He's best known as the singer from Wonderboom who likes to take off his shirt. But Cito's also taken to the stage in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Chess', plays with Sugardrive's Paul E Flynn in "supper club" group Absinthe, and is now working on his debut solo album.

We speak to him about opening up on stage, breaking the rock mould, learning to stand still, hating 'You Raise Me Up', selling vacuum cleaners, dueting with Karen Zoid on 'Purple Rain', and why he'll never be a telemarketer.

You have a very distinct voice ? does that make it difficult to break away from Wonderboom?

Since I started doing theatre work, I've really been focusing on my voice and what I can do with it ? it's not a calculated thing, more like expanding boundaries. Since I started doing theatre in 2006 I've realised my capability with regards to my vocal range and what I can do, so I've been trying out different things. I've been breaking out of the mould of the rock singer Wonderboom thing and gathering the courage to go on my own and try different things ? rock opera, big band stuff, musical theatre tunes ? and it's been really fun.

So right now what I'm really keen on doing is picking vocal challenges and with my voice I think what people dig is that I do bring my own style to whatever genre I sing in. I have a distinct style which is something I've developed over the years, so I think that's working for me.

Is there anything you learned from musical theatre that you've applied to your day job as a rock star?

In theatre I learned to be still. One of the challenges of my first rehearsals was the director saying: 'Be still, just stand still for a bit, you don't have to rock around. I know you're used to dancing and writhing, but just be still'. So what I learned from musical theatre is sometimes it's good not to give it all away in one go, like holding back a bit, offering a bit of dynamics and body language.

So why did you decide to record a solo album?

What initially got me motivated to do my solo work was there's a very dark and sweet side to me which comes through with some of the Wonderboom stuff. What makes Wonderboom so special is that there are four distinct characters that bring something fresh and unique to the mix.

But, having said that, a lot of the songs I've written that were quite dark we've attempted to put in our repertoire and many times they fall away. They don't fit the requirement of what we're trying to do at a gig or a festival which is usually a high energy performance. So I was at one stage pretty frustrated because I felt like there was just one side of me that was being fulfilled, and there was another big side of me that wasn't coming through.

So my debut solo album is basically going to be a collection of new stuff and a couple of old things that I maybe offered to Wonderboom but didn't quite fit the style or the genre, as well as stuff that we did try out but just didn't work, or just stuff that I don't want the Wonderboom element added to.

It's very similar when you hear the voice but, as far as the music's concerned, the same with me having a distinct voice, Martin Rocka and Wade have a distinct style of playing.