Irish by Luck

The members of the Saw Doctors are proud to be identified as an Irish band--whatever that is.

“What is Irish music, anyway?” asked bassist-singer Pearse Doherty by phone from a tour stop in Portland, Ore. “I don’t think it’s necessarily this ‘Irish Heartbeat’ thing that marketing people use. . . . They’re just hijacking words to sell albums. We’re simply a noisy pop band from the west of Ireland.”

“The truth is,” added singer-songwriter Leo Moran, taking a turn on the phone, “we’re really big fans of rock ‘n’ roll. In fact, there’s only a hint of Irishness behind the music we make.”

Since its formation 12 years ago, the Saw Doctors (a name derived from long-ago travelers in Ireland who earned money sharpening saws) have found commercial success in their homeland and Great Britain. The group’s 1989 single, “Useta Lover,” was a No. 1 in Ireland and is one of that country’s biggest-selling singles of all time.

Yet the group is little known in the United States. Its first studio album released in the U.S., “Songs From Sun Street,” came out only last November. (The band also had a compilation, “To Sing a Powerful Song,” released here in 1997.)

True to Doherty and Moran’s word, “Songs From Sun Street” rarely sounds Irish, drawing from a variety of styles, including folk, country, punk and pop.

“We didn’t sit just around listening to the Chieftains,” said Doherty, a Beck enthusiast and former McDonald’s employee. “We’ve absorbed all kinds of wonderful music--Stiff Little Fingers, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers . . . even Woody Guthrie. The challenging part is using these bits and pieces to make something of our own.”

“I grew up listening to country music,” added Moran, a former French teacher who first played in the Irish-reggae band Too Much for the White Man. “I love the directness of Hank Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis and Steve Earle. Those guys sang simple songs--carried musically by a little twang and a big heart--and that’s something I wanted to bring to the record.”

Even though the band has little in common with traditional Irish music, it will take part next month in the annual Guinness Fleadh festivals of Irish music in Chicago, New York and San Francisco.

The quintet also has a date tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, where band members Doherty, Moran, lead singer-guitarist Davy Carton and drummer-vocalist John Donnelly will be joined by touring member Derek Murray on accordion and keyboards.

Instead of writing lyrics about the usual rock ‘n’ roll cliches, Moran and Carton favor snapshots from everyday life in the tiny County Galway town of Tuam (pronounced choom).

Their subjects range from the closing of a local factory (“Sugartown”) and falling hopelessly in lust with the prettiest girl in town (“Red Cortina”), to more comical yarns about the meteorological blues (“Will It Ever Stop Raining?”) and overbearing chatterboxes (“Blah Blah Blah”).

“Our topics are very honest, and I think the material rings true with those willing to give us a listen,” Doherty said. “We’re not making this up--it’s what’s on people’s minds . . . news and gossip they’re all talking about at the market and down at the corner pubs.”

“Fans leave our concerts thinking we’re just ordinary blokes, which I guess we are. We all have families and mortgages. We don’t act or look like rock stars. . . . We look more like plumbers and carpenters, to tell you the truth.”

Moran suggests that the band’s everyman qualities may be one of its key attractions--something both the London Times and Q magazine seem to agree with by proclaiming the Saw Doctors to be “the band of the people.”

“We’re not virtuoso musicians or anything like that,” he said. “But we work hard, have fun and try to bring something unique to each of our shows. I think it’s our sense of humor that puts a smile on the faces of our fans. Even the most hard-hitting bands realize that those taking themselves too seriously are in danger of not being listened to.”

* The Saw Doctors and Divan play tonight at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 8 p.m. $15-$17. (714) 957-0600.