Twice the Noise : Suicidal Tendencies duo takes on dual role as the driving force behind Infectious Grooves.

Most musicians don’t have enough material for one band, let alone two bands. And many bands don’t have any fans except maybe mom, and she’s probably faking it. Infectious Grooves, however, has plenty of fans and plenty of songs. Half the band is usually somebody else. Mike Muir and Robert Trujillo are not only Infectious but Suicidal as well.

Homeboys with real jobs, Muir and Trujillo have long been idols of the punk/thrash/metal contingent as the collective brain behind Suicidal Tendencies, purveyors of really fast music. When they add a couple of guitarists, Adam Siegel and Dean Pleasants, and an ever-changing cast of drummers, they become Infectious Grooves. The Grooves will make its local debut Sunday night at the Ventura Theatre.

The sartorial offerings of either of these bands will get you in solid with mom and dad; nothing like a “Suicidal” baseball cap or an “Infectious” T-shirt to keep that generation gap a yawning abyss. Actually Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves are playing together on the current tour--everywhere except Ventura. Capricorn recording artists, 311, will open for the Grooves in the Poinsettia City.

Grooves’ music is more, well, groovy than anything else. It has the big bass lines that rock ‘n’ roll feet love. Then add the jive-talking Muir, who sounds like he fell out of an “In Living Color” skit on the way to a Ice-T gig, a bunch of choppy guitar solos to go with the wise-guy lyrics, and you get something like Sly & the Family Stone on steroids. “You Lie . . . And Yo Breath Stank” pretty much somes up the Grooves’ world view.

“Well, I guess it’s sort of funk as in white-boy funk,” said Siegel, the guitar player. “The funk we play is a combination of heavy riffs and grooves, just basically grooves. I wouldn’t compare us to the Chili Peppers because we have heavier grooves.”

The action in the slam pit will be even heavier. A lot of bald males with no interest in the Hair Club For Men will be smashing it up to the Grooves’ music as the females, once more demonstrating the logic of the Grateful Dead tune “Women Are Smarter,” will mostly stay out of the way.

“This will be a little different than a Suicidal gig,” Siegel said. “They attract more of a metal crowd, while we get a little bit from all the scenes.”

Infectious Grooves has been around for a few years and recently released its second album, “Sarsippius’ Ark” on Epic Records. It probably didn’t hurt that Suicidal Tendencies is on the same label, as is Michael Jackson, who will probably miss this gig.

“Mike and Robert had some songs about four years ago that weren’t right for Suicidal, so he called Dean and I plus a couple of drummers,” Siegel said. “The band formed from there. When we got signed, other people were interested, but Epic just went for it. I guess they thought it was in their best interest.”

The new one has a couple of cover tunes on it--songs that got old soon after they were new--Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” and David Bowie’s “Fame.”

“We were thinking about some covers,” Siegel said. “I suggested ‘Fame,’ and it sounded good, so we went with that. I think Mike came up with ‘Immigrant Song’ even though he’s not a Led Zep fan. It’s a little faster than the original.”

The band has already had its share of rock ‘n’ roll adventures. They survived a tour with Ozzy Osbourne, which used to be gnarlier than it is now. His reputation for excess didn’t last much past the first gig.

“We can all drink more beer than Ozzy--he doesn’t drink at all anymore,” Siegel said. “He tours with his wife. She’s the tour manager. One time in Texas, there was some sort of satanic ritual backstage. A bunch of kids painted a pentagram on the floor. It was probably some seventh-grade kids.

The band also appeared in a recent teen exploitation film, “Encino Man,” starring Pauly Shore.

“He wasn’t funny in person,” Siegel said. “He was just far out there and very distressed, sort of frazzled.”

Equally out there are the critters that stand behind the band at every show. They’re green, have sinister sneers and look as though they just had turtle soup for lunch and used your credit card to pay for it.

Siegel invented them and his artwork graces both album covers and the band T-shirts. He cites Rick Griffin, Robert Crumb and Robert Williams as influences, but is not a comic collector. Only Ross Perot can afford to do that these days.

“I’m really not into comics, but characters,” said the guitarist-artist. “If I wasn’t in the band, I’d probably be doing art full time.”