BACCHANAL ROCKER’S ON A LONG ROLL

It won’t take much prodding to get Bob Speth to tell you exactly how he feels about the high-tech discotheques that have dominated this town’s night-life scene for the last few years.

“I hate ‘em,” he said emphatically. “Whenever I go into a disco, I feel like I’m in some topless bar: Everything’s so artificial.

“Just like topless bars, discos tease you with something that isn’t real. Live entertainment, on the other hand, is so much more personal, so much more direct.”

Speth might be in the minority among his fellow nightclub owners, but in his case, a stubborn belief in the drawing power of live versus recorded music has paid off quite handsomely over the years.

It has been a decade since Speth, now 40, first opened the Bacchanal--a 500-seat nightclub, tucked away inside a Clairemont shopping center--as a concert showcase devoted to live rock ‘n’ roll, country, blues and jazz.

Back then, Speth said, national shows by Dr. Hook, Buddy Rich, and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels were sandwiched between performances by local rock groups like Bratz and the Blitz Brothers.

Only the names have changed. The national concerts that the Bacchanal holds as often as four nights a week feature such current favorites as ‘Til Tuesday, Dwight Yoakum, the Lords of the New Church, and the Del Fuegos.

The local bands that play other nights include Flyweil and Crystal.

But in a day when most popular San Diego nightclubs rely on quick-witted deejays who spin the latest Top 40 dance records, the live-only formula continues to attract turn-away crowds to the Bacchanal seven nights a week.

One reason, Speth said, is that “the old rockers still like their music, and they’re not getting that in the discos that only play whatever happens to be in the latest Top 40.

“Not only that, but we’re getting a great response with national country and blues artists as well, which just goes to show you that there are plenty of people out there who appreciate live entertainment of any kind.”

Another reason, Speth said, is the layout of the Bacchanal itself: the stage in front, the bar in the back, and a dance floor and three levels of seating in the middle.

“The seats face the stage in the shape of a fan, so everyone has a clear view of the stage,” Speth said. “Plus there are no hollow spots in the ceiling or in the walls, so the acoustics are exceptionally good.

“Essentially, the Bacchanal is a combination theater and nightclub. You can sit and listen, or you can come out front and dance. And that enables us to book a wide variety of acts--and draw from an equally wide selection of people.”

Perhaps out of modesty, Speth forgot to mention an even more important factor behind the Bacchanal’s 10 years of success: himself.

A year after opening the club in September, 1976, with $12,000 in borrowed cash, Speth sold out and went on an eight-month sailing trip around the Caribbean.

The new owners booted out live rock and turned the Bacchanal into a discotheque.

Less than two years later, their efforts had failed and Speth came back into the picture. With a series of highly publicized parties, he brought back live rock ‘n’ roll--with a little help from Bratz and the Blitz Brothers--and in a matter of months the club was once again on top.

In 1980, Speth once again sold the club and took off on another sailing voyage, this time spending two years cruising around the South Pacific.

Initially, the new owners stuck with live music--and for awhile, promoter Tony Kampmann brought in such national acts as Iggy Pop, Joe Cocker and Taj Mahal to complement a steady supply of local talent.

But by the middle of 1983, disco was staging its comeback and live rock clubs all over the city were rapidly losing their audiences.

The club’s owners tried everything, from new wave dance records to nude male dancers. But when everything failed, they handed control of the Bacchanal back to Speth in December, 1983.

“When I first came back, I decided to keep the male dancers because they were the only bookings we had that made money,” Speth said. “But after about a year, I thought to myself, ‘Live music has always worked for me in the past, so I might as well try it again.’ ”

Speth’s instincts were correct. He made the Beat Farmers the Bacchanal’s house band, booked an occasional national act on off nights, and before long the club was once again operating in the black.

By the start of this year, Speth said, the Bacchanal was back to what it had been originally: a concert showcase club, with as many as four national shows every week.

The roster of big-name acts that have played there since reads like a Who’s Who of popular music: Albert King, Bachman Turner Overdrive, B.B. King, David Lindley, Dizzy Gillespie, the Dramatics, Foghat, Flock of Seagulls, Steppenwolf, Pat Travers, Robin Trower, The Call and Badfinger.

This weekend, Speth is celebrating the Bacchanal’s 10th anniversary with a three-day “battle of the bands” featuring new talent from all over Southern California.

Co-sponsored by country radio station KSON-AM/FM (1240 AM and 97.3 FM), the Willie Nelson and Wrangler Jeans Music Invitational kicks off Sunday with seven regional rock bands: Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, Four Eyes, Crystal, Flyweil, the Reflectors, Dexter, and the Tickets.

Monday is rhythm-and-blues night, with Devocean, the Fabulous Spud Brothers, Ella Ruth Piggee, the California Executives, the Soul Patrol, the Basement Blues Band, and Rick Gazlay and His Voodoo Barracudas.

Tuesday is country-Western night, with Stampede, the Jack Tempchin Band, Whitehorse, Dunn and Warner, the Lonesome Strangers, Ten Star, and the Rosie Flores Band.