POP MUSIC REVIEW : At Least Junkyard Has Its Rehash Name Right

Bands as diversely individualistic as the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Poi Dog Pondering, the B.H. Surfers and Timbuk3 have found a receptive home in Austin, Tex., which explains, in a way, why the nucleus of Junkyard had to move from there to L.A. to make it.

Where in hipper climes the five-piece outfit would justly be dismissed as nothing more than a recycling center for hard-rock cliches already exhausted by Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC and a host of others, in L.A. they can be “the next Guns N’ Roses, dude!” as one bandana-ed, chain-smoking juvenile declared during the group’s performance Saturday at the Coach House.

A requisite number of tattoos and watts (some 700, RMS, pumped through 40 on-stage speakers)--what else could a headbanger or label exec ask for? Guitarists Chris Gates and Brian Baker’s solos were strictly Outlaws-grade retro-noodling, though front man David Roach was a bit edgier, bashing at cymbals with his forehead, allowing himself to be pulled into the audience several times and tackling his songs with a voice that sounded like a grittier version of Jay North’s Dennis the Menace.

The songs, chiefly from the 1989 Geffen debut “Junkyard,” were similar to GNR’s musical tattoos of L.A. life, though most of the tales of scuzzy street-level excess carried a cautionary tone. “Blooze” warned against the dangers of the bottle--though, given the pummeling adequacy of Gates and Baker’s bluesoid solos, any form of release started looking good.

Others in the 14-song set included the hook-rock hit “Simple Man,” the Trower-esque “Long Way Home,” the Z.Z. Top cop “Texas” and a spiceless encore of that group’s “Tush.” If Junkyard is the hot young blood of the L.A. scene, why is it that Billy Gibbons and Co., who have been at it for decades, can sound so much more fresh and alive?

Sporting far more tattoos than Junkyard, the opening Lunchbox also displayed a world more talent. The Long Beach-based quartet tackled its set of muscularly melodic originals and a funked-up version of Creedance’s “Porterville” with an engagement and abandon that brought the Replacements to mind at times.

Though the influences showed at times--particularly on the Stones-ish “Where Did I Go Wrong” by ex-T.S.O.L. guitarist Ron Emory--they were overridden by a distinctive band personality.

Backed by Emory’s snarling guitar lines and a motivating rhythm section in London May and Tracy Stevens, guitarist/singer/writer Tim Swenson brought a firecracker enthusiasm and immediacy to his punkish power pop.