MUSIC : The Town of Sound : An ex-Surf Punk has compiled a CD of some of Santa Barbara’s zillion or so rock bands.

Here’s why the Beach Boys should be deported: They’ve been singing about hot weather, hot cars, hot sand, hot waves and hot girls for over 30 years, convincing the rest of the nation that California is so much fun fun fun that everyone should move here here here.

The band, to this day, shows no sign of remorse despite the fact the Golden State’s golden years have been gone longer than Brian Wilson’s falsetto. Since then, the population of California has tripled.

Fun fun fun? Boo hoo hoo!

What happened to the beach? Too much catering to tourists, that’s what. Now we have to pay four bucks to go to our own beach; there’s cancer from raw sewage, or cancer from all that warm California sun; there are sharks that bite; sewage plants that stink; jellyfish that sting; big waves that’ll drive you into the sand like a tent peg; and dangerous locals who will hit you so hard your whole family will fall over.

Don’t blame the Surf Punks for this Apocalyptic Gidget scenario. They tried to do something about it 10 years ago. “My Beach” off their debut album of the same name begins like this: “My beach/My chix/My waves/Go home!/My sun/My sand/My surf/Go home!”

A bunch of spoiled rich kids from Malibu, the very opinionated, off-the-wall and on-the-money Surf Punks put out a few albums, one as recently as 1988, but failed to attract many fans outside the surfing community.

“Too Big For Her Top,” “Punch Out at Malibu,” “Can’t Get a Tan” and songs that only a SoCal local can relate to, probably aren’t lighting up the request lines in Kansas. Or even Bakersfield. Too bad. They rocked.

But one of those punks has recently undergone a profound metamorphosis. He has changed his “Hey, you stupid souther, that’s my parking spot” attitude. Dennis Dragon was the drummer and one of the founding members of the Surf Punks. He’s not heaping abuse on the valleys anymore. Now he’s a finhead entrepreneur and producer of a newly released compilation CD featuring 17 of Santa Barbara’s favorite bands.

But what happened to the Surf Punks? Were they ahead of their time?

“Very behind the time,” said Dragon, during a live interview on a deserted beach whose name has been omitted to protect the locals. “The Surf Punks were basically three people, myself, Johnny Malibu and Drew Steele. Just after the first album came out, Malibu moved to Australia and had three kids. Everyone’s fuse blows at a different time. He was a real talent. He lives in Newport Beach now and plays in a blues band. Recently, he and I have done some recordings, which are sort of an extension of the Surf Punks. Drew lives in Venice and is installing seat covers or something. Unless someone comes up with about 10 grand, the Surf Punks are dead.”

So now Dragon, like so many others before him, has traded Malibu for Montecito.

“I go in the ocean,” said Dragon. “I like to surf, but I’ll go in the water, anyway, just to swim. But I’m not going to swim in industrial waste anymore. I don’t mind sewage--I did that in Australia. But industrial waste, that stuff that runs off the curbs, nope. I’m 45 now, and everything south of here is gone, so I’m enjoying the last bit of Southern California that I know.

“Actually, I got married and had a kid. There’s no reason to do that in L.A. I had to get out of there. I’ve been up here about 3 1/2 years now.”

With night surfing not happening and Montecito not rocking, what’s a guy with a vast musical resume to do? Right. Go to Santa Barbara and check out the bands, of which there are zillions. Everybody there is either in a band, about to start a band or homeless--or any combination thereof.

“There’s a bit of an attitude in Santa Barbara,” said Dragon with a bit of an attitude. “It took me about a year to realize it, then another year to work around it. They deserve an attitude in Santa Barbara. They grow attitudes there. Anyway, I started seeing all the bands, then this Billboard article about the S.B. music came out a few months ago, which gave me the idea for this CD.”

A few months ago Dragon set up his Zone Studio in Goleta. The guy knows his way around all those knobs and things and has written, directed, produced and engineered a number of films and videos. Dragon’s musical resume includes the Surf Punks, the Captain & Tennille (his brother’s group that doesn’t rock), Johnny Rivers, Carole King, Cheech & Chong, Joe Ely, Tony McAlpine, and lots more. The really amazing thing about “17 Slices of the Santa Barbara Music Scene” is that from conception to CD-in-your-hand was a mere two months. Most record companies can’t even return your call in two months.

“Basically, it was just a word of mouth thing,” said Dragon. “We got around 50 cassettes, and 17 made it. The studio was made to resemble a live venue, and to recreate a live situation. Every band got two hours to set up and record their song, and since they were all recorded in the same place, no one had an advantage. We did it all in six days. We mixed it down a week later, then got the artwork done. Overall, I think it came out pretty well. Some of the majors are interested in it.”

Besides appealing to Dragon, each band had to put up 500 bucks, which is a veritable fortune to some bands. Dragon and his partners put up the cash for a few of the bands that are just a twang away from a job at K mart. The initial run of 2,000 CDs is selling well at Cymbaline Records in S.B., thus far the only retail outlet. For each CD sold, $4.50 goes back to the bands, and they’ll get their money back if all 2,000 sell out.

First of all, let’s snivel about who’s not on the CD--no Los Guys, no Upbeat, no Munkafust, no Zoo Story. Some bands didn’t submit tapes; some, who knows?

About everyone else worth checking out in S.B. is on the CD from Tao Jonz to Rogue Cheddar, This Ascension, Circus Frequency and the Tearaways. Spencer the Gardener has the first cut, which befits his role as godfather of the local S.B. rock scene.

Best cut? “Down On Haley” by The Decline of Paisley John Shaver, with “In Mother’s Garden” by a band of the same name a close second. Even local radio is picking up on the CD.

Next step: If this CD is a hit, look for some of the bands to record a whole album, then get ready for a compilation of Ventura County bands. In the meantime, move back to the Valley today, or if you must move up here, bring your own six months supply of water.