J.P. Powell, lead singer and keyboardist of Boston-based band Chauncey, apologized for rambling on with his interview answers.

He had just had three cups of coffee. Plus, he was doing mixing in the studio for the band's new album with Steve Albini, who has worked with Nirvana and other alternative rock acts, which is enough to excite any fresh band.

Chauncey will be bringing its solid pop rock to the Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., at 9 tonight, opening the show for hard-rockers Sauce Monster and Stept On.

Powell said his band could best be described as a rock band that incorporates many styles into its music.

"We love '70s rock and '80s indie rock," Powell said. "The way we described ourselves is a rock band, but we like melody. ... It's not uncommon for us to play a song that follows the formula of the song craft and then play two minutes of abstract noise. ... We are not inventing anything new, just combining things the way we like."

Powell said all pop artists work this way, from Britney Spears to Fugazi to Radiohead.

"In the genre of pop music, the only thing that changes between these bands are hairstyles. It's the same chord progressions, the same beats," he said. "The bands that excite me are bands that take their influences and use them in interesting ways. The word 'original' in pop music -- I shy away from it."

Chauncey has received good reviews in its local papers and has been compared to numerous successful bands including Radiohead and the Beatles. The band has opened shows for Guster, Midnight Oil and Dispatch. The group's debut recording was named best rock album of 2001 by Boston Magazine.

Maybe all these positive reviews are the reason the band was able to enlist Albini to work on its new album. And maybe this is why Powell is talkative, now that the band has some pressure to make it nationally.

But the band isn't really concerned with fame, Powell said. "Look across the corporate music scene -- everything sounds the same. We are out to explore music ourselves and show what we like doing," he said. "We are really making art for ourselves. We're not trying to be rock stars, per se. We want to make a living making music we love and not the other aspects of it."

Chauncey's new record will not be out until at least September, but fans can still hear the band playing live. "Steve is into capturing what a band sounds like," Powell said. "Other records are made in a cookie-cutter fashion which may not be what the band sounds like."

The band's name even makes for an interesting analogy to how Powell views the music industry, and the place in which Chauncey fits. The name Chauncey was taken from a 1970s Peter Sellers movie, Being There.

"In the movie, basically he was a good-natured idiot," Powell said. "He was being himself." Through an odd set of circumstances, people believe that Sellers' character, whose name is Chance the Gardener, is somebody who he is not. His dumb utterances are mistaken for brilliant sayings and convince many people he is smarter than he actually is, which Powell compared to the success of rock bands. "It's a nice metaphor, because you can be a simple rock band and play your songs and people will like you," Powell said. "When you get down to it, to have a huge fan base is a mythology of sorts."

Tickets for the all-ages show are $5 and are available by calling the Crowbar at 237-0426.