SWAMP ZOMBIES CATCH A NEW WAVE OF FOLK MUSIC

If not for the decibel-crunching power of Marshall amplifiers, the Swamp Zombies might never have turned to acoustic music and become one of Orange County’s most refreshingly offbeat bands.

“The first time we got together, we pulled out our Marshall amps and electric guitars--we turned it up so loud and made so much noise that we decided never to play together again,” said guitarist Josh Agle during a group interview this week at Edison High School in Huntington Beach, where the quartet was auditioning for a spot in a folk festival to be staged March 28 and 29.

“But three or four months later, we tried it again with acoustic guitars,” Agle said. “It was great to be able to hear ourselves.”

Since that day in late 1984, the Swamp Zombies, unfettered from restricting electrical cords, have spent nearly as much time playing on sidewalks and other impromptu settings in and around Orange County as they have in concert clubs.

“We like going to a club that has a good sound system, but we have the most fun playing outside somewhere,” Agle said.

Before the formation of the Swamp Zombies, bassist Steve Jacobs had been the most musically active of the four, having played in everything from rockabilly and hard rock groups to punk bands. (“If punk bands count, we’ve all been in bands before,” Agle joked.)

“I was in a band that was turning heavy metal at the time so I was looking for something better,” said stand-up bassist Jacobs.

The Swamp Zombies played its first concert at Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach. Because of the band members’ fondness for the club and its owners, they played benefit concerts and performed on the steps outside Huntington Beach City Hall during the club’s unsuccessful battle with the city last fall for a new entertainment permit. They also wrote a musical tribute to the club entitled “Land of 1,000 Beers.”

Since Safari Sam’s closed, the group has concentrated more on playing Los Angeles clubs, although it continues to appear frequently in Orange County. In addition to a performance tonight at Night Moves in Huntington Beach, the group will play the Anticlub in Los Angeles on Wednesday and Big John’s in Anaheim next Friday.

With Agle and his twin brother, Travis, on acoustic guitars, Jacobs on bass, Gary McNeice on percussion and all four frequently singing three- and four-part harmonies, the band’s sound hearkens back to such ‘50s and ‘60s folk groups as the Weavers and the Limelighters.

Ironically, when the young musicians--all are under 25--trekked to a local college to pay homage to the Limelighters in concert, “We got kicked out,” Jacobs said. “We were the only ones there under 40. I guess we were having too much fun and getting into the music too much.”

In addition to covering old folk songs like the Kingston Trio’s “Zombie Jamboree,” the Irvine-based band brings in elements of Cajun, calypso and other ethnic musical styles that give more punch to the group’s original material.

“At first we were afraid that (the music) would be unfocused,” Josh Agle said. “But listening to the old folk groups’ albums, they worked in a lot of ethnic music and they pulled it off.”

Much has been made of the new folk movement in Southern California, but Jacobs said, “We’re not into that ‘60s jangly pop--we’re more into the real stuff.”

Jacobs, who has studied political science at the community college and university levels, writes the band’s most politically oriented songs and sees the group as part of a tradition in folk music that dates back to Woody Guthrie. But he insists that the Swamp Zombies’ top priority is entertaining its audiences.

REDOUBLING THEIR EFFORTS: Bren Events Center Director Steven Neal said that part of a Pop Beat story last week on the status of concert bookings at the new $15-million facility gave the impression that university staff would duplicate services normally provided by independent security firms.

(In addressing potential costs of booking shows at the center, Southland promoters expressed concern that costs might be higher than comparable venues because Bren Center personnel and campus security will work concerts in addition to independent security firms hired by the promoter.)

While confirming that both will be used at Bren Center events, Neal said each staff will have different responsibilities. “It won’t be a case where our ushers are standing next to Event Management ushers. There won’t be any duplication of services. It’s the same as when they do concerts at the Forum or the Long Beach Arena, which have their own in-house personnel. I don’t want promoters to think that when they come in to do a show here that they’ll have to hire everybody and their brother.”

LIVE ACTION: Lone Justice’s dates at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano have been moved to March 26-27. Tickets for the April 1 show will be honored on March 26, while tickets for the April 2 concert will be good on March 27.