MUSIC / LIFE, SEX & DEATH : This Band Stinks : The metal ensemble gives new meaning to the term grunge rock . Their assault on the senses will fill the air at the Anaconda Theater.

Maybe Life, Sex & Death needs a longer name. Then again, maybe the initials LSD are meant to be clever.

In either case, LSD has little to do with the “Turn on, tune in, drop out” generation. The band will bring its bruising metal assault rock to the Anaconda Theater Sunday night for those who can bear to miss drooling over Kelly Bundy for an episode.

Speaking of drooling, there’s the band’s nerdy lead singer, Stanley-No-Last-Name, who almost makes Don Knotts seem cool by comparison. To say that Stanley has had bad press is an understatement.

Just about every article that’s been written about the group has focused on one of Stanley’s perceived problems. For one, Stanley stumbles badly when it comes to the heavy-metal fashion statement epitomized by Bon Jovi’s flowing tresses. Stanley has dirty, short hair and Coke-bottle-thick glasses. Hardly anyone’s idea of a sex symbol.

But things get worse. It has also been pointed out that with this band, you not only can hear the difference, you can smell the difference. Stanley reportedly can be so odoriferous as to be kicked off of airplanes and thrown out of heavy-metal award ceremonies. His clothes, right out of a secondhand store in Mogadishu, have prompted rumors that he is homeless.

Giving the whole thing the clarity of mud is the fact that Stanley rarely does interviews. So it’s a very good thing he can sing.

The questions, though, remain: Is LSD hip or hype? Does all the attention given Stanley detract from whatever this band is trying to do?

“Bleep, yeah!” said guitarist Alex Kayne in a recent phone interview from his mom’s house in New Joisey, where, he swore, she’s was wearing an LSD T-shirt.

“It’s really a problem for us to get past all this unfortunate hype. Me and (bass player) Bill E. (Gar) do 90% of the interviews, and I’ll bet every dime I’ll ever make off this deal, we’ve never called him homeless. I don’t know where all this started. Stanley’s just a freaky, snapped guy. He’s always been weird and stinky, but all this hype cheapens Stanley and cheapens the band.”

Before the hype was heaped, the usual suspects for the usual reasons did the usual thing a few years ago in Chicago.

“Basically, we just couldn’t get along with anybody else,” said Kayne. “We didn’t like to do anything else. We’re just a bunch of misfits who want to torment everybody. The whole thing’s about music--that’s the only thing that makes any sense. I mean, I’ve got tattoos on my face. I’ll never get a real job.”

What happened after the band formed in Chicago? What else? They moved to California, just like everyone else. Once in Southern California, LSD attempted to get some attention through the musical version of the casting call: the showcase.

“Well, we tried it once,” said Kayne. “When we were done playing, this record company guy starts critiquing our show, just totally power-tripping on us. Then Stanley threw up on his shoes. He’s got a really weak stomach and he throws up on stage all the time. It’s not a pretty sight.”

Later, after some Maalox or whatever, the band met some people from Warner Bros., who eventually signed the band after a live gig at the label headquarters in Burbank.

Lately, the band hasn’t had much time to stay anywhere for too long. They’ve been on tour the last several months in a thinly veiled effort to sell copies of their debut album, “The Silent Majority.”

“We’ve played all across the states at least twice now, and every town has a cool band,” said Kayne. “We know they like Alice in Chains, but do they all have to sound like them? We pay no attention at all to musical trends.

“You know, one night I was watching TV and Bob Costas was interviewing Paul McCartney, and he asked him something like ‘What’s the bottom line of the Beatles?’ McCartney thought for a minute and then said, ‘All you need is love.’ Man, I got a chill off that one.

“If we can come up with some songs that’ll stick around for a while, that would be cool.”

LSD music, while offering the typical metal three chords and cloud-of-dust assault mode, isn’t just the usual fist-in-the-air party anthems. Of course, a few songs-- such as “Jawohl Bleep” and “Bleepin’ Bleep Bleep”--are definitely unsuitable for airplay, let alone a mention in a family newspaper. But basically, LSD encourages the audience to think.

“Some people come to see us because they believe what we’re saying. Others just like the sound of the band,” said Kayne. “We play music for people who like to roll around on the floor and bark.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

Life, Sex & Death and Brickwater at the Anaconda Theater, 935 Embarcadero del Norte, Isla Vista, Sunday at 8 p.m. Six bucks. 685-3112.