• AUDIO: Hear Echale Fuego

If you want underwear to be thrown onstage, then one tactic, as Oscar Jimenez from Watussi explains, is to make sure your band's name will appeal to the ladies.

Jimenez should know: watussi is slang for "the most handsome man at the party" and the Afro-Colombian Australian rock band (which is how Jimenez describes the eight-piece group he fronts) has a history of women flinging their undies at them.

"It hasn't happened as often lately," Jimenez admits, "but we're open for anything, we're very open-minded guys." Still, any underwear at all is good, considering the band's name originated from a misunderstanding.

"There's always been this Cuban song called Watussi that talks about this guy who comes to a party and everyone's afraid of him," says Jimenez, who was born in Colombia and moved to Australia eight years ago. The song's title refers to a strong rather than handsome guy but, because of a discrepancy in South American dialects, in Colombia it indicates the latter.

"So it was all a misconception, but I thought it was a great name for a band anyway because it sounds like 'the most handsome man in the party'," Jimenez says. "There was no underwear thrown on stage at that point but when the name came in it made things so much easier."

That was four years ago and, underwear aside, the band has certainly become successful since. Their gigs have ranged from WOMADelaide and the Sydney Festival's Beck's Bar to appearing on ABC's The Sideshow (on which Paul McDermott described them as Australia's most exciting band). Their debut album, Tequila, Sangre y Fuego (tequila, blood and fire), was acclaimed by critics when it was released last year. Considering that tequila is brought on stage for every gig and sipped between songs, the album's title seems appropriate.

"[Tequila] is one of those magic potions that help us chase the ghosts of fear away before we go on stage," Jimenez says. "I don't want to promote alcoholism but I do like people to free themselves a little bit, to let themselves go, and that's what Watussi's songs are about. I love our songs for that - they're for people to party and celebrate."

The songs, which are in Spanish, French and English, can be difficult to categorise because they're influenced by so many genres.

"The sound I was looking for originally wasn't of a Latin band but an Australian band that had these roots in Latin American music [yet] had a connection with Australian rock, Australian funk, jazz and blues," Jimenez says. "And all those combined create the sound and energy of the band."

Before touring Korea and Japan, Watussi will play two back-to-back shows at the Annandale Hotel on September 13, with the afternoon show including a South American barbecue cooked by band members. Jimenez, however, looks uncomfortable when asked about his grilling prowess.

"Well, it won't be just me," he says, "and I won't be working the barbecue and singing at the same time - that would be hard. Although maybe we could incorporate it into the show ..."

Considering they already have tequila on stage, it might not be such a bad idea.