Pat DiNizio Explores Solo System : Rock music: The Smithereens are fine and working on a fifth album, says the front man, who plays alone tonight at the Coach House.

When a key member of a prominent rock ‘n’ roll group quietly splinters off to play solo gigs, rumors frequently begin to fly.

Speculation as to that person’s real motivations and status with the group come into question.

Pat DiNizio, front man of the Smithereens, will be performing without his band mates tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, but he is determined to nip in the bud any speculation that he’ll soon be leaving the group.

“I don’t even know why I’m doing this,” he said with a laugh during a recent phone interview. “It’s scary. I’ve never done it before. These are the first legitimate solo gigs I’ve ever done in my life. I just want to have a good time and play some of the songs the band never gets a chance to play anymore.

“I don’t want anyone to interpret this to mean that the band’s not together or anything. We’re in the studio making our fifth album. My main identity is wrapped up in being a member of the Smithereens.”

In fact, the singer/songwriter/guitarist didn’t even want to discuss his solo appearances beyond saying that he’ll be performing without a set list, encouraging requests for songs from the audience.

DiNizio, 37, was as passionate in talking up the Smithereens’ latest project, due Sept. 15, as he was seemingly nonchalant about his solo venture.

The Smithereens have based their music around a simple and rootsy sound, drawing from the beat and melody of the British Invasion of the mid-’60s while adding contemporary brush strokes, sophisticated lyrics and making the most of modern recording techniques.

But according to DiNizio, the group’s reliance on studio trickery had gotten out of hand, dulling the Smithereens’ essential edge. The group, he said, has returned to the simple recording procedures of their earliest efforts in an effort to recapture the primordial energy of the songs such as “Behind the Wall of Sleep,” “Blood and Roses” and “Strangers When We Meet.”

“The first record took 10 days to record, the second took 16 days, the third took a month and a half and the last took four months,” he said. “What rock ‘n’ roll band in the world needs four months to record an album? We decided to go back to the way we used to make records. We cut 12 songs in seven days. We’re not using a click track (sort of an electric metronome); we’re recording live in the studio as a real band--the way it was meant to be, the way it always was. I think that’s the way to work.”

The group also returned to their home base of New York City to record the still-untitled album, which DiNizio said was an essential element of their more raw-boned sound of years past.

“This is a New York City record, as opposed to the last three records, which were done in Los Angeles,” he explained. “I personally found L.A. to be a bit of a distraction. It has more of a laid-back lifestyle, and I feel that the records had lost some of their urgency because of that.”

DiNizio’s taste in music remains rooted in the hit records of years past, songs he fondly remembers hearing on New York City’s WABC radio when he was a kid, growing up in Jersey.

“My taste has always been the same,” he said. “I wasn’t even into the punk scene, which happened when I was much younger. I thought a lot of it was a bunch of b.s. then, and I still think so now.”

But DiNizio reserves his most pointed scorn for the so-called grunge movement out of Seattle, which has become omnipresent in fashion as well as music in recent months. To punctuate his disdain, DiNizio proudly recited the lyrics to “Sick of Seattle,” which he wrote for the Smithereens’ upcoming album, laughing heartily at his own words.

“Feeling so tired and grungy and scared

“Tired of flannel and growing my hair

“Tired of going nowhere

“And I’m sick of Seattle.”

But as DiNizio’s own group toils to keep its integrity, does it leave commercial considerations behind? The simple, honest sound that DiNizio strives for is not the music that young America is buying in 1993.

“There’s nothing I can do about that except to keep writing songs,” he said. “You can’t consciously try to create a hit. Or you can, but then it’s going to sound like all the crap you heard on the radio that made you want to form a band to rebel against.”

Pat DiNizio plays tonight at 9 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Byron Nashe and Factory open. $10. (714) 496-8930.