Kim Shattuck, the Tough Muff, Brings Her Loud Act to Ventura : She is now working solo after the departure of Melanie Vammen. There are two guys also, drumming and strumming bass.

Looks can be deceiving. Take Kim Shattuck, lead ssongwriter / guitarist for the Muffs. She looks like a sweet girl-next-door type and is fully as sweet as an arsenic Twinkie. Her band will be opening for Cheap Trick on Tuesday night.

Lonely and single for the holidays, guys? If you have fantasies involving Shattuck, you better think of the best pick-up line of all time, plus dress appropriately, sort of like RoboCop. Shattuck has seen and heard it all, and she can spot a jerk quicker than a police dog can find a skulking P.I. with a pocket full of hamburger. She discussed her band during a recent phone interview.

“A lot of young people come to our shows, and we’ve pretty much weeded out those who came to see a girl in a skirt playing a guitar because it’s a phallic symbol and all that,” she said. “You can tell a dumb guy a mile away. The smart ones stand out, too, and usually leave with their girlfriends, dammit. You can just tell the dumb ones. They try to hit on you, be your best friend, get your phone number, all that. Basically, jerks like that, well, we just kick ‘em. For a while, we just had nice people at our shows, then pretty soon that got boring, and we wanted to kick them too.”

The two guys, drummer Roy McDonald and bass player Ronnie Barnett, presumably leave the audience interaction to Shattuck. Four feet might have been better than two (especially inasmuch as there is irrevocable proof that jerks are, and have been for many years, breeding). Shattuck is now kicking solo, since the other female Muff, Melanie Vammen, is a Muff no more.

“I dunno, we were together too long, I guess,” Shattuck said. “It started to get in the way of things when we didn’t feel the same way about the same things. I think she was getting tired of it.”

About a decade ago, there were the Pandoras, another all-girl group, which featured Shattuck, Vammen and three others. The Pandoras sold a zillion fewer albums than the other famous all-girA. groups, the Go-Go’s and the Bangles.

“We were a lot different actually. The Pandoras began as a ‘60s punk group. Then they went pop, then metal,” Shattuck said. “When they went metal, I quit because I hate heavy metal music and I wanted to write my own songs. Of all the all-girl bands that had a record out, the Pandoras were the least successful. One thing I learned is that I don’t want to be in an all-girl band again. Besides, most of my friends are guys, anyway.”

Before she kicked jerks in their smirks, Shattuck used to hit things. But drumming didn’t work, so she became a bass player, then a guitar player.

“I always wanted to do something creative. I wanted to play the drums, but I had no rhythm. I wanted to write songs, so I bought a guitar, a cheap model, but I wanted the expensive one,” she said.

“I think there’s more girls now that want to play music. Girls are finally beginning to get a clue now. There’s nothing out there stopping anyone from playing music.”

Sometimes there is. At the first Muffs’ gig in January, 1991, someone definitely put an end to the noise.

“We were playing at the Shamrock in East Hollywood in January, 1991. We were all kind of nervous and all our friends were there who wanted to see another Pandoras thing,” Shattuck said. “Then the cops showed up, and came on stage and told us to stop the music because it was too loud. The cops were just on a rampage; they didn’t want to hear punk rock. Also, we were probably pretty bad, I guess.”

And, according to the guitarist, the L. A. scene hasn’t improved all that much.

“I don’t go out that much because there’s not really that many bands I want to see. There’s still people from way back still doing the same thing. So when you go out, you see the same people,” she said.

But not quite always the same people. One never knows who’s going to show up at a gig. The jerk who drove up in the dorkmobile standing in the back could well be Mr. Big from Megazilla Records. And so it was for the Muffs, who got their deal without even trying, which should anger every other band that dreams of little else. With the success of Green Day and the Offspring, punk has become the Next Big Thing, and the Muffs, who don’t do a lot of slow ones, fit right in to that sonic scenario.

The first Muffs album came out in March, 1993; a new one is threatened for March, 1995.

“The first one is about a relationship I had, and it’s just me complaining about everyone around me. And they know who they are too,” Shattuck said. “The second one is about Melanie and myself. The new songs are better than the first one. I love songs under two minutes and not much more than three minutes. When songs are over three minutes, I start to get bored. Melodic and loud with sing-song melodies, that’s the Muffs.”

Details

* WHAT: Cheap Trick, the Muffs.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St.

* WHEN: Tuesday, 8 p.m.

* HOW MUCH: $22.50.

* CALL: 648-1888.