Semple’s Solo Music Is No Contradiction : The former frontman is now singing to a new kind of listener--those jittery but really rather quiet consumers of the coffee bean.

The New Sobriety is being supplanted by the New Jumpiness. And coffeehouses, putting the jangle into jingle jangle, are springing up like junk stores, causing a new generation of young Americans on legal speed to talk fast, smoke more, play chess and twitch. Unlike the world on beer, the world on caffeine has no legal downside. DWI--driving while impetuous--is handled indifferently by the cops, who are themselves caffeine abusers.

A new venue putting the twitch into the twerps is the Coffee Connection in Simi Valley. In a town with many bands and few venues, coffeehouses, besides performing legal drug infusions, also often provide entertainment, albeit quieter, gentler entertainment compared to electric hard rock at bars. Keeping it down to a mild uproar tonight will be former Contradiction frontman Scott Semple, now a single acoustic kind of guy crooning to the caffeine crowd.

“It seems like coffeehouses are getting to be the trendy thing,” he said during a recent phone interview. “There’s a couple of new ones here, and they’re kinda cool because they’re small enough that you don’t need a PA and you can just sit and play. Some of that coffee is really whacked out stuff. It’s addictive, man.”

Besides all that, coffeehouses generally have considerably fewer drunks than bars, and thus proportionally fewer fights, cops and attitude problems. A sober performer and a sober audience is quite the sobering thought compared to rock ‘n’ roll business as usual.

“There’s definitely something to that,” said Semple. “Now the audience doesn’t have anything to fall back on if the band sucks. Now when people start talking when you’re playing, it’s really because they can’t escape through their bottle. Also, it’s just a matter of time before my loud annoying voice gets to them.”

Perhaps addled by his own stash of industrial-strength coffee or simple facetiousness, Semple’s “loud, annoying voice” is in fact that perfect tuneful gruff pitch that 90% of those MTV’s alleged frontmen wish they had. And for a while, Semple’s band was the Next Big Thing in Simi. It has sold 600 copies of its self-titled CD since 1993, and at one time it seemed primed to follow April’s Motel Room as a signed local band. But then the dreaded Creative Differences took their inevitable toll, leaving the band with one hand clapping.

“Well, it’s just that some people in the band couldn’t get along,” said the singer. “The band broke up two months ago, but it was dysfunctional before then. My heart wasn’t in it, and the music wasn’t progressing any more.

“I’ve always played acoustic anyway, and I’ve done it six or seven times in the last month, a lot of open-mike gigs in L.A. and one at Cafe Voltaire in Ventura. In fact, the first Contradiction gig was acoustic at a New Year’s Eve party. It was kinda cool. I need to go back to that and find some parties to play. Hey, I’ll play in your kitchen.”

Being a solo dude has certain obvious advantages. First, it’s easier to split up the cash at the end of the night. Also, there’s no one to argue with and there’s no heavy equipment to lug around. And Semple will fit in the kitchen, even the closet.

“Well, democracy is harder to work than it appears to be in the history books,” he said. “We had four people that wanted to play music for their life, but people would say one thing, do another, then we’d argue. So you just shut up and bide your time.

“I just think the stuff now is a lot more emotional, with more feeling. I feel better about doing it this way. Now I just show up, sit down, open the guitar case and start playing.”

Semple has kept writing new tunes but he hasn’t forgotten the cool Contradiction songs, particularly the ones he’s to blame for.

“I still play some of the old ones, especially the ones I wrote. My songs are about all kinds of things. They’re like me, self-centered. They’re about shattered relationships, friends that aren’t really friends, death, loss of faith. . . .

“I try to stay clear of the other Contradiction songs--I don’t want people to think I’m still in a rut. I’ve got about 15 new songs, plus I do songs by Bob Marley, Van Morrison and Creedence. They’re kind of punk rock songs in an acoustic setting.”

Traveling light, Semple isn’t definite about what’s next. But for a singer who knew he wanted to be an entertainer since he was in sixth grade, the plan figures to be more of the same.

“I’m just trying to get things going again. I’m having fun, and I enjoy what I do. Hopefully, around September, I’d like to go on tour to Northern California and make a vacation out of it. And at some point, I’d like to be in a band again, but right now everyone seems to want a band that rocks or they want punk rock. But Simi Valley is still the same--a lot of good new bands and no place to play.”

Details

* WHO: Scott Semple.

* WHEN: Tonight, 6 to 8.

* WHERE: Coffee Connection, 1407 E. Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley.

* HOW MUCH: Free.

* CALL: 579-9529.