BY 'DOC' HENLEY SMYTHE

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

You've gotta love bands that defy definition. The press has had a field day with Howlin Rain. They've been described as "psychedelic rock," "a jam band," "classically soulful," "blues," "West Coast '70s rock" and even creators of a new sound, "Cosmic California."

The band opens for the Black Crowes next Tuesday and Wednesday at The National in Richmond.

From his home in Oakland, Calif., Howlin Rain's vocalist and lead guitarist, Ethan Miller, saw the humor in such varied descriptions.

"Sometimes it's kinda fun to see what other people write about that. If you ask any artist or band what kind of music they play, they want to be undescribable," Miller said in a phone interview.

"If my grandmother or the security guard at the airport asks us what kind of music we play, I just tell them it's just rock 'n' roll music."

The band members themselves--tongues planted firmly in cheek--when advertising their sophomore album, "Magnificent Fiend," released earlier this spring, call it "snarling, mercurial Jaguar guitars, wailing full-throttle Hammond B-3 organ and eight new mammoth rock 'n' roll jams."

Miller's edgy, sometimes raspy vocals and the unique sounds he coaxes from his guitar are, without doubt, at the forefront of the band. He describes his style as "my own mutated development"--and he is ably complemented by the other five members, including Joel Robinow's excellent harmonies and work on the aforementioned Hammond.

The many different bands Howlin Rain have been compared to sound like a roll call at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, even the Doobie Brothers (before Michael McDonald).

Miller recognized California's Bay Area both as a source of inspiration and for its musical heritage.

"It's impossible not to be affected by your environment and surroundings. The San Francisco sound is the mythology from the '60s and '70s--Big Brother; Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills and Nash; etc."

Simply put, Miller described his influences as "a little taste of this and that, a little taste of everything."

You get all that and more from Howlin Rain. Though the band's sound may leave music critics baffled, it seems they're bound, nonetheless, to be a hit for fans of pure rock 'n' roll.

'Doc' Henley Smythe is a local DJ and musician. Reach him at rockwithdoc.com.