"Zee Avi is among the many artists, including Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band and the Black Eyed Peas, who'll play San Francisco's Outside Lands Festival this weekend, Aug. 28-30. Still, no matter how cool that is, the Malaysian singer-songwriter's spot on Friday's roster is yet another stop on a massive summer tour to promote her self-titled debut album, which was released on Brushfire Records in May. "Yes, it's a little tour," she jokes with Spinner. "I get to see more of the United States. I'm no longer a road puppy, I'm a road dog."

For Avi's first American tour -- her first big tour anywhere, really -- she co-opted label mate Matt Costa's bassist Harris Pitman and drummer Gabe Palmer, who are helping translate the 23-year-old's airy, jazzy pop songs to the stage. "We're rocking it avant-garde and real minimal. Very punk rock," Avi says with typical pithy irony. "Matt also recommended Gabe. I trust a drummer recommended by another musician. With my style, my bandmates have to have their own characters. I cannot ask for a better traveling troupe."

Though the newcomer's style is yet to be defined, she says Billie Holiday and 1920s vocal jazz are influential but she mainly credits Tom Waits as setting a similar tone. "Anyone who understands what Tom Waits does will understand what I do, because I fuse jazz with modern situations and most of them are not happy situations. I have many eclectic influences that I project into what I do."

Those influences also includes classic rock acts, such as first band she ever saw in concert, Deep Purple. "It was their reunion tour in 1998. My dad brought me," she says. "My parents grew in that generation. Yeah, it was really enlightening to see my dad headbang."