Strayin’ Alive : Those ‘80s masters of rockabilly are now an unsigned band, out for a yowl on a tour they organized themselves.

Sufferin’ Succotash! These cats apparently have way more than nine lives. Either they are always around like Sylvester or at least the grin remains like the Cheshire Cat. These guys, who rock a lot more than most felines, are the Stray Cats.

These veteran rockabilly rockers are coming to the venerable Ventura Theatre Tuesday night with all three original members--Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker and the one and only Slim Jim Phantom.

Rockabilly is a lifestyle that glides through the big traffic jam of life, smoothed in part by the gobs of greasy goo on the hair of the converted. These guys do not patronize Bon Jovi’s barber. Never did. Maybe Brylcreem is coming back.

And these boys in blue aren’t necessarily Dodgers or cops. Ink, not clothes, makes the man. The Stray Cats have enough tattoos to star in a remake of “The Illustrated Man” or thrill a Hells Angels chapter.

“I’m tattoo-less,” said Lee Rocker in a recent phone interview. “I’m the rebel. Those other two guys have a lot of tattoos, and Brian’s got a lot more than he used to. He’s like a light show, man.”

The band started over a decade ago, had a bunch of hits, put in their time as the fer-shure- fer-shure-can’t-miss next big thang, toured incessantly, broke up for a while in the mid-1980s, and now they’re back. It’s more proof that anyone in rock ‘n’ roll that ever played or sang a note will, if they haven’t already, come back or refuse to go away.

“We grew up together in the suburbs of New York,” Rocker said. “We’ve known each other since the sixth grade. We started the band in 1978 because rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll really blew our minds.

“There really wasn’t anyone like us then, and there’s still not.”

The band followed Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran.

“Rockabilly has probably been around since Elvis’ Sun sessions in the ‘50s, but basically, it’s been there since 1957. It’s not getting smaller,” Rocker said. “Worldwide there’s a big underground, and once in awhile, it still pops up on the charts. It’s a lifestyle--the Elvis Nation--there’s rockabilly kids all over the world.”

The Stray Cats got started in a most unusual way.

“We moved to London in the summer of 1980 because we couldn’t get anything going here. We weren’t a band that would fit into a formula like a dance band or the flavor of the month band. Originally, we were the Tom Cats, but as Americans in London, we felt more like Stray Cats and the name stuck.”

The band struck a deal in England and sold 2 million records in two years, he said. “Then we got signed over here in 1982 because they felt that they could make a few bucks off of us. But that’s over now. Our deal with EMI ended over a year ago, so we’re sort of in between things now.”

The guy that got it going for the Stray Cats in England was Welsh guitar guru Dave Edmunds. Besides being one of the greatest guitar players in the solar system, Edmunds also produces a lot of bands. Some of his credits include the Flamin’ Groovies, the Everly Brothers and Dion.

“Dave showed up at one of our early gigs in London,” Rocker recalled. “Anyway, here was this dude backstage drinking all our vodka. That’s how we met him. He went on the produce all our albums. I am the biggest Dave Edmunds fan in the world--the guy is just unbelievable.”

The band went on to a number of good gigs. “We went out with the Stones in ’81. Another time, we played with Dave, Eric Clapton and Carl Perkins. That was great. Lately, we’ve been playing in Europe and Japan, but we haven’t toured the States since 1988.”

And these guys are as independent as your cat. They’ve lined up a 60-city tour without the benefit of label support or corporate sponsorship which doesn’t mean they don’t have T-shirts. How else would you be able to prove you were really there?

“We booked the shows on this tour and put it all together ourselves, without management,” Rocker said. “Playing is what we live for, and we’re not dependent on anyone anymore. No huge corporations giving us a hard time over endorsements. No record company schmoozing. It’s the same feeling we had when we started out 13 years ago. We’ve had big hits before, but now it’s time to play rock ‘n’ roll, have a good time and not worry about business.”

The Stray Cats play no-frills rock ‘n’ roll. No synthesizers, no tapes, no computers, just three guys playing.

In an inspired double bill, country-flavored rockers, J.D.’s Last Ride will open the show. Powerhouse singer Marjorie Extract will have the guys in the audience yowling like tomcats.