Homecoming Act

Hello Swindon, a band out of Arizona, will be saying hello to Cisco’s in Westlake on Saturday night, in what essentially is a homecoming gig for three-quarters of the group. Off learning how to be poor at Arizona State, Hello Swindon will be playing with Flush, out of Simi Valley.

There should be no need to give them directions to the gig. Guitar player Scott Semple, who used to front Contradiction, went to Simi Valley High School. Bassist Erich Cameron went to Thousand Oaks High, and sax player Jake Mann is from Westlake High. Drummer John Vick is from back east.

Billed as the “Reciprocation Tour 2000,” because Flush took the long road trip to Arizona last November, this will be Hello Swindon’s Southland debut. The group’s new album is “Loudmouth Soup.”

After a few years pursuing those rock star dreams with Contradiction, Semple then played as a soloist. He ended up in Arizona going to school and meeting the other guys. Mann and Vick were in a band called Radio Theory, and Cameron was his roommate.

Hello Swindon has a number of originals, but their showstopper is perhaps their reverential rendition of the ska classic “Party at Ground Zero” by Fishbone.

The band discussed the latest during a recent phone interview.

So how is the scene in Arizona?

Semple: Well, there’s a lot more happening than in Simi Valley and the east county. In Phoenix, there are a lot more bars and ASU is here. There’s plenty to choose from.

How long has the band been around?

Mann: Since last July, so almost a year. I started jamming with my roommate Scott, then we got to playing at open mike night and met Jake and John from Radio Theory.

Where did the name come from?

Mann: It came from a skit by a British comedian named Eddie Izzard. He was doing a parody of the British space program.

What comes first--the band name on the drums, the band stickers or the band T-shirts?

Cameron: First, you practice live and build up your own style. Then we got the stickers and six months later we went into the studio and made a seven-song demo CD. The name on the drums came later. We’re just starting to make hats and T-shirts now.

So Scott, how would you compare Hello Swindon with Contradiction?

Semple: If you put them side by side, they would sound totally different. This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life playing music. With Contradiction, we had this drive to make it, and now five years later with this band, we’re just having fun doing it.

Since you majored in history, does that mean you’ll never have a real job?

Semple: Not necessarily. I’ve never been big on music theory, so I never studied that. I wanted to study something that would hold my attention, so I chose history.

Who goes to see Hello Swindon?

Mann: We have our group of friends that always show up, plus we have a mailing list, so we have a lot of new fans, too. People usually start out by just checking us out, but we have a lot of dance songs.

How did you come to record “Party at Ground Zero”?

Vick: One day I came over to visit Scott, and he was locked in his room with his girlfriend playing his guitar, and he couldn’t hear me knocking. I stayed out there for seven or eight songs, and finally I heard “Party at Ground Zero,” and I couldn’t believe he knew that song. I had always been a Fishbone fan. I did the ska drumbeat and we decided to throw it on our album.

So what’s the plan?

Semple: We’re just playing and having a good time. We’ll probably start touring more, show everyone what we can do and see what happens.

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DETAILS

Hello Swindon and Flush at Cisco’s Mexican Restaurant, 925 S. Westlake Blvd., Saturday, 9:30 p.m.; $3; 497-3959.

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Usually a concert venue that has found success with aging rock bands and punk rock shows, the Ventura Theatre will host “A Night of Blues” tonight, a gig with a definite local slant. Oxnard-based guitar goddess Teresa Russell and her band, Cocobilli, will headline the affair, with Oregon-based acoustic guitar player Terry Robb showcasing his considerable dexterity. Also on the bill will be Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax, his hot blues band out of Santa Barbara.

Russell, either solo, with Cocobilli or with others, generally plays about five times a week, basically a month or two of work for most bands. She has been playing since she was a teenager, and she must know about 500 songs. Her latest album is “Bustin’ Loose.”

Robb performs solo or with a band when he’s not busy producing, teaching or doing studio work.

So far, Robb has recorded six solo albums, the latest “Heart Made of Steel.” Robb will be making the most of his visit with solo gigs at the Deer Lodge in Meiners Oaks on Saturday, Mojo’s in Oak View on Sunday and the Ban-Dar in Ventura on Monday.

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DETAILS

Teresa Russell & Cocobilli, Terry Robb and Mitch Kashmar & the Pontiax at the Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., tonight at 8; $12; 653-0721.

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Ojai-based singer-songwriter Rain Perry was selected as one of a dozen finalists in the Telluride Troubadour Contest at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado this weekend.

Songwriters will each have the opportunity to play four of their compositions at the historic Sheridan Opera House. The winner receives a Shanti guitar worth more than $6,000 and a 15-minute slot on the main stage on the closing night of the festival before an expected audience of more than 10,000 music lovers.

Perry is following in the footsteps of another Ojai local, Alan Thornhill, who won the Finger Style Guitar Competition at the same festival in 1995.

Perry’s winning song, good enough for her road trip to the Rocky Mountain State, was “Yosemite” from her album “Balance,” released last fall on her own Precipitous Records. “It took them a few months to get back to me, and their e-mail didn’t come the day they said it would, but I am way excited,” said Perry.

Perry’s next local appearance will be at Agility: A Women’s Music Festival, which will be a benefit for the Arthritis Foundation to be held in August at the Libbey Bowl in Ojai. Sara Hickman is making the trek from Texas to join locals Perla Batalla, Mary Z. Wilson, Julie Christensen and Perry, with more performers to be added.

Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at blocey@pacbell.net.