Some of the most idiosyncratic species have evolved in isolated areas. Add to that list of oversized lizards and peculiar mammals Patience Hodgson from the Grates. Her unusual isolated upbringing on Macleay Island, off the coast of Brisbane, has helped mould her unique and bold personality , which has seen her become one of the hottest rock chicks in the land alongside Magic Dirt's Adalita and Little Birdy's Katy Steele.
Not for her sneaking into pubs to play Guns 'n' Roses' uber-soft rock ballad Patience on the jukebox. At the time, there were no pubs or record stores or bands on the island, so she spent her spare time hanging out on the beach.
"A lot of people hated growing up on an island, and I used to say that to be cool, but I really loved it," she says, wearing canary yellow tights, a peach knee-high dress with a thin silver belt and straight, shoulder-length auburn hair hanging over her visible birthmark that covers her neck and shoulder.
"There were four shops - a bakery, a place to get chips with gravy , a video shop and a local 7-7 - and it lied, it was only open til 6pm. I would go jetty-jumping, ride my bike everywhere and hang at the beach."
The island's isolation - physically and culturally - from the mainland, she believes, worked in her favour.
"When you first start writing music and you're a bit naive, it can be good not to have any pre-conceived ideas. The musical world is your oyster. Everything seems new. And you think everything you do is so original, even if it's been done before and you don't know where you've absorbed from. It still blows my mind that I am in a band. I had no idea it was going to become my life."
She would catch three buses and a ferry to Cleveland District State High School (also attended by members of her heroes, Regurgitator) which meant up to four hours of travel a day daydreaming out the window.
Despite having no musical training or ambitions, she tried her hand at singing after hooking up with her bandmates Alana Skyring and John Patterson, who she met at TAFE in 1999.
"One night we were watching Rage and I didn't know what I was doing with my life and I thought, 'I reckon I could do OK in a band'. I can't really sing that much but I'm pretty confident and I reckon I've got some songs in me. To start with, it was just fun, a way to hang out just the three of us again without our boyfriend and girlfriends, and it all just clicked."
It may have started as just a bit of fun, but then they got signed to independent label Dew Process, which offered to send them to Texas music festival South by Southwest.
"We realised that we had people investing in us, so I really stepped up. I started singing properly."
The trio were proud of their musical heritage and used the sounds of local bands Regurgitator, Powderfinger and Custard as their early template.
To everyone's surprise, their debut album Gravity Won't Get You High landed in the ARIA Top 10 and sold 50,000 copies.
And the follow up, Lost Teeth, Hearts Won, out this weekend, looks set to improve on that. Recorded with Peter Katis in Bridgeport, Connecticut, it is packed with the shambolic energy, impassioned singing, shouty choruses and banshee wails of its predecessor, but branches out into some Flaming Lips-esque whimsy and adds a bit of Weezer-style grunt. Guest appearances come from Mates of State's Kori Gardner and cult folk rapper Tin Fite.
Clearly, the two years spent on the road touring Gravity has instilled them with much confidence.
Burn Bridges, Carve Your Name and Two Kinds of Right are sonic assaults that leap out and sock you in the nose, while the swelling, melancholy Storms and Fevers, reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's classic Maps, and the Kate Bush-esque The Fun in Every Start, are foils to all of the nervous energy. Infectious and edgy, cute but laden with attitude, this is set to be the sound of the summer festival season.
A conversation with Patience is, like her songs, exhilarating and exhausting. Confident and freewheeling, she sounds like she still can't believe her luck.
"I feel like mostly in life I get to do what I want."
Clearly, she is Patience by name, but not by nature. As Regurgitator's Ben Ely told her: 'It's not you who is patient, the world has to be patient with you!"
Teeth Lost, Hearts Won is out tomorrow. The Grates play the Hi Fi Bar on October 10.
By Patrick Donovan