Naked Soul to Rest in Peace After O.C. Gig

Naked Soul is ending its five-year run tonight with a farewell concert at Our House in its hometown of Costa Mesa.

Over the past two years, the band released an album and an EP for Scotti Bros. Records and went on several national tours.

Naked Soul’s leader, Mike Conley, has presided over shifting lineups since starting the band in 1989, including a complete revamping of the band last fall. Conley said Tuesday that guitarist Bill Latas and drummer Shawn Poores have decided to return to their hometown of Kansas City, Mo. Rather than continue under the name Naked Soul, Conley and bassist Alec Porter are considering starting a new band, tentatively called Sugarfix.

“I could keep (Naked Soul) going if I wanted, but I like to keep moving on,” said Conley, who has been part of the Orange County rock scene since 1980, when he moved here from Las Vegas with punk band MIA.

“I just want to toy around with a few different ideas I have, maybe a little more pop than we’ve been doing on the one hand, and maybe a little more extreme and heavy on the other,” he said.

“I’m going to try something that they can’t pin that ugly ‘W’ word on me anymore: the Westerberg word,” Conley added with a chuckle, alluding to the frequent comparisons drawn between his style with Naked Soul, and Paul Westerberg’s with the Replacements.

Conley said that he and Porter plan to record some new songs next month with Fluf’s drummer, Miles Gillett. If those demos lead to a record deal, they will audition for a full-time drummer and go on from there. Otherwise, Conley said, “I’ll just kind of coast for a while. It’s been a busy year.”

* Naked Soul, the Iron Ons, the Get Backs and Skin Bus play tonight at Our House, 720 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. 9 p.m. $4. (714) 650-8960.