Mr. T Experience

          On the surface, East Bay pop-punk band the Mr. T Experience is just a front for a lot of goofy little jokes.

          First, there's the band's name, which harks back to the pop icon of yesterdecade, Mr. ("I pity the foo'") T. Hardly the name of a band wanting to be taken seriously.

          And then there's the band's singer/guitarist, Dr. Frank, who doesn't really have a doctorate - and although he might have a surname, it's top secret.

          But behind such snicker-worthy song titles like "Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend" and "The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful" lies the key to MTX's true greatness: the ability to crank out pure pop anthems like they were Tic-Tacs.

          ("We've made a fine art of falling apart/ And that's always how it's gonna be/ I've thought of leaving you/ but where would that leave me?" - from "Lawnmower of Love" on the band's latest album, "Revenge is Sweet, and So Are You")

          "Songs about girls," as one of the band's bumper stickers proclaims, represent the foundation of the band's music. It's a formula that has led the group from its initial lows 12 years ago to the slow and steady success on whose verge MTX now finds itself.

          Back in 1986, MTX started "like a lot of other bands start: people who know each other, looking for something to do," said Frank. "Afterward, we learned to play the instruments." "It was never supposed to be anything more than a way to pass the time," he added.

          But the band's drudging beginnings - setting up its own shows in local pizza parlors, even though "no one would show up," as Frank admits - soon gave way to the boisterous punk scene erupting at Berkeley's 924 Gilman St. club. Soon, the band found a growing audience of punks looking for something better.

          "There was nothing of substance being created," Frank explained of the punk scene at that time. "Punk had degenerated to metal and political posturing. We tried to be a basic rock band, playing pop songs."

          Soon after MTX stirred up a buzz, groups like Operation Ivy, Green Day and The Queers sprung up from the background before signing with Berkeley-based pop-punk champion Lookout! Records, only to head for bigger, brighter futures. Meanwhile, MTX charted a less glamorous course of continued low-budget recording and low-key touring.

          It has taken 12 years for MTX (nee Frank, who is the only member to weather six-plus lineup changes throughout the years, leading to today's current roster: frontman Frank, 34, backed up by bassist Joel Reader, 21, and also-surname-free drummer Jym, 28) to reach the point it's at today.

          And Frank credits the band's success to ignoring the climate of the punk scene all around him. "One of the reasons why I can continue to do this is because I really don't pay much attention to (the scene)," said Frank.

          Even when the great Pop-Punk Boom of 1994/95 swooped down and snatched up Green Day, The Offspring and the Smoking Popes with varying degrees of success, the boys of MTX kept their distance. "I just continued to make my quirky records," said Frank. "I ignored the boom." It was a good maneuver, because the spotlight only shined on the pop-punk world for a few brief moments before fizzing out.

          "I would consider our success based not so much on (the) pop-punk (boom) as the idea (of) returning rock 'n' roll to what made it great: music that's based on songs, not costumes or effects," said Frank. "That shouldn't be remarkable, but it is."

          Frank sees a link between pop-punk and, of all things, country music. "It's deceptively simple," said Frank of pop-punk and country songwriting. "Anyone can pick up a guitar and play three chords. In fact, that's how a lot of the great pop songs have come out.

          "I mean, (Kinks leader) Ray Davies didn't know what he was doing. But he wrote 'You Really Got Me,' one of the greatest rock tunes of all time. No schooled musician could have ever created that." Dr. Frank has a way of explaining away even the most chuckle-able aspects of his band. His name? A leftover from his days as a deejay at UC Berkeley (a play on "Dr. Frankenstein").

          And what about the band's name? "When the band formed, Mr. T was a ubiquitous symbol," explained Frank. "He was on TV, in cereal and on underwear. It started off as a joke. But as time went on, it acquired this sort of charming absurdity."

          "Charming absurdity" is probably the best way to describe the Mr. T Experience. Sure, they may just be a bunch of poppy "songs about girls." But can you think of anything you'd rather listen to?