days ago, came about when the Niagara Falls high school pals became a songwriting team following their 1999 graduation.

"We were in separate bands in the same high school, but we both knew each other -- just casually, though," Thomson says by phone from Calgary in the midst of the Psykoblast Tour. The cross-Canada popfest, also starring fellow popsters soulDecision, b4-4 and Snow, touches down at Lansdowne Park's Aberdeen Pavilion on Sunday night.

"After high school, we finally got into a band together -- an Oasis cover band."

Oasis? Not quite in the same league as California, Wave's current lighter-than-air single which has already cracked radio's Top 40 and is in rotation aplenty on MuchMusic.

Thomson's high school band went even further in left field. "I used to play in a punk and ska band -- we managed to open up for Goldfinger a few times," Thomson says. "I went to see all the Vans Warped Tours. Even now, I'm still quite the punk."

So why the about-face to pop? "When I met Paul, we just seemed to work well as a pop duo. I've always had an open mind about music, anyway," Thomson says.

Never did it seem likely their pop story would take off so quickly. Seems Thomson, Gigliotti and pal Ben Dunk constructed a four-song demo in Dunk's basement. The demo was passed on to a producer who in turn sent it to Warner Music's Toronto office. Wave received an audition invite, so they drove up from Niagara Falls with much rejoicing.

In a very b4-4-like manner, Wave came. Wave sang.

"The Warner people shook our hands 10 times and said, 'We'll get back to you tomorrow with our decision,' " Thomson says. "So we'd been hanging out in the parking lot, getting ready to leave. The vice-president then stuck his head out the door and called to one of his people to bring us back in. The VP came out three minutes later and said, 'You guys have a record deal.' "

Wave conquered. "And get this: We'd demoed California up two weeks before Warner had even heard it," Thomson says.

While Wave recorded much of Nothing As It Seems in Hollywood, California's genesis came straight out of Niagara Falls.

"I was working in a record store, just pushing the end of the university year," Thomson, 21, says. "And I just had another summer job lined up ... I was just all confused as to what I wanted to do in life.

"This guy I knew just got back from California, so it was, 'Wow, California, I'd love to go there. On my drive home from work, I came up with the chorus and finished the song later with Ben."

Thomson says he and Gigliotti enjoy writing their own material, a testament to what sets many Canadian pop stars apart from their gazillion-selling American counterparts.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he says.