A Fun Band Gets Serious : The zany, part-fusion Los Lobotomys have released a CD and played Europe, and will make their Ventura Theatre debut Friday.

It’s the kind of band name only a mother could love. What to make of a band with the zany moniker of Los Lobotomys? What is it: a vehicle for pranksters? A running joke? A philosophical comment on the wonders of a tabula rasa state of mind?

This is a band that embraces elements of guerrilla musical theater, improvisational abandon, and bathroom and bedroom humor, due to founding guitarist Steve Lukather’s taste for tasteless jokes. But, mainly, this is a band, part fusion, part Jimi Hendrix tribute, part heroic pop, formed by members of Toto out of frustration and a desire for unrestricted fun.

The group began as a lark several years ago with a rotating cast of musicians, then developed a cult following at gigs in such L.A. venues as the Palomino in North Hollywood. And now the fun is getting serious: The band, with legendary drummer Simon Phillips in the ranks, has a CD--”Candyman” on Viceroy--and live dates outside of the hometown. After making a splash in Europe last fall, they’re creeping up to the Ventura Theatre for the first time Friday night.

There is a great tradition in cities such as Los Angeles--where all manner of musicians work in the studios or in tightly defined settings--of players getting together in clubs, far from the stricter professional demands. There they blow off steam and explore ideas of a less commercial nature than those Toto presented.

Surprisingly, though, the material on “Candyman” ranges from high-intensity fusion-ish instrumentals, including a metric maze called “Party in Simon’s Pants,” to earnest, mainstream-sounding, arena pop. It also includes a rueful ballad, “Song for Jeff,” in homage to the late Jeff Porcaro.

A limber and sensitive player, Phillips was inducted into the group after he became the drummer for Toto, following the tragic death of Porcaro. The band couldn’t ask for a drummer with a better pedigree. Among Phillips’ credits was working with Jeff Beck on his last official jazz-rock band around the period of the “There and Back,” echoes of which can be detected in the Lobotomys’ sound.

Last week, Phillips spoke about his new band from his home in Los Angeles, where he moved from his native England two years ago. The band was kicking into gear for the new year, heading to a gig at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

This is a band with a funny reputation. You have a solid presence in the world outside the U.S., and in the San Fernando Valley, right?

The history of the band goes back to the mid-’80s. It was essentially a club band that David Garfield, the keyboard player, and Steve Lukather, the guitar player, put together just for fun. The first time I heard of them was when I joined Toto in 1992.

Steve Lukather was talking about the band to me and asked me to play. I said, “Oh well, lovely.” I moved to L.A. in 1993, and the first time we got together was in January for three hours of rehearsal to learn a whole set of numbers, and we played at the Palomino.

You moved here from England. Were there similar situations over there, in which musicians would throw together a band to play live and have fun?

Unfortunately, that situation hasn’t occurred in England since the ‘70s. When I was a session guy in London in the mid-’70s, you could go down to the Speakeasy or down to Dingwall’s and play. You could put little bands together and go play a club.

Now, when I first did that Palomino show in ‘93, I hadn’t played that style of music in a club since 1976. It was a revelation. It was fantastic. Also, America generally is noted for its greater availability of live playing.

Los Lobotomys have some similarities to the British fusion you’ve been involved with, in Brand X and Jeff Beck--with more of a sense of humor and coming more from a rock angle. Is this wafting nostalgic for you to be in this band at this point?

Actually, yes. . . . This has the same feeling that the “There and Back” band had, when, in 1980, Jeff Beck, myself, Tony Hymas and Mo Foster went out in the States and played as a four-piece. Different music, different musicians and even a different approach, really, but it had that same vibe. I still have to say that, with Jeff’s “There and Back” band--which Tony and I were very involved in, because we wrote a lot of the material--that was one of the best situations I’ve ever been in. It was a fantastic band, and Jeff was playing probably the best he’d played in that band. So it was quite nostalgic for me from that point of view, yeah.

There is a track on the new CD called “Party in Simon’s Pants.” Any comment?

Well, typically, when you come to see a Los Lobotomys gig, Lukather has very strange titles and he used to read from a book really horrible stories. That doesn’t happen now. But we have a little bit of the absurd, bad taste factor in there.

But essentially, “Party in Simon’s Pants” is the first thing that Steve and I co-wrote. We did it in three hours. He left my apartment with a cassette demo of it and we didn’t have a title. It’s a pretty mad song. He came up with that as a working title, and it stuck, as working titles tend to do.

I’m getting the picture that Los Lobotomys really is the alter ego of Toto, in a sense.

It is. Toto has been going a long time. Unfortunately, they’ve lost what I certainly consider one of the main members of the band. I think Jeff Porcaro was very instrumental in getting the whole thing going, and he was quite a catalyst in the band. Sadly, he’s no longer with us. It means that Toto is a slightly different entity.

We are going to record another album this year, and we’re going to do quite a large tour of Europe. In the States, Toto doesn’t really exist. It’s a very strange situation that developed, and I don’t think they can ever really cure it. In Europe and the Far East, on the other hand, we do storming business. We’re huge there.

I think that the life span of Toto is, maybe, not very long. So, in a way, everybody is probably looking for certain things. And Luke and I really survive off of playing live music. We love playing live music. We’re performers.

Is there an essential Los Lobotomys attitude that you could put into words?

Yes. We’re the alternative to alternative music.

Details

* WHAT: Los Lobotomys.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Jan. 13.

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

* HOW MUCH: $10.

* CALL: 648-1888.