Dominic “Dodo” Muhrer (vocals), Markus Christ (bass) and Florian Meindl (drums) represent Austria this year with the song I Am Yours, and defend the contest on home soil after Conchita’s win last year.

The first semi-final kicks off on Tuesday May 19th – with Sweden, Italy and Australia tipped as the favourites.

The 16 countries taking part are: Moldova, Armenia, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Greece, Estonia, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Belarus, Russia, Denmark, Albania, Romania and Georgia.

Austria, France, Spain and Australia will vote in this semi-final.

Austria, along with France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and Australia, automatically gains a place in the final.

The Makemakes released their debut single The Lovercall in 2012 which peaked at number 6 in the Austrian charts and last year their single Million Euro Smile reached number 2.

They have also produced their own line of limited edition beer which is brewed at the Ottakringer Brewery, the host venue for this year’s Euroclub. The beer was served to fans at Sunday’s opening party.

They hail from Flachgau, in the province of Salzburg. The band’s name is derived from the dwarf planet Makemake, which in turn owes its name to the creating deity Makemake from the mythology of Easter Island.

The band has already experienced a taste of rock stardom after they opened for Bon Jovi in Vienna’s Krieau arena.

Dominic Muhrer has said how great an honour it is to represent Austria at the ESC, and to tread in Conchita’s footsteps – “although actually she has quite small feet”, he joked. The feedback from “fans, small children and even grannies has been overwhelmingly positive”.

“Back home they have even set up a public viewing screen on the market square – something like that never happens,” Markus Christ said.

“For us it’s all about the music and our friendship,” he added. “We’re here to build bridges and not to make the differences between countries stand out.”

The Makemakes are betting on Australia and Italy gaining a place in the top five. They also joked that they are hoping that some viewers confuse Austria with Australia – “maybe we’ll get a few extra votes that way!”

Australia competes in Eurovision this year as a one off wildcard to mark the contest's 60th anniversary.