Buzz bands

Swift responses

Richard Swift fields all jibes about his music with aplomb. “It might be circus music, but there’s something kind of crazy and chaotic about it,” he says. “I don’t want to be known as the guy who does weird vaudeville -- my thing is vaudeville from a Kinks perspective.”

An arresting mix of baroque, ragtime and indie rock, Swift’s vintage pop offers a perfect setting for his compelling stories, which soon will reach a larger audience. “The Novelist,” an EP with a poignant storyline that was released last year on Velvet Blue Music, is being remastered and paired with “Walking Without Effort,” a collection of songs Swift recorded in 2001 with Frank Lenz producing. The two-disc “Richard Swift Collection Vol. 1” will be released in late August on Leftwing Recordings.

It will cap a busy month. The multi-instrumentalist has session work and other collaborations on tap, and his band will perform every Monday as the August residents at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

Name claimed

Dios, the fledgling band from Hawthorne, will become Dios Malos after a complaint from a 55-year-old heavy metal rocker that the quintet’s name infringed on his. A cease-and-desist order from Ronnie James Dio, who fronts the band Dio, claimed the name would cause confusion among fans.

“We thought, ‘This guy can’t be serious,’ ” Dios singer Joel Morales said. “But he was, and we don’t have the resources to fight it.... You know, old guys who aren’t relevant in music anymore shouldn’t give young, struggling guys a hard time.”

“Ronnie has used the band name Dio for 20 years, putting out numerous albums and performing in front of millions of people,” said Stanley J. Diamond, attorney for Dio. “So Ronnie had to protect his position.”

Dios, whose debut album of that name earned them critical praise for their gauzy, Beach Boys-inspired sound, headlines the Troubadour on Saturday. Also on the bill is L.A.’s Earlimart, whose impressive new album “Treble & Tremble” is due Sept. 28.

Fast forward

Eugene Edwards’ new album, the Dave Peterson-produced “My Favorite Revolution,” doesn’t stray far from the Squeeze/

Elvis Costello recipe. But it’s easy to see why Edwards has become a favorite on the L.A. pop scene -- his revved-up live shows and sterling guitar licks put muscle behind his melodies. His band, along with O.C. favorites Scarlet Crush and Sparklejets U.K., is among the performers Sunday on the closing night of International Pop Overthrow. The show, at Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub in Huntington Beach, is a benefit for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, which aids music education.... The record release show for Jim Bianco’s album “Handsome Devil” is tonight at the Knitting Factory.