Proof That Good Bands Should Stick Together : * Smithereens will be at the Ventura Theatre, playing the kind of music that has made them a popular attraction for 14 years.

The three-minute pop song is alive and well in the capable hands of those Smithereens, a touring quartet with vast experience. They’ll be returning to the venerable Ventura Theatre for a fourth time Wednesday night. Also on the bill are college radio heroes-in-the-making, the Grays, as well as Woodburning Project, a great Santa Barbara band with a hot cello player, Angus Cooke.

The Smithereens have a new album, “A Date With The Smithereens,” on a new label (RCA), and according to bandleader Pat DiNizio, it’s all blue skies and green lights because the musical honeymoon is still on.

“All record labels suck, but we’re definitely a priority right now for RCA,” said DiNizio. “After four albums for Capitol, we were no longer a priority, and we weren’t the new band of the week anymore. I guess they got tired of us because, after all, they dropped us. We wanted to call this the Lollapaloser Tour.”

For the new release and the new label, the band went back to the basics and also back to one of their favorite producers, pop rock guru Don Dixon, a man the Smithereens last worked with in 1988.

“I think the last two records were a bit overproduced. This one only took about two weeks, and we had a ball making it. It’s also a little more political. I’ve written a song called “Gotti,” and there’s another one about one of the few female serial killers. So with two songs about criminals, I guess this is our prison album,” said DiNizio.

“We wanted to make a record that was more representative of the live band, and I think our producer took us back to the garage. Also, we made a point of releasing this one simultaneously on vinyl, which is four discs. It sounds a lot better than the CD, I think.”

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Then again, some people today have never owned an album, and may not have the technology to make those little grooves make that beautiful music, but that’s another story. One thing’s for sure, DiNizio has the songwriting process figured out. Each song has a beginning, a middle and an end, and they sound like, well, real songs without any screaming or cat scaring noise.

“I wrote more than 30 songs for this album,” said DiNizio. “It’s always a struggle to write, but it’s a rewarding struggle. For this one, I lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans, which I found to be a very nurturing environment. I think it’s some of my best material. We could always use a bit more airplay, but I’m too old to beg anyone to play our music.”

DiNizio has certainly come a long way since the days of being a garbage man in New Jersey. He could probably afford his own dump now.

“I just got tired of being a garbage man; it was a family business,” he said. “But I had always played the guitar and I ended up moving to New York. . . . Right now, nothing could be better than what I do. I write songs, then I get to play them for people who want to hear them. The only bad thing is right now I miss my 3-month-old daughter. I never felt anything like that before.”

Most bands last about as long as the first batch of band-name T-shirts. The Smithereens have been together for 14 years. DiNizio, guitarist Jim Babjak, bass player Mike Mesaros and drummer Dennis Diken must have discovered the secret to success. So what advice do they have to other aspiring rock gods?

“All we have to do is get our laundry done every day. We’ve never listened to anyone’s advice,” he said. “But once back in the old days, a manager advised us to invest our money in car dealerships and apartment buildings. Knowing what I know now, maybe we should have done that. My advice to aspiring musicians is this: Join the fire department, the military or the post office.”

* WHAT: The Smithereens, The Grays, Woodburning Project.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St.

* WHEN: Wednesday night, 8 p.m.

* COST: $18.50

* PHONE: 648-1888.