Still Blasting Away : After 15 years and surviving the heyday of punk, the Blasters remain masters of the retro rock, country, be-bop, swing and blues mix.

If you’ve never seen the Blasters, you’ve never rocked. That’s how simple this is. It’ll be plenty warm at the Ventura Theatre Friday night when the Blasters tear it up with their upbeat American music. Raging Arb and the Chance Brothers will open this all-ages show.

About 15 years ago, the Blasters came blasting out of Downey with a sweat-inducing mix of retro rock, country, be-bop, swing, blues and about everything else. The original lineup consisted of singer Phil Alvin, songwriter and guitarist Dave Alvin, Johnny Bazz on bass and Bill Bateman on drums. Piano player Gene Taylor joined soon after. The Blasters released a hard-to-find-these-days debut album on a garage label, then put out a series of critically acclaimed records on Slash. The band, it seems, has always been on the verge of becoming the Next Big Thang.

Phil Alvin, in a lengthy interview, left scant room for witty exposition. So here goes:

How often do the Blasters play these days?

What do you mean these days? Actually, we play quite frequently--maybe 12 times a month. And I’m happy to do it. The Blasters never really stopped playing, you know. Right now, I’m working on two albums--a solo album and another Blasters album. They’ll be on the CBS Sony something label.

Your family has some Ventura roots?

Yeah, my uncle used to live up there off Ventura Avenue on Lewis Street. He fought in World War I, so he’s gone now, but his son, Porky Smith, who was the baddest dude in Ventura, still lives there.

Who’s in the band?

James Intveld is on guitar. He replaced Greg Hormel who replaced Hollywood Fats who replaced my brother, Dave Alvin. He’s been in the band since last year, and this guy can play guitar, man. Some fools had him playing bass behind other guys who couldn’t play the guitar or the bass. Johnny Bazz is still on bass. Dave Carroll is the drummer. Bill Bateman couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be in the Blasters or the Red Devils. Finally, I had to give him a deadline.

What happened to Gene Taylor?

He moved to Toronto for a while. Now I think he’s in Austin doing some stuff with the Thunderbirds.

When’s the last time your brother played with the Blasters?

A little more than a year ago, I think. We played a benefit for Barbara Boxer and Dave played with X and the Blasters. Man, we tore it up that night.

So what’s up with Lee Allen?

Well, Lee, whom I’ve known since I was about 14 years old, is still with us, but his doctors told him to take it easy for a while because of high blood pressure. That guy’s amazing. He’d put everybody to bed about 5 in the morning; take the bottle with him, then wake everybody up a few hours later, all dressed up and ready to go.

OK, so it was five Blasters, plus Steve Berlin and Lee Allen on sax. How come you guys ain’t rich?

Well, my brother, who I love dearly, didn’t know about the music business--I taught business mathematics on a university level and I know what I’m talking about. He’s a great and skilled musician, but he knows nothing about negotiations. Nobody really went broke or anything, but it’s a fallacy to assume anyone gets rich in this business unless you sell yourself away. Record companies are leeches that know nothing about music. If they did, they’d play.

What was it like being on “American Bandstand”?

Dick Clark was very, very kind to us. We were on three times, and he was totally prepared; he’d come out and tell us the history of our band. He liked me and let me be one of the judges on one of his other shows, a lip-sync show. One time, he handed us pens and let us sign this wall, which had all these famous rockers on it like Jerry Lee Lewis. He was very cool to us.

The Blasters are often described as a roots band or rockabilly or a retro band. Do those terms hurt your band?

I don’t like the term rockabilly , which I think is a racist term from the late ‘40s or ‘50s. It was used to differentiate white rock ‘n’ roll from “race music.” I’ve heard black people play so-called country music, and I’ve heard whites play so-called blues music. Rock ‘n’ roll is merely poor people’s music. “Crazy Blues” from the early ‘20s was one of the first examples of a recording by a poor person. I also don’t like the term roots music. Roots are under the ground. Are we compared to roots? All of these things are just names. We play trunk music.

Is “Crazy Blues” harder to find than your first album?

It’s probably easier. I recently found two of those albums in my storage. One of them is still sealed, but the other, I was signing it for someone, and never finished. It says, “To Susan,” then, that’s all. So if Susan is out there, I’ve got her album. I’ve seen them go for 300 bucks. Man, we used to give those things away.

What was it like being in the L.A. scene in 1979?

It was great, yeah. Playing the Starwood and all those places was right for us. I think that whole scene was the last event that will ever happen when the record companies, the music and fashion all came together.

How did you get started in all this?

I knew this guy named Ernie Franklin. I was 14 or so and we were playing the same kind of music we’re playing now. Anyway, Ernie took us to meet his mom, Mary Franklin, who used to be a singer and dancer in Harlem. She introduced us to Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker and Lee Allen.

Details

* WHAT: The Blasters, Raging Arb & the Redheads, the Chance Brothers.

* WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday.

* WHERE: Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., Ventura

* COST: $10.

* FYI: 648-1888.