‘Noise for the Needy’ Makes Help Sound Easy

Chapman University will stage its fourth annual “Noise for the Needy” rock benefit for homeless people in Orange County on April 29. The event will be at Hutton Sports Center on the university campus, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange.

The Ziggins, Smile, Gameface, Vitamin L, Farside, One Eye Open and Mission Delores will be the featured acts, with seven other bands performing on a side stage during set changes. Three acoustic acts will play outside the gym. The music starts at 6 p.m.

Concert-goers are asked to bring a donation of canned food in addition to the $5 admission charge. Tickets will be available at the door or in advance from Vinyl Solution in Huntington Beach, Pepperland in Orange, Bionic Records in Fullerton and at Chapman. Food and beverage concessions will be available at the show. (714) 744-7038.

END OF THE ROAD: Big Drill Car has switched off the ignition after seven years as one of Orange County’s most widely traveled pop-punk bands.

Guitarist Mark Arnold said he and Frank Daly, Big Drill Car’s singer and co-founder, decided in February that the band had run its course. From 1988 through 1994, BDC released three studio albums and an EP, plus a live CD, on the Cruz and Cargo/Headhunter labels. The band toured extensively and opened for the Offspring in a series of dates last year.

Arnold cited lineup shifts in recent years as one reason for the breakup: “It was a lot of work to get new members, and it took a lot out of us.” He said Daly’s work for a graphics company also had begun to limit the band’s touring possibilities. Arnold is working as an audio engineer for concerts and recording sessions.

“We have no hard feelings. We went out on a good note,” he said, citing last year’s album “No Worse for the Wear” and “Song No. 40,” an elegiac track on a local compilation album that proved to be BDC’s swan song, as his favorites.

JIGSAW DEBUT: Veteran rocker Mike Conley of Costa Mesa is buzzing again after a nine-month layoff, fronting a new trio called Jigsaw. Conley emerged on the local punk scene in the early 1980s as singer with the punk band MIA (which also featured Big Drill Car’s Arnold and Daly in its final lineup). He went on to lead the Replacements-like Naked Soul, which issued an EP in 1992 and a strong album, “Visiting Your Planet,” on the Scotti Bros. label in 1993. Naked Soul folded last summer, and Conley spent time as a sideman with a San Diego pop-punk band aMiniature. Joining Conley in Jigsaw are drummer Jamie Reidling, formerly of Cadillac Tramps and Big Drill Car, and bassist John Gruenhauf.

After three gigs, Conley said, “It’s all been very positive.” Instead of seeking a record deal immediately, he said, Jigsaw plans to establish itself by issuing a series of seven-inch vinyl singles on small independent labels.

* Jigsaw, Birdbrain and Tiny Buddy play an all-ages show tonight at the Side by Side Skate Rink, 16091 Gothard St., Huntington Beach. 8 p.m. $5. (714) 289-0760.

THE NAME GAME: Local rockers Trouble Dolls have renamed themselves Pinwheel as part of what singer John Surge describes as a move to “reinvent the band” in the wake of lineup changes since the release of its debut album, “Cement,” in 1993. Surge said the band, which includes his longtime sidekick Ron Cambra on drums, also discovered there is another band called Trouble Dolls in New York City, and decided a name change now could avoid legal hassles later. Upcoming shows by Pinwheel include a performance Saturday at 11 a.m. at Beach Fest ’95 in Long Beach’s Shoreline Park; an April 29 date at Out of Bounds in Huntington Beach with the Ex-Idols and Willoughby, and a show May 9 at Metropolis in Irvine.