Punk That Goes Pop

The band Raz, which plays at Reseda Country Club on Friday night, has its roots deep in the swamps of New Jersey.

Guitarist Mick Roberts and drummer Richie Rockit, who have played in bands together since grade school in the Garden State, moved permanently to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s.

“Winter was coming, so we were going,” said Roberts. Here in the Big Orange, they teamed up with bassist M. Iggy D, and last year the band released the CD “Tough Love.”

The album, which was produced by music biz veteran Joe Vitale, features Raz’s brand of straight-ahead, punk-flavored rock.

“We purposely kept it raw,” Roberts said. The music on “Tough Love” contains a good deal of Beatles references. Roberts admits to being a closet Beatlemaniac.

“When I was growing up, I thought John Lennon was God,” Roberts said. “A lot of their music really hits home.”

Roberts said the new CD has had good response in Europe.

The band also has been involved with a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute CD that’s being produced by Jeff Fogerty, the son of original CCR member Tom Fogerty. The band covered “Door to Door,” a Creedence tune that was written by the band’s Stu Cook.

“Our version is like night and day from theirs,” Roberts said. “Ours is like AC/DC meets Creedence.”

* Raz opens for the Atomic Punks at 9 p.m. Friday at Reseda Country Club, 18419 Sherman Way, Reseda. (818) 881-2988. $10.

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I’s a Gas: Singer-guitarist and gas-company employee Dave Shorey, a.k.a. Gashouse Dave, is having a CD release party Friday night at Cozy’s in Sherman Oaks.

Shorey’s CD, “Leavin’ the Plantation,” which he self-released last year, is being re-released by Terra Nova Records after being remastered and repackaged. It also has three new tracks.

Gashouse Dave sings with an old-fashioned authority and plays guitar like a madman artist. And he talks as good as he plays.

Sometimes a simple question can yield an answer that will touch a variety of subjects ranging from the joys of a Gibson Firebird guitar to Muddy Waters to Raymond Chandler to Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy to the golden days of Hollywood to even more existential matters.

“Have you ever ridden a motorcycle and gotten pulled over by a cop?” Dave asked. “And the cop says, ‘Where’s the fire?’ and you say ‘I dunno.’ ”

Yeah, right.

From talking about his CD, Dave then cruised into a capsule summary and review of the movie “Amistad.”

“It was so well-done,” he said. “It was very spiritual, but it was also spooky.” Then he brought his monologue back to his CD, which he said had some themes about freedom and justice as did Spielberg’s flick.

Then he described a scene in the film in which Martin Van Buren rings a service bell of some kind. “And that note was a B flat,” Dave reports knowingly.

Besides Friday’s gig, Gashouse Dave is also going to hold down Tuesday nights at Cozy’s this month. He says the regular engagement will give him a chance to develop a “hang thing” at the club.

Exactly.

* Gashouse Dave plays Friday night at Cozy’s Bar & Grill, 14058 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 986-6000. $6.

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A Singer’s Nightmare: Susan Tedeschi had to battle a sore throat last Thursday night when she made her Los Angeles debut at B.B. King’s in Universal CityWalk. But she just sang through it. And in the end, she survived the battle and even won the war.

She and her band played the tunes from her debut album, “Just Won’t Burn,” with skill and polish. But anyone who has heard her fiery vocals displayed on the CD would have had the impression that the cold was taking its toll.

She and the band never really got out of second gear. But second gear was enough.

“Rock Me Right,” “Just Won’t Burn” and John Prine’s classic “Angel From Montgomery” were her standout numbers.