DeVILLE IS READY TO STEP OUT WITHOUT HIS MINK

One of the catchier tunes on “Sportin’ Life,” Mink DeVille’s current album, is “Italian Shoes,” a bouncy paean to imported footwear. It figures. Singer Willy DeVille’s vocal prowess is almost equalled by his knack for sartorial splendor, so it’s not surprising to learn that he plans to start his own line of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Willy has a couple of other projects in the fire: “Va Banque,” a film by German director Deithard Kuester that marks his acting debut (it just opened in Europe and should appear soon in the United States), and a book of vignettes he’s preparing to write on his formative years in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

All this should ease the apprehension of DeVille devotees, who lately have been trying to sort through a pile of conflicting and disquieting items about the band.

Things first got murky with the release of “Sportin’ Life” in December: The six members of Mink DeVille are listed on the album sleeve, but only two are named in the musicians’ credits for actually playing on the record. Then the group’s L.A. concert in February abruptly was canceled. That was followed by the news that Willy DeVille had declared bankruptcy and dissolved Mink DeVille.

But wait. Now Willy is back on the road, and will perform at the Palace on Thursday and the Coach House on Saturday leading a band called--surprise, surprise--Mink DeVille.

During a recent phone interview from his Manhattan apartment, the rail-thin singer cleared up the confusion.

“Mink DeVille--with the same band members, except (saxophonist) Louis (Cortelezzi)--will be playing those gigs,” he said.

“But this is going to be the last Mink DeVille tour and the last Mink DeVille record--except for a live one we did in Paris and Amsterdam during the last tour.”

DeVille said that he found using mostly non-Mink personnel on “Sportin’ Life” such an exciting, strange and challenging experience that he decided to go solo.

“What happened, I think, is the Mink DeVille band got so stylized that everything I laid down sounded like an old Mink DeVille song to me,” DeVille, 35, said of the “Sportin’ Life” sessions. “I wanted something new and fresh and different. Which is what I finally got, but I had to bring in different (musicians). . . . It showed me how restricted I was in a band format. So now I’m going out on my own. I’m just going to be Willy DeVille.”

Those who’ve followed Mink DeVille since the band emerged in the mid-’70s from the lower Manhattan music scene know that, artistically speaking, Mink DeVille has been all Willy, anyway. That’s how it worked legally too, which is why Willy personally declared bankruptcy as a solution to the group’s mounting financial problems.

“Mink DeVille had gathered debts up to about half a million dollars, but I filed because the contracts were in my name. I had to do it. Everybody loved Mink DeVille shows and everybody loved the band, but we were just hobbling along. And we couldn’t keep just hobbling along. . . .”

DeVille said that another objective in filing bankruptcy--which can void contracts--was to end what he considered an unsatisfactory relationship with his manager.

Despite all the turmoil, DeVille sounded cheerful and optimistic. He was particularly enthused about getting started on his solo record. He’ll be assisted on it by Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, who will produce and play guitar.

DeVille apparently wants to backtrack a bit musically and pursue a much sparer version of his trademark R&B; sound.

“Yeah, much leaner--that’s where I want to go,” he said. “On the first record, songs like ‘Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl’ had that leaner sound. Then I was experimenting with strings, and we always had the zydeco stuff going, and sort of a Tex-Mex sound mixed with a New York Spanish Harlem type of thing.

“I want (the new music) to have all those things, but I want to say the same thing with a lot fewer words, if you know what I mean.” . . . I’ll still stick to my guns. I’m not going to give up and go techno-pop or anything.”