If Elvis had spent his later years cavorting around the galaxy and experimenting with scientific inventions instead of chowing down on peanut butter and banana sandwiches all day at Graceland, he may have sounded a bit like the Phenomenauts. Or at the very least looked a lot better at the end.

The Phenomenauts aren’t an easy band to describe—ample proof that they’re a unique act and definitely stand out in the glut of generic bands in today’s music scene. “Sci-Fi Rocket Roll” is an apt way to sum up the galaxy of sounds that this Oakland-based group has been blasting out since they first formed back in 2000, out of the remnants of a polka-cover band. Yes, that’s right—a polka cover band, but more on that later.

Combining the sounds of classic rockabilly, reverb-soaked surf guitar, punk, and pop culture science fiction themes, The Phenomenauts are without a doubt one of the most interesting and enjoyable bands in the Bay Area, and if there is any justice on this third rock from the sun, they should soon be enjoying a meteoric rise to success.

Commander Angel Nova, along with friends Corporal Joe Bot and Major Jimmy Boom, formed a trio that played 80’s pop songs on the street—polka style. After that didn’t work out quite the way they envisioned it, they set about forming a new band, with a new name.

Nova, who now plays guitar and handles vocal duties with The Phenomenauts, says that when the group was trying to come up with the new name, they wanted to keep the space theme, and wanted the name to rhyme with astronauts or cosmonauts. A mispronunciation while reading aloud off of a list of potential names by Nova created the word ‘Phenomenauts.’ Intrigued, they looked up the definitions in a dictionary.

“’Phenomena’ means a ‘strange or unusual occurrence, as in a musical phenomenon,’ and ‘nauts’ means ‘to drive or pilot, most times a boat, as in nautical,’” says Nova.

“And we thought ‘Beautiful!’--‘to drive or pilot an unusual musical happening!”

With a worthy and most fitting moniker now in place, the Phenomenauts rounded out the lineup with Captain Chreehos on double bass, and Professor Greg Arius handling the groups’ gadgets and gizmos and playing the keys.

Where they’ve gotten today has only been done through what some may describe as an insane devotion to their band, and an unconventional approach to breaking into the music business, which they’ve done without using the usual avenues of exposure and promotion.

In addition to great tunes such as “Tiny Robots,” “Earth is the Best,” and ‘Galactic Pioneers,” The Phenomenauts have a stage show featuring not only matching uniforms, but an incredible array of scientific gadgets and inventions like the smokerator and the toiletpaperator to involve and entertain the audience during the performance. And the relationship between the band and its fans, whom they call cadets, is based on mutual admiration.

“We like it when our fans sing along with us. I’d rather have that than a pit in the front,” says Nova.

Rarely do musicians commit so much of not only their time, but virtually their entire lifestyle to the band. The band travels from gig to gig in the PhenomaBomber, a van that’s been converted into, well, a spaceship. And Phenomenauts Headquarters, located in a large warehouse in East Oakland, is truly out of this world.

Headquarters serves as the band’s home base, living quarters for some, and dry dock for their various modes of space transportation. A full size stage, complete with huge curtains featuring the Phenomenauts logo, commands a large portion of the central area of the wherehouse space, and has indeed been host to several performances and parties put on by the band.

Curved staircases and still-under-construction walkways and balconies wrap upwards towards the ceiling, some lined with glowing tubes of lights. A large projector can display film and images on the wall behind the stage, and Cadet Orbit, when not guarding the premises, entertains visitors with his otherworldly tricks.

While their approach to everything musical and image-related may be unorthodox, it’s nothing compared to what these guys will do to get a gig when they want one.

If they aren’t invited to perform somewhere, it’s not a deterrent to them—they simply set up their equipment in public and play.

“When the Cramps played the Fillmore, we were out in front of the Fillmore, when everybody was done, and coming out of the show, there were The Phenomenauts, rocking out,” says Boom.

These “Commando” shows have lead to some of the groups’ bigger successes, such as when The Red Elvises caught their act and invited The Phenomenauts to play some local shows with them. Another occurred backstage at the California Music Awards, where the band brought in battery powered amps and played a few songs before being shut down, though not before getting the attention of the press covering the event. But by far the most outrageous stunt so far has been The Phenomenauts invasion of the Warped Tour last year.

After sneaking in the back with their stuff at the San Francisco show, they found a spot to set up near a side stage, and when the band playing on stage stopped, the Phenomenauts started to rock out.

“After the second song, I got a tap on my shoulder,” says Boom, “and it was the sound guy, he was like, ’hey the next band quit up there, we’ve got a space open if you want to go up there on stage.’ So we snuck in, and all of a sudden we’re playing on stage at the Warped Tour,” says Boom.

They ended up playing the entire tour, after earning their welcome by cooking breakfast for everybody, and playing multiple sets per day.

“The ‘Commando’ shows have done a ton for us,” says Boom.

“But they’re the scariest,” says Joe Bot, “First of all, the sound is terrible, and you don’t know [what will happen].”

Now that The Phenomenauts have established themselves a little bit more with their hard-won exposure, and made connections with other bands from around the world, they’ve played more shows where they didn’t have to commando it to get in--such as their recently completed tour of Europe, where they were asked to come over and play by psychobilly legends Demented Are Go.

“They treated us like rock stars over there, gave us food, as much beer as we could drink, we had stagehands, it was great,” says Boom.

The Phenomenauts look ready to launch into a new orbit soon, so be advised, young cadets. Grab your gear and ready yourself for a celebratory blast of some much needed good ol’ rock n roll--with a healthy dose of the future, of course.

The Phenomenauts play with the Mr. T Experience and the Plus Ones on Saturday, January 31st, at Slim’s, 333 11th Street, San Francisco. Info: 415-255-0333. Time: 9:00 p.m. Cost: $12.

For more information, check out their Web site.