"The Vivian Girls, rockers from this NYC borough, are 'really, really, really cute'," read television show host Alex Trebek in a clue for a "Jeopardy!" question in April. The category was "New York Times: Arts & Leisure," and the correct answer was "What is Brooklyn."

At least one of the contestants remained stumped as he stuttered out an "Uh, what is the Bronx?"

While The Vivian Girls have garnered much praise (and subsequent backlash) in the underground indie music blogosphere, they remain relatively unknown.

That may not last long, however. The three-girl band, which formed in 2007, has been generating recent buzz for their punk, low-fi shoegaze and 1960s girl-group pop sounds, drawing comparisons to bands like The Shangri-Las and The Ramones.

The trio — drummer Ali Koehler, singer-guitarist Cassie Ramone and bassist-singer-drummer Kickball Katy — will be performing at Loft Gallery and Lounge tonight in support of their sophomore album, "Everything Goes Wrong."

They're coming to Hawai'i following tour stops in Japan and Australia.

We caught up with Ramone while they were touring overseas:

What was your reaction to being referenced on "Jeopardy!"?

Complete and utter shock. It didn't make any sense to us. At first we thought our friends were playing a practical joke when they texted us about it.

Which game show or reality television show would you appear on if you had the choice?

"Room Raiders." (An MTV dating show.) A male contestant would have to choose between our three rooms. He would be dismayed at all the results and go with the lesser of three evils.

If you had unlimited resources, what would your ideal band merchandise be? (The Vivian Girls are notorious DIYers who have been known to personally silkscreen their own band T-shirts.)

Large kiddie pools that had fake palm trees on the side which, if you pressed a button, would spray a mist of water over you. Pyramid puzzles that when assembled correctly would light up in neon with a blinking eye on the top.

Do you have a preference for certain kinds of venues over others, and how does the atmosphere of a venue impact the show?

We like shows that are fairly crowded, where it's obvious from the stage that people are enjoying themselves. Environments like that make us feel at home and impacts our playing in the most positive way. We've had shows like that ranging from tiny living-room shows to shows at large venues, like when we opened for the Black Lips in London. In general, we like playing as many different kinds of venues as possible — the weirder the better.

How has the experience been so far of touring "Everything Goes Wrong"? I heard about your passports being stolen in San Francisco — has anything else gone wrong?

It was only Katy's passport that got stolen, but we were able to get her a replacement passport in just enough time to leave for Japan, so it all worked out. Other than that, everything has gone pretty smoothly. We're having fun seeing all these new parts of the world.

What music are you listening to right now?

I'm reading Phil Spector's biography, so a lot of his stuff. Also Neil Young, Steely Dan, Pizzicato Five because we were just in Japan, and "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" by Roy Ayers.

I read a recent interview where you said that of the current tour itinerary, Hawai'i is one place that you are most looking forward to visiting. You had a short stopover in Honolulu on your way out to Japan. What did you do during the stopover, and do you have anything else you're looking forward to doing when you make it back here?

We didn't get too much time to ... explore the island, but we did spend all day on the beach and did karaoke with some friends, both of which were awesome! We're really excited to go back and climb volcanos, go snorkeling and play our show. We also plan to spend all day on the beach again and do karaoke again.