Melting Pot

Loudmouth Soup, a very popular local rock band whose name comes from the movie “Dumb & Dumber,” is playing tonight at Nicholby’s in Ventura.

Something of a local super group, Loudmouth Soup has been together for about a year and a half and features a bunch of guys from a bunch of popular bands, many of which have entered the past tense. Members are Dave Rea (vocals and bass), Ryan Denger (guitar and vocals), Jonathan Raffetto (guitar and vocals) and Jesse Siebenberg (drums). A second drummer, Steven Cooley, has been known to sit in.

“There’s four different aspects to the band,” Denger said. “The Dr. M crowd comes for Dave, while others remember me from the Bloody Mary Morning days. Others come to see Jonathan because they remember him from Southern Cross, and Jesse plays with everyone. Also, some of the guys have other projects going on like Jonathan, who plays a lot of solo gigs with different players.”

A few years back, Bloody Mary Morning was the most popular band in Ventura, especially in the hearts of those from the east end, Buena High grads and lots of Ventura College students. Southern Cross attracted a dancing Deadhead sort of crowd, even though the band had nothing to do with the Grateful Dead. Rea’s group, Dr. M, still performs once a month at Nicholby’s, a fun party band that plays covers of everything from Madonna to the Go-Go’s.

“The clubs have been real good to us, and we’ve been getting very solid shows at Nicholby’s and Bombay, and the crowds have been really receptive,” Denger said. “We have a great nonviolent, fun crowd that drinks a lot. . . . There’s no cliques at our shows.”

Loudmouth Soup doesn’t play mellow dance music. This is a rock band that could turn a police checkpoint into a dance party. While Raffetto cites influences as diverse as Pink Floyd, Tonic, GWAR and the Rembrandts, the band knows 20 to 30 originals. And if the time is right, they do their only cover, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” once a hit for the Clash.

According to Rae, “We’re doing fine, especially for the kind of music we’re doing. No one else is doing straight-up original rock ‘n’ roll. It’s very charismatic rock.”

A bunch of energetic twentysomethings, Loudmouth has the local scene pegged so as to maximize its drawing power and not to irritate the club owners or impoverish their fans. They limit their gigs, more or less, to once a month locally and another every month or so in L.A.

“If we play two weeks back to back at Nicholby’s and Bombay, our fans will only come to see us one of those times, because people can’t afford to spend a hundred bucks every week,” said Rea. “So you have to save it up around here.”

The band released a seven-song demo CD not long ago, which has sold more than 1,000 copies in the last two months. But Loudmouth Soup has even larger rock ‘n’ roll dreams, hoping to take the next step and transcend the local scene, following Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, which achieved national success and 8Stops7, which has one foot out the door.

“There are a lot of avenues out there,” Raffetto said, “and so far, we’ve been taking our time. We want to record a great record--that’s our goal. Some of these songs we play are really great.”

The next serious road trip for Loudmouth Soup is slated for Aug. 25, when the band is taking four buses of fans to the Martini Lounge in Hollywood. Call 653-6960 to find out more about that one.

DETAILS

Loudmouth Soup at Nicholby’s, 404 E. Main St., Ventura; 9:30 p.m. today; $6; 653-2320.

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Mighty Mo Rodgers will bring his trademark brand of “nu bluez” to Conejo Community Park on Sunday afternoon for a mighty good price, the ever-affordable, free. A thinking man’s musician, Rodgers might just be checking out the crowd as intently as they view him. The keyboard player’s master’s thesis was “Blues as Metaphysical Music (Its Musicality and Ontological Underpinnings).”

Rodgers’ father owned a club in Indiana, and as a kid young Maurice used to sneak in to check out the performers such as Willie Dixon and Jimmy Reed, from whom he contracted his own lifelong fascination with the blues. Rodgers was in bands all through high school, where he also excelled as a wrestler.

Rodgers eventually landed in Los Angeles, where he played with several of his idols, including Bobby “Blue” Bland, Albert Collins and T-Bone Walker. An artist of note, his most recent album is “Blues Is My Wailin’ Wall” from last year.

“I’m trying to reinvigorate the blues,” Rodgers said. “For me, it’s the heart of American music because it was born here. I want to build a bridge between music and academia. My goal is to start a master’s program in the blues. Why should British blues cats remind Americans of what we have?”

DETAILS

Mighty Mo Rodgers at Conejo Community Park, Dover and Hendrix streets, Thousand Oaks, 5 p.m. Sunday; free; 381-2747.

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The Cult were in The Rut, as their career followed the by-the-numbers rock band scenario. They formed in the early ‘80s, had a bunch of hits, then broke up a decade later, and now they are back and playing Wednesday night at the Ventura Theatre.

Originally Southern Death Cult, the band was started in 1983 in England by singer Ian Astbury and guitar player Billy Duffy. At first, the Cult were the darlings of the Goth rockers, but the band’s lyrics transcended the limited perspective of all those black-clad rockers whose major concern seemed to involve avoiding sunlight. With Native American prophesies and mysticism influencing their songs, the Cult were early supporters of eco-consciousness and earth-friendly recycling programs.

Hip lyrics and Duffy’s surreal guitars backed by a booming rhythm section made the Cult’s debut, “Dreamtime,” a big hit, which paved the way for later successes with “Peace,” “Electric” and “Sonic Temple.” The downward spiral began at the peak of their career as the dreaded “creative differences” took their inevitable toll. By 1995, the band was history.

But nothing is forever in rock, as anyone who has ever played a note or sang a song will either come back or refuse to go away. As of late last year, the Cult re-formed, having sold out several venues in L.A., and tickets are going fast for this one. Act accordingly.

DETAILS

The Cult at the Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., 8 p.m. Wednesday; $27; 653-0721.

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Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at blocey@pacbell.net