MUSIC FORBIDDEN PIGS : Porcine Pygmalion : Former Pyg Billy Bacon is mighty funny, mighty thirsty and on stage tonight with his band in Santa Barbara.

Is Corona really “la cerveza mas fina” (the beer way cool)? The Forbidden Pigs could care less; they just want another one, any one. Their debut album is called “Una Cerveza Mas,” or one more beer. Basically, here comes another band that likes their brewskis and won’t be playing at the next MADD fund-raiser. Instead, they’ll be at the Ketch in Santa Barbara tonight.

The Ketch must be one of the places Yogi Berra was talking about when he said, “No one ever goes there; it’s always too crowded.” Wait to get in line, can’t lift your elbow to drink anything, no room to dance, can’t move, you’re in everybody’s way, can’t get into the bathroom; all in all, the perfect rock ‘n’ roll setup.

“Let’s have a beer or two, or three, or 10,” thirsty bandleader Billy Bacon said in a recent phone interview. Now here is a man with an appropriately porcine appellation, plus a surname near and dear to Farmer John.

The band got signed to a subsidiary of Triple X Records, the spawn of the craziest man in rock ‘n’ roll, Mojo Nixon. Nixon’s the one who insults everyone all the time, can’t get any airplay and doesn’t care. He’s also mighty funny as long as you’re not Jim Bakker, Don Henley, Tipper Gore, Rick Astley, Sting, anybody’s girlfriend or the target of his mostly unprintable barbs.

Nixon even introduces the band on their debut CD, which is a bit like listing Moe Howard, Slim Pickens and Jack the Ripper as character references.

Anyway, the Forbidden Pigs are just another wild, raging roadhouse band from San Diego in the tradition of Nixon, the Beat Farmers and the Paladins. This is not in the same tradition as Pete Wilson and Steve Garvey.

“Me and a couple of friends from high school started a band called the Pygs with a ‘y,’ and mainly we just wrote songs and didn’t have too many gigs,” Bacon said. “Our first gig was May, 1984, in San Diego. I just pulled the name out of the hat. I wanted something that would stand out and not be cutesy.”

The Pigs have managed to keep their distance from cutesy, just as they’ve managed to keep their distance from each other. The Pigs have a turnover rate comparable to that of the wards of Farmer John. Maybe the 40 weeks a year on the road has something to do with it.

“There have been quite a few personnel changes--they usually last about nine months,” Bacon said. “Sometimes people didn’t realize how good they had it and want to come back. The traveling is really hard, and eating out on the road gets pretty old after awhile, but I’ve tried hard to keep it going since the beginning. The Pig sound is what I’ve developed. I get players who play the way I want them to play.”

And the Pig sound is more than straight rockabilly. They incorporate blues, Tex-Mex, rock, plus the inevitable few pounds of beer to create a raucous roadhouse sound that would persuade Porky and Petunia to get out there and shake a hoof.

“I like to call it rockin’ roadhouse, Tex-Mex, boozin’ swingin’ blues-a-billy,” Bacon said. “Since I play stand-up bass, a lot of people think we’re a straight rockabilly retro band. I mean, we’re not Sha Na Na. I’m influenced by Bill Haley, Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, the Sir Douglas Quintet, plus I like country music a lot.”

All in all, he might be worth a listen--and this would be the time to do it. Bacon, a native Californian, sounds like he is thinking about abandoning the Golden State.

“California is getting pretty disgusting. I’m ready for another earthquake,” he said. “I live in the same neighborhood where I grew up, and it’s just insane. It’s the crack zone now. I’ve had my car broken into right in front of my house; I had another stolen.”

Sometimes you can’t win, but you can always dance. If there’s room at the Ketch. . . .

* WHERE AND WHEN

Forbidden Pigs at the Ketch, 514 State St., Santa Barbara, 564-3231, tonight at 8, $5.