ROCKING TWINS AREN’T JUST DROPPING NAMES

The first time Andrew and David Williams used a big-name contact to boost their rock ‘n’ roll career, they were young tykes.

“Our aunt used to go out with Sonny Curtis of the Crickets,” Andrew recalled, sitting with his brother in the Beverly Hills office of their manager, Peter Asher. “He taught us how to play the ukulele and we used to bop up and down in the living room pretending we were Herman’s Hermits. There was magic then.”

The magic of the music stayed strong--and so did the magic of fortuitous contacts. In fact, the story of the Williamses’ journey from local music fans to major label recording artists is a case study on the benefits of networking.

A quick summary of the 28-year-old twins’ trip reads like a who’s who of L.A. rock:

In 1981, they went to see the Plimsouls at a local club and became friends with leader Peter Case, who let them sing backup and open concerts for the band and introduced them to producer Jeff Eyrich, who took them to meet singer/songwriter/producer T Bone Burnett, who asked them to sing on his 1983 “Proof Through the Night” album and to join his touring band, which then included Tom Petty’s drummer Stan Lynch, through whom they met Petty’s guitarist Mike Campbell, who ultimately produced much of their debut Warner Bros. album, “Two Stories,” and brought in excellent songs written by Petty, Stevie Nicks and Bob Dylan.

But the Williams Brothers’ story is much more than a name game, as the album--with its exuberant, toughened update of the L.A. rock sound they fell in love with--makes clear.

Still, they’re aware that the associations with their famous friends could work against them. Rolling Stone’s review of the album called it “a name-dropper’s delight” and wondered if the pair could make it without the “glittery support net.” The brothers aren’t particularly concerned about that, though.

“That doesn’t really matter,” David said. “The important thing was their contributions.”

But about recording “Straight A’s in Love,” the rockingest song Dylan has written in years, Andrew said, “When somebody offers you a Bob Dylan song it’s hard to say, ‘No, thanks.’ We said ‘Yeah!’ We’re thrilled to have it.”

Now, though, the Williams Brothers are intent on making their names count. They’ve just embarked on their first full tour, pledging to play “anywhere they can book us.” They’ll take the direct rock ‘n’ roll approach, with the two of them on guitars and vocals backed by a bassist and a drummer. (They play a few local dates this week, including the Palace on Friday--opening for Chris Isaak--and Club Lingerie on Saturday).

Interestingly, the well-known name closest to the twins is one they say had little to do with their career advancement: pop crooner Andy Williams, who is their uncle. While they seem a bit touchy about the subject, they insist that charges of nepotism are unfounded.

“He was encouraging,” acknowledged Andrew, noting that the twins appeared on several of their uncle’s Christmas television specials, as did many other family members, but otherwise didn’t see much of him.

“But I think having an entertainer in the family, you get the bug to entertain. You kind of get the feeling of what it means to be on TV, which is fantasy.”

And so, it would seem, is rock ‘n’ roll, from bopping up and down in the living room with ukuleles to rocking around with Dylan and Petty.

Said Andrew, “It’s a relief . . . from the world, trying to get some fun in.”