Just a few short years ago, the members of folksy, hip-hoppish reggae trio The Beautiful Girls were just three surfers living on the beaches north of Sydney, Australia.

Now the triumvirate, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Mat McHugh, bassist Clay McDonald and drummer Mitch Connelly, is making waves in the music industry. Ridiculous surfing puns aside, The Beautiful Girls seem to be surprised by their musical success.

“Actually,” McHugh says. “We really consider ourselves surfers and accidental musicians.”

If the Beautiful Girls’ music career is indeed an accident, one might consider them the bastard love-child of The Fugees, Bob Marley and Ben Harper.

“Our music isn’t just straight down the line,” McHugh says. “We’re like dub mixed with old school blues mixed with hip-hop. We try not to limit ourselves to just the reggae label.”

Now embarking upon its third North American tour, the band is playing venues nationwide promoting the Sept. 21 U.S. release of its album “Learn Yourself,” from which two songs, “Blackbird” and “Music,” earned spots on the Hottest 100 Songs of 2003 list on the Australian radio network Triple J.

Coming off this unexpected success, the band has a newfound effervescence and is looking forward to sharing it with its fans.

“Our shows have such a high energy,” McHugh says. “We try to share our music with the crowd instead of just standing on stage wanting everyone to look at us. We like to get the crowd involved, and usually everyone is dancing and going nuts. There’s just an incredible energy.”

McHugh says the band relishes the opportunity to go on tour and exude this energy on stage.

“We love just being able to play music every night and share it with other people,” McHugh says.

However, every rose has its thorn, and every party-filled road trip across a foreign country must surely have its downside as well.

“There aren’t too many differences between touring in Australia and in the U.S.,” McHugh says. “It’s just hard being away from your friends and girlfriend and the people you love. Life goes on back home, even though we’re not there.”

“And the surf,” he says. “We miss the surfing.”