Cults is one of 2010's greatest success stories: The New York-via-San Diego duo uploaded three songs of the lo-fi-meets-'60s-doo-wop ilk to Bandcamp last year, and, before they knew it, Columbia Records picked them up and is releasing their debut eponymous LP this month. But there's more to their success scheme than luck. Here we let Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin explain the master plan in depth.

DON'T CALL ANYONE BACK.
BO: We made three songs without photos, stickers, gigs we didn't even have a band! When labels started calling us we said, 'Eh, I don't know, we'll get back to you.' By ignoring everyone, we fueled the fire.

DO DROP OUT OF FILM SCHOOL IF YOU HAVE TO.
MF: Last year Brian and I were both going to school, working shitty internships and bored creatively. So, we started randomly making music together. We made these three songs in, like, two weeks, put them on the Internet... and quit school the next day. No, we finished the semester, but it was so hard.

DON'T GET DRUNK ON TOUR.
BO: We played New Orleans and had a couple hours off, so we went to Bourbon Street. Our tour manager was like, 'Just don't drink those shitty, sugary drinks. You'll get really wasted and feel like shit; you won't be able to play.' First thing we do is hop out of the van, go to all these strip clubs and drink Hurricanes. Finally, we came back and I had the worst headache of my life.

Cults is out June 7th on Columbia Records. You can stream the entire album on NPR.com now.