Careening Down a 2-Way Street : Hard-Charging Mike Muir Will Lead Funk and Punk Bands Tonight at the Galaxy

John Doe and Mike Muir could easily walk in each other’s shoes.

With a musical appetite too spicy for just one plate, X’s Doe has satisfied his desire for adventure and variety by occasionally dipping into tasty side dishes, including the roots-oriented country rock of the Knitters and his own rockin’ John Doe Thing.

Likewise, Muir is a crony and respected punk-rock icon currently using several incarnations to share his controversial views and ever-changing musical palette.

The creative force behind the now-defunct but influential hard-core punk band Suicidal Tendencies, Muir in 1990 formed Infectious Grooves, which has since released two dance-inducing, funk-laden albums on Epic, “The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move . . . It’s the Infectious Grooves” (1991) and “Groove Family Cyco” (1993).

More recently, with IG on hiatus, Muir returned to his earlier style of harder-edged, punk-thrash-metal with another outfit, Cyco Miko, which released its debut album earlier this year, “Lost My Brain! (Once Again).”

In only their second appearance since a January record-release party at the Roxy in Hollywood, both Infectious Grooves and Cyco Miko--each band features guitarists Dave Nassie and Dean Pleasants, drummer Brooks Wackerman, bassist Robert Trujillo and Muir on vocals--play tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana.

The explanation for Muir’s need for numerous musical faces is apparent in the two key musical inspirations he cites: the Sex Pistols and Parliament.

As leaders of the punk revolution in the mid-’70s, the Pistols unleashed a torrent of crude, raw, urgent rock while defining the prevailing spirit of anarchy and rebellion. Led by George Clinton, Parliament, on the other hand, mixed funk, psychedelia and traces of jazz into one of pop and R&B;’s most popular acts of the 1970s.

“Musically, they both share an attitude, a freedom that defies categorization, although they expressed it in different ways,” offered Muir, 32, during a recent phone interview.

“I think Infectious [Grooves] is really just a modern version of what we like about Parliament--you know, the grooves . . . the energy. Cyco Miko basically is a continuation of old Suicidal [Tendencies], which was heavily influenced by the spirit behind the punk scene, particularly the Pistols.”

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The Sex Pistols’ contribution to Cyco Miko became more than just inspirational when Muir enlisted the guitar-playing of ex-Pistol Steve Jones during the recording of “Lost My Brain! (Once Again).”

Muir was only hoping to persuade Jones to play on the song “I Love Destruction,” but things went so well at a North Hollywood recording studio that Jones wound up playing lead or rhythm guitar on seven of the album’s 11 tracks.

“When we started rehearsing, I heard this guitar playing [coming] from another room, and said to myself, ‘That’s gotta be Steve Jones,’ ” explained Muir, adding that the pioneering Pistols forever changed the way he approached music.

“I thought he would fit perfectly on our record, but it took me a couple of months before I got up the nerve to ask him to play on it.”

After listening to a tape of the new songs, Jones liked what he heard and decided to lend a hand.

“Steve plays so intuitively,” Muir said. “He just walked in, plugged his guitar into an amp and started playing. There was very little ‘We want you to do this or that.’ He was so focused. You could see him biting down on his lip and working the music. He’s not just a killer player; he has this attitude, and it’s something that can’t be taught.”

Learned or not, a rebellious attitude defines the outspoken Muir. Since his early years with Suicidal Tendencies, he has been surrounded by controversy. With concern by police and promoters over violent crowd behavior at previous ST concerts, the band went eight years--from 1986 to 1993--without being able to book a gig in the Los Angeles area.

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So will a Cyco Miko song such as “I Love Destruction”--with the lyrics: “Started young with the neighbor’s cat/introduced it to my baseball bat”--only fan the flames further?

“The song is not meant literally; it’s a metaphor about breaking down and destroying the mental barriers and limitations that people put on themselves,” Muir said. “There’s this self-imposed fear that leads to the creation of personal demons and monsters. It’s all internalized destruction.”

“ ‘Angry’ is not the word I would use to describe my feelings. But ‘hate’ is a very powerful word. Hate can be a good thing if you let it, and Vitamin Hate is something I take every day,” he said. “It’s the biggest motivator there is, and controlling it is the key. In today’s society, you have to let people know that you’re not going to be victimized by them or their actions.”

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One thing irritating Muir these days is the erosion of punk’s independent spirit and ethos. With its commercial mainstreaming, punk has lost its defiance, he said, and the huge success of bands such as the Offspring and Green Day is cause for concern not simply because they’re popular, but rather for the reasons they’ve become so well-liked.

“It’s ironic how punk is now made for fitting in,” he maintains. “Today, alternative is pop, and I think it’s part of this constant pursuit of trying to be cool. Reacting to music should be a personal thing. It’s what you feel that counts. It shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

“With my bands, we’ve always tried to make music that will still be around in another 10 years. We’re not into cool hairdos and clothes. Music is something that should be lived and felt,” he said. “It’s something that pushes and motivates you. Having something of substance to offer is what we’ve always been striving for.”

* Infectious Grooves, Cyco Miko and the Lemons perform tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 8 p.m. $15-17. (714) 957-0600.