Drive Like Jehu Is Swerving Out of the Shadows : Pop music: The group, which plays in Costa Mesa on June 30, is trying to lose its close association with Rocket From the Crypt.

Drive Like Jehu is an excellent and daring band from San Diego’s much touted indie rock scene, but it is still having trouble establishing its own identity. The quartet is so closely aligned with scene leaders Rocket From the Crypt that the association makes Jehu--following Rocket out of San Diego--sort of like a caboose.

Never mind the two bands sound nothing alike.

The reasons for lumping the bands together: Both share member John Reis, who sings for Rocket and plays guitar for Jehu, and both were signed around the same time early last year to powerhouse Interscope Records.

Talk that the band, which plays June 30 at Our House in Costa Mesa, was signed to Interscope only because the label’s main interest (Rocket) insisted on a package deal, makes Jehu look like the tag-along little brother.

It’s enough to make most bands resentful and bitchy, but Jehu’s guitarist and singer Rick Froberg tries to be defiantly blase about the whole thing.

“We’re not afraid of getting overshadowed by Rocket,” insists Froberg in a conservative, no-frills tone that’s the antithesis of Jehu’s experimental, spontaneous sound. “If it happens, it happens. We’re not in competition with them.

“In fact, we cooperate with them on a regular basis. We share a practice room and all of us are friends. I used to think the association was a bad thing, but I guess there’s a lot worse bands you can be associated with. Regardless, it doesn’t matter.”

He’s right--it doesn’t matter. Judging from the band’s two albums, including the recent “Yank Crime,” Drive Like Jehu is a band that deserves hype all its own.

The four-year-old group--which also includes bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino--unleashes an unpredictable and captivating sound somewhere between the flailing buzz of a snapped high wire and the suburban-rock clamor of a drunken block party.

The reserved Froberg must store up all his more volatile emotions for the banshee-style screams and crazed, experimental guitar work that drives Jehu. He manipulates guitar feedback into surreal, bird-like chirps, then pits it against the band’s manic, then eerily calm tunes. It’s a unique sound that at times is difficult to put up with, but it’s a welcome challenge. As with a Rubik’s Cube, half the fun is getting there.

“We try not to give people too much to grasp (besides) the music,” Froberg says. “The whole idea is to have something you can draw your own conclusions off of.”

Hopefully, listeners will be able to do just that as Drive Like Jehu moves beyond the status of sidekick and blasts off without the extra weight of Rocket holding it down.

While Down South: In the wake of Rocket and Jehu, San Diego bands are still being scooped up by outside labels homing in on the scene.

So how come most of those first signees with albums already out, such as Rust, Lucy’s Fur Coat, Inch and A Miniature, seem to be slipping by unnoticed?

Part of it may be that in an attempt to cash in on the latest buzz (see Seattle), record companies picked up bands as indiscriminately as a dog does fleas.

The bottom line: Some of the bands aren’t very good. Take Lucy’s Fur Coat, for example. The band, on Relativity and distributed through Sony, hardly makes a mark in the indie world, let alone the larger scope of alternative rock.

Another reason for the lack of attention may be that other bands just weren’t ready. Rust--which plays heavy, bombarding rock--had only put out one single and barely toured before being picked up by Atlantic. It never had a chance to develop inside the city’s insular scene.

Third, the record companies should have waited for Rocket From the Crypt to release a major-label debut (which it will this summer), so there was at least a major ice-breaker, like Nirvana was for Seattle.

But bands like Fluf are getting smart. The tuneful punk rock trio, headed by the infamous San Diego scenester O (short for Otis), has had several offers, but has turned them all down. The band’s waiting for the right time and label. Meanwhile, it is staying with local indie label Headhunter (a subsidiary of the also independent Cargo Records).

Cargo spokesperson and San Diego native Bryan Spevak says: “In a year from now, those labels are gonna look back and really have second thoughts about the decisions they made. It’s great to hype a city, but the music has to back it up.”

Life Outside Rocket: Yes, there was rock ‘n’ roll life in San Diego before Eddie Vedder and Rocket From the Crypt recently grabbed national attention. Among the musicians who either came from or spent their early years in the city: barfly deluxe Tom Waits, confrontational performance artist Diamanda Galas, folkie Cindy Lee Berryhill, the sarcastic Mojo Nixon, glam-gods Ratt and dinosaur rockers Iron Butterfly. Diverse enough?