BUZZ BANDS

They look ahead but embrace past

Any other indie rocker might regard it as a skeleton in the closet, or a least a topic better deftly evaded, but Nate Cole and his L.A. sextet Castledoor are nothing if not forthright: Cole and bandmate Gabe Combs used to be in a Christian boy band.

“People come at that as if we need to defend ourselves,” Cole says amiably of his days in Plus One, who made three albums(selling half a million copies of the first), toured nationally and performed at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. “But we were just coming out of high school and hadn’t listened to anything but Top 40 radio when we auditioned.”

That was then, and this is now: Castledoor has earned its DIY cred by playing dozens of shows in Eastside clubs, winning hearts with its exuberant boy-girl harmonies and layered guitars and keyboards. The band also just finished recording an EP, “Shoutin’ at Mountains,” with Earlimart frontman and studio whiz Aaron Espinoza.

Castledoor’s tight presentation owes much to the band’s family oeuvre -- Cole’s wife, Lisa, and Combs’ wife, Coury, play keys and sing, with Brandon Schwartzel on bass and Joel Plotnik on drums. “We wanted something that worked friendship-wise and music-wise,” Cole says of the decision a year ago to add the spouses to the lineup. “But we didn’t want it to be gimmicky -- they are playing big parts in songs.”

As for the past, Cole acknowledges it in the song “Remember When” on Castledoor’s “Follow the Dove” EP and moved on. “Right now, we’re just a starving band hungry for shows,” he says.

Castledoor plays tonight and next Thursday at the Silverlake Lounge, and Friday at Chain Reaction.

It’s not swinging, but it’s soothing

Mike Semple’s music might be good for chasing desert horizons or assuaging those quick breaths of sadness you catch before returning your gaze to the night sky, but it doesn’t seem to be good for his ego. Humbly, he calls his first album under the nom de tune Secretary Bird “honest and modest,” adding, “We’re not trying to set any land speed records or reinvent the rock ‘n’ roll wheel here. It doesn’t exactly come out swinging.”

No, it comes out soothing, wedding his storytelling and guitar work in textural bliss that recalls “Zuma”-era (or earlier) Neil Young, certainly in how Semple’s coruscated chords prop up his genteel vocals on “Somewhere Girls” and “Affected/Unaffected.” “I’m not interested in trying to outproduce the hot band on the block,” he says. “For me, it’s more about tones.”

The 36-year-old’s ear was tuned to such tones in his native Tucson, where he aligned himself with “the cool kids on the block,” Giant Sand co-founders Howe Gelb and Rainer Ptacek and their extended musical family.

“Looking back, it’s really clear how lucky I was to be around these kinds of people,” says Semple, who played briefly in Giant Sand, was a member of Friends of Dean Martinez and Campfire Girls and, with Bill Elm, scored the movie “Fast Food Nation.”

“Secretary Bird” was released in March by In De Goot Records, and the band, with bassist Einar Pederson and drummer Kirke Jan, plays tonight at Boardner’s and next Thursday night at the Echo.

Fast forward

* Touts: The show of the week might be the National’s date Tuesday at the El Rey; critics have heaped deserving praise on its new album, “Boxer.” ... And the Hotel Cafe’s schedule is loaded: Johnette Napolitano, whose new “Scarred” should be mandatory listening for aspiring songstresses, plays tonight (preceded by England’s Kate Walsh); singer-songwriter AM has a show for his new “Soul Variations” on Friday; and Chris & Thomas mark the release of “Land of Sea” on Tuesday.

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Recommended downloads

Stream Castledoor’s “The Birds and the Fleas” at www.myspace.com/castledoormusic.

* Stream Secretary Bird’s “Somewhere Girls” and “Imaginary You” by visiting www.indegootrecordings.com/audiovideo/audio.

* Stream Johnette Napolitano’s “Amazing” at www.myspace.com/johnettenapolitano.