On the Verge: Walk the Moon's day in the sun

• The band's name comes from the Police song 'Walking on the Moon'
• Hit single 'Anna Sun' is based on one of the lead singer's college professors
• The group cites David Bowie and ELO as influences and dreams of working with The Killers

Aiming for the stars: In the four years since Nicholas Petricca formed Walk the Moon, fortune has finally begun to shine on the band. The indie pop group's catchy hit single, Anna Sun, first appeared on 2010 album i want! i want! and has since become a staple at Walk the Moon's live shows, inching into steady rotation on alternative radio. That slow burn has paid off: Anna Sun has carved out spots in the top 50 on both USA TODAY's alternative and adult-alternative year-end charts, and now sits at No. 14 on adult-alternative. (Latest track Tightrope is No. 18 on the alternative chart.) The video is approaching 6 million views on Vevo. Walk the Moon was one of the buzz bands at SXSW in Austin and played at the inaugural Firefly Festival in Dover, Del., as well as London's iTunes music festival. They also played the main stage at Lollapalooza in 2011. "Everything we do is one more step toward this moving target, success is a constant rising goal," says Petricca. The quartet have also opened for Young the Giant and Kaiser Chiefs and this summer played on fun.'s European tour. This fall, they swept the U.S. with a quick November tour and look forward to returning to Europe in 2013, this time as the headlining act.

Thanks, Sting: Lead singer Petricca, 25, put the band together in 2008, recruiting fellow Ohio natives, bassist Kevin Ray, 26, guitarist Eli Maiman, 26, and drummer Sean Waugaman, 25. Fiddling with names, they found that most of their initial picks were already taken, until they hit upon Walk the Moon, a reference to The Police's 1979 song Walking on the Moon. "It just clicked in the moment, and that name has an air of mystery to it," says Petricca.

Developing the sound: The band, who cite Talking Heads, David Bowie and ELO as influences, fold synth pop and rock together. "One description we've heard is 'indie pop fiesta,' " says Petricca. "That's pretty accurate."

Getting into the mood: Walk the Moon generates a lot of hipster buzz with live performances. Fans pile into venues, adorned with neon face paint. "We painted our faces for the Anna Sun video, and at this show in November 2010, we decided to re-create the vibe from the video," says Petricca. "We had face-painting stations, paint canvases on the wall. So the face painting became this accidental tradition."

Who is Anna Sun?: The lucky muse is a professor from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. "The song isn't really about her so much as it is about youth, the images of going to school," he says. "She was flattered, though -- she and her husband, who is also a professor, came to see a show when we were playing nearby."

The a-ha moment: "The Anna Sun video had been passed around YouTube, and this little record label tweeted about it," he says. "We got so much traffic from that one tweet. We had a gig in New York City at this tiny little bar in Lower East Side, and the place was packed. From that point on, we were courted by industry people."

Shout-outs and collabs: Petricca co-wrote Finale with French DJ Madeon, a song that was featured in an NBC Sports Network commercial during the 2012 Summer Olympics, as well as in ads for the National Geographic Channel and PlayStation Vita. He dreams of working with The Killers. "We got to see them (last summer) at Firefly Festival," he says. "It was a religious moment." While there are plenty of acts that he hopes to collaborate with, Discovery is near the top of his list. "It's got the lead singer of Ra Ra Riot (Wesley Miles) and the keyboardist from Vampire Weekend (Rostam Batmanglij) and they make these beautiful indie hip-hop tracks," he says.

Up next: Already working on new material, Petricca drops a hint: "We've got a new song called Tete-a-Tete, inspired by a visit to France," he says.

Now, that's a party: Before taking off again, Petricca will ring in the new year with family. Actually, bang in is more like it. "New Year's is a big deal in my family, and we party at the house," he says. "We have this old tradition from my grandparents; we crack open champagne and eat herring, then go outside and bang on pots and pans."