MUSIC : Change of Heart : John Andrew Fredrick realizes it’s been a matter of timing and talent, plus the ethereal style of J’Anna Jacoby, to make Black Watch a success.

Let’s face it--the Black Watch is a brainy band.

Before founding member John Andrew Fredrick set his sights on rock ‘n’ roll “hugedom” in 1988, he was an aspiring novelist with a doctorate in English, teaching literature courses at UC Santa Barbara. When he was 350 pages into his first novel, however, he had a change of heart.

“I realized I could write three songs in the same amount of time it took to write one page of prose,” says the 33-year-old, who is partial to wearing baggy T-shirts and canvas deck shoes that make him look like a demented member of an Ivy League crew.

The Black Watch is currently touring behind its well received fourth album, “Amphetamines” on the New York-based Zero Hour label. Backed by the distribution muscle of Rykodisc, Fredrick says the band is teetering “on the brink of hugedom.”

The band plays tonight at Eagles Coffee bar in North Hollywood. It’s Black Watch’s last local show before the group travels to New York for a performance at the prestigious CMJ Music Marathon, a colloquium of the so-called “alternative” music industry. In mid-October, the band begins a six-week national tour.

But such a bright-looking future has been a long time coming.

By Fredrick’s calculations, four pages of prose after deciding to leave academia he had released his first record--”St. Valentine”--with the Black Watch, left his university job, scrapped his marriage and moved to Los Angeles, where he met violinist and guitarist J’Anna Jacoby.

Jacoby, 30, had recently moved to Los Angeles from Northern California after getting a bachelor’s degree in music performance. From the time she was 15 months old, her musician parents had been grooming her for a symphony career, but a chance meeting with Fredrick knocked 22 years of preparation off track.

Fredrick and some friends were jamming together when he heard her practicing violin in a nearby apartment.

“Like night-blooming jasmine it came wafting down to us,” Fredrick recalls, smirking at his overblown language. “I asked her if she might be interested in playing on our woozy ballads.”

She said she would.

With Jacoby aboard, the Black Watch found its signature sound: aggressive white noise guitars swirling beneath a haunting gauze of violin and finely crafted vocal melodies. It’s a sound that draws inspiration from bands as diverse as the Beatles, My Bloody Valentine, Helium, American Music Club, Cocteau Twins and the Smiths. Fredrick calls it “ethereal grunge.”

The band is rounded out by two newer members, both of whom joined within the last year. Drummer David “the David” Walkama, 27, brings another eclectic set of influences to the group. He’s as likely to cite the influence of jazz drummers Elvin Jones and Tony Williams as he is thundering rock tom-tom’ers John Bonham of Led Zeppelin or Dave Grohl of Nirvana.

Chronic grease under the fingernails is the off-hours reminder of bassist Darin Danford’s day job as a mechanic.

The 28-year-old describes himself as an ‘80s reject. As evidence, he cites his yearlong search for an out-of-print CD by British post-punk band the Chameleons.

“When I found it,” he says, “I told myself I was in heaven. I never have to buy another CD.”

Pop critics in influential indie rock journals such as Option, CMJ and Alternative Press have unanimously hailed the band’s latest effort as a fulfillment of the promise hinted at in their third record, 1988’s “Flowering.” Independently released singles “Come Inside” and “Whatever You Need” have repeated the college-radio success of that album.

Jacoby’s playing on “Amphetamines” stands out like a sunflower in a field of dandelions. Her technical prowess and self-taught guitar innovations are just as responsible for the record’s appeal as Fredrick’s songwriting. Her unusual chord voicings and classical background lend a refreshing melodic dynamic to otherwise conventional songs.

One of the album’s most compelling tracks is “See You Around,” which features the acetylene fuzz guitar of Medicine’s Brad Laner behind Jacoby’s endearing vocals.

That jarring mix of distortion and delicacy is intentional, Fredrick says.

“We’re always trying to write the perfect pop song,” he says. “And then we throw something in there to destroy it.”

Live, the band presents a harder, edgier sound than on record, propelled by Walkama’s iconoclastic drumming and the grinding wash of Fredrick’s guitar. Recent sets have been peppered with new songs, as well as titles from “Amphetamines.”

The band’s understated sense of humor has lately been evidenced by a penchant for playing a solemn, slowed-down version of Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘70s hit “If You Could Read My Mind.”

And, in keeping with the band’s determination to maintain its indie credibility, don’t expect the histrionics associated with mega-successful “alternative” bands such as Pearl Jam or Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“We kind of have a rule on stage,” jokes Fredrick, “that you should never have your feet further than shoulder-width apart. If you do, you may be in danger of posturing.”

WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Black Watch, with opening band Abe Lincoln Story.

Location: Eagles Coffee Pub, 5231 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Hours: 10 tonight.

Price: $5.

Call: (818) 760-4212.