Mary Chain’s Stronger Link

For years, Jesus and Mary Chain vocalist-guitarist Jim Reid rarely uttered a word on stage.

So it’s almost startling to hear the Scotsman speak at length, and with a cutting sense of passion and humor, as in a recent telephone interview from his London home.

“To be honest, [my reticence while performing] has to do with being incredibly shy,” Reid said in a thick Scottish accent. “It has do with not feeling very comfortable with being on stage. We just try to play our songs the best we possibly can. But these days I actually tend to speak [on stage] when I feel like it.”

After 14 years of producing noir alternative rock with Jesus and Mary Chain, Reid is feeling more confident in himself and his band.

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The band, which plays Sunday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, proved an immediate darling of critics with the release of “Psychocandy,” its 1985 debut album. But Reid said he and his bandmates were laden with insecurity.

“When we started the band, nobody could play,” he recalled. “I never thought that I was going to be the singer. We were really like drawing straws to see who did what. It wasn’t like I was a natural-born singer, so I was going to be the singer and [my brother] William was going to be the guitar player. It could have gone any way.

“For a long time I felt like a bit of a fraud.”

Reid’s sense of self-assurance has increased just as his band’s standing within the rock ‘n’ roll establishment has waned. Its Southern California venues are smaller than the ones it played earlier this decade. Last year, the band parted ways with the former Warner Bros. subsidiary, American Recordings.

A rift developed between the two camps after the label dismissed the band’s new batch of songs as inadequate. The two Reid brothers also decided to replace the band’s management team.

In the United States, Jesus and Mary Chain is now signed to the esteemed, but relatively small, Sub Pop label. The independent, Seattle-based company was once the home of grunge pioneers Nirvana and Mudhoney. This past summer, Sub Pop released its first Mary Chain album, “Munki.” The new disc is stylistically similar to much of the band’s previous work. Such songs as “Stardust Remedy” and “Virtually Unreal” combine robust electric guitar riffs, Jim Reid’s darkly shaded vocals and tuneful pop melodies. Perhaps reflecting the up-and-down nature of the Mary Chain’s recent history, “Munki” includes songs titled “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

“I do feel happy with where we are today,” Reid said. “When we take stock and see what we’ve done . . . I think we’ve come up with a pretty good body of work that’s going to be looked upon well. That gives you some confidence.”

* Jesus and Mary Chain perform Sunday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. With Possum Dixon and Bliss. 8 p.m. $26.50. [714] 496-8927.