MUSIC MUDHONEY : Down and Dirty : Angst, decibels and beer make the world go round for this raucous band, which is coming to Isla Vista.

Their music is about as ragged as they look. What would you expect from a band named after a Russ Meyers film? Mudhoney is the leading light of the critically acclaimed Seattle-based label Sub Pop, which specializes in hard-edged thrash/garage/grunge rock bands. The words of Warren Zevon again prove prophetic: “It ain’t that pretty at all.”

Mudhoney is much like Firehose, the Meat Puppets, Soundgarden, Das Damen, Motorhead and Sonic Youth and others for whom energy, Angst, decibels and beer make the world go round. The band’s new release, “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge,” has nothing to do with the Moody Blues. It is simply a clever sendup of one of the British band’s classic album titles, “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.” The Moody Blues probably wouldn’t do a song called “Touch Me, I’m Sick,” an early Mudhoney single.

Mudhoney has been around since 1988, when four guys from a bunch of different Seattle-area bands got together. They have since released four records and might be the biggest thing out of the Pacific Northwest since Paul Revere & the Raiders or Bigfoot.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Arm consented in a recent phone interview to describe the life and sound of Mudhoney.

So how’s the new album, the tour and all that?

Fine, I guess. The album’s all done and, I guess, it’s selling, so it remains to be seen if we’re going to be rich guys. We just came back from two sold-out weeks in England where there were lots of English people bouncing up and down and jumping off the stage.

So where did the name come from?

From a Russ Meyers movie from 1964, which was actually sort of a morality play with, of course, a lot of big-busted women.

How would you describe Mud music?

Hey, that’s not my job.

Your bio sheet says you write your songs naked? Does that scare the girls?

I write the lyrics naked because I write them while I’m asleep, then I have to get up to write them down.

When did the band get going?

Our first practice was on New Years’ Day, 1988. Everyone came from different bands, and I sort of just weaseled my way in. Our first real gig was opening for Das Damen.

The place I get my mail has a bunch of young Mud fans working there who learned that I planned to interview you. They said something like ‘Duuuuude, Mudhoney is way cool.’ So I said ‘Well, then what do you want me to ask them?’ And they said, ‘If you could be any kind of tree, what kind of tree would you be?’ Well?

Um, a tree that just got struck by lightning.

That’s the last time I ask them anything. Anyway, what’s the best and worst thing about your job?

The best thing is the hot rockin’ good times and the enjoyment of just playing in a band, and our fans. The worst thing is sound checks, man, just sitting around waiting for them to happen.

What was your strangest gig?

That would have to be the Lexington, Kentucky, gig we did on our first tour. It was in the fall of 1988, and we did a show in Ann Arbor, then drove six hours one way, then played in front of 30 people and got paid $14, a six-pack of Coke and two packs of cigarettes. But the crowd went wild. Then we drove back to Michigan for another show the next night.

What would be your dream gig?

We’d like to play with Motorhead, I guess, except the Motorhead of 10 years ago.

Perfect. What’s next for Mudhoney?

The last show of the tour is Oct. 6. I guess we’ve covered all the bases.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Mudhoney and Gas Huffer, the Anaconda Theatre, 935 Embarcadero del Norte, Isla Vista. Saturday at 9 p.m., $12.50. For more information, call 685-3112.