No Sonia, but Plenty of Song : The eight-piece band is climbing the charts with ‘A Day at the Beach.’ Three vocalists sing up a storm--from funk to soul.

Most rock bands have no good singers. Sonia Dada, featuring nobody named Sonia or anyone with Idi Amin’s last name, nonetheless has three real good ones who will be harmonizing on the big stage Saturday night at Ventura Theatre.

About five years ago, Sonia Dada was just another band with a funny name, MTV dreams, plans that were not working and a revolving cast of singers. Then one day, while on the way to a ball game, guitarist and songwriter Daniel Pritzker noticed three street singers crooning up a storm in the Chicago subway. While such activity would be risking a vagrancy arrest in some areas, including Ventura these days, it worked out differently in Chicago.

The eight-piece band is cruising up the charts in support of its second album, “A Day at the Beach.” In addition to Pritzker, four others create the music: Erik Scott on bass, Hank Guaglianone on drums, Chris Cameron on keyboards and Dave Resnik on guitar. Paris Delane, Sam Hogan and Michael Scott sing up a storm on the band’s gospel, rock, funk, R&B; and soul music.

Also worth mentioning are the far-out cover photos for both albums. The debut disc features a kid about 8 years old holding the reins as he rides an alligator. The new one features a guy, wrapped in canvas and tied with a mile of rope, being tossed off a pier. “A Day at the Beach,” indeed.

Between sound checks and a first beer, bass player Erik Scott discussed Sonia Dada.

Is there a Sonia?

There is now. It’s just a girl Dan knows whose surname is pronounced Dada but is spelled some other way, like Dahdah. The music will ultimately define the name.

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How’s the album, the tour and all that?

Well, we don’t have a jet plane like Elton John does, but the album’s doing great in the AAA format, which is Adult Alternative Album, admittedly a smaller format.

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How are you trying to expand your horizons?

We’re trying to break into rock radio. I guess that happens when stations feel pressure from the labels. You know, you play a show, do an interview on the radio, then they plug the show--one hand washes the other.

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Most bands have no good singers. What’s it like having three?

Well, we had no good singers for a while too, and we’d try the singer du jour . Then one day Dan called me up and told me that the number of singers had tripled. When we first all got together, it seemed to hold real possibilities.

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What do you think your music sounds like?

Unpremeditated, kind of song-oriented. We try to give each song the kind of treatment it deserves because if an album has 10 versions of the same song, that’s no good. The songs usually come from Dan, then we try to figure out how to do it a way we like. Consequently, a song can end up as folk, blues, R&B;, rock or gospel--they all get different treatments.

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Why bass?

When I was a teen-ager in high school, I was more of an athlete, but I liked to mess around on a guitar. We needed a bass player for the band to play at the after-game dance, so I was in. Since then, I’ve been in countless bands. I played on three albums with Alice Cooper, then with Flo & Eddie, and I toured with Kim Carnes. I moved to L.A. 20 years ago to become a rock star. I’ve had a very checkered past, and I’m the oldest guy in the band.

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Anything really weird happen on this road trip?

Well, yes, it did. We played in Cleveland on Easter Sunday underneath a Ferris wheel. We played for the Ferris wheel operator and three guys from the record label. They all dug us. When you’re on the road, you have to have tolerance of your fellow travelers. And don’t drink all the time--leave some for the others.

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Where did you guys find that bizarre cover art?

The National Archives. The boy riding the alligator, for example, is from the Louisiana State Fair from the ‘20s. Just outside the photo we cropped was a sheriff holding a shotgun, just in case. The other one has a guy in a rowboat just outside of the photo. I think it was some sort of Houdini-type escape thing.

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What do you think it’ll be like for the band in five years?

Hopefully, we’ll be doing the same thing, but it’ll be a little bit easier and we’ll be able to afford one of those full-riding lawn mowers. Right now, we’re just sort of breaking even, but we’re not broke. I guess we’re doing a lot better than a lot of other bands.

Details

* WHAT: Sonia Dada, Soup.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., Ventura.

* HOW MUCH: $10.

* CALL: 648-1888.