POP MUSIC REVIEW : RUSSIAN ROCKERS IN SANTA MONICA

When was the last time you heard a band kick out with “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and really be singing from experience?

Probably never--unless you were one of the 200 or so people packed into At My Place in Santa Monica on Wednesday night to see Stas Namin and his six-piece band, live and direct from Moscow, where they reportedly have been the hottest thing since the samovar for more than 10 years.

Stas Namin--the name of both the leader and the band--is the first officially sanctioned Soviet rock outfit to hit town and, contrary to some expectations, seemed fully aware of and more than capable of performing the latest in Western rock.

From the passable reggae lilt of “Ya Budu Nakhoditch” (I Will Find) to the full-bore crunch boogie of “Ya Lubliu Tol’ko Rock-and-Roll” (I Love Only Rock and Roll), the group worked through a sampling of current Soviet rock, and threw in some covers of Western pop tunes--the Beatles’ “Let It Be,” the Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ It to the Streets”--for good measure.

Audience reaction--somewhat subdued but quite receptive to the pop songs sung in Russian--was strong when Namin introduced “Back in the U.S.S.R.” as “a little bit of old-time summit-making” and the band zoomed into the 1967 Beatles tune.

“That’s the kind of music that got me thinking about rock in Soviet Union,” a sweaty but exhilarated Namin, 36, said after the first set. “Back in 1965, I listened to the Beatles and the Stones, and asked aloud, ‘Why not here?’ ”

Guitarist/vocalist Namin and his mates have since sold an estimated 40 million-plus records in Warsaw Pact countries and performed (originally as a trio) in Soviet stadiums that, he said, “make Madison Square Garden look very small.”

The group is touring this country (it has already played in Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco) under the auspices of the Peace Child Foundation, which is sponsoring the touring company of “Peace Child,” a pro-peace musical that played at the Wiltern Theatre on Tuesday. Namin’s group, which has jammed with American musicians at its club dates, will play Saturday at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara before returning home.

“The musicians here seem so . . . rooted ,” said Namin, grinning. “The music is here in the ground, and all the players must do is pick it up. Is very different from anywhere else in the United States--and maybe a little more in touch with musical things.”