Last Friday the sleepy Knockout Bar, located in the Outer Mission, filled up with mustached scenesters and bohemian belles as Los Angeles’ Clean Prophets opened as the first of three bands. Their tight set pulled young San Franciscans towards the small, candle lit stage, filling their ears with lush, danceable pop and dreamy lyrics.

Though they have remnants of Brit Pop icons, such as the Stone Roses or earlier records of the Happy Mondays, and have been lumped into a new movement that draws from psychedelia, the three early thirty-somethings’ sound is all their own.

Live, each instrument is unique and crucial, swirling around each other and then meeting in an embrace. Drummer Johnny Sleeper, who graduated from SF State in 1999 with a sociology degree, supplied a skillful but playful foundation, with strong beat changes and crashing symbols. Bass player Dave Koenig brought swaying rhythms that anchored guitarist and lead singer Jerrold Balcom's soaring melodies.

Lyrically, the Clean Prophets are on the verge of surreal, making ambiguous exclamations as in, "Crime/ On an impulse/ Turn the key/ Turn the key … Crime/ Eternal/ Sculpt in flames/ Obnoxious games," in the song “Crime.” Or in “More Than Enough” where Balcom croons, "The green light leads to Riverside/ They told me I should loosen my eyes/ The gayest bar in Riverside/ And weed takes me high."

The Clean Prophets’ stream-of-consciousness songwriting melded with their catchy guitar hooks opens the imagination for listeners’ own interpretation without loosing a sense of meaning or emotion.

Shyly moving closer to the stage, audience members quietly nodded to themselves, smiling under their furry faces and stringy hair as they piled in through the door from the Outer Mission streets.

Though Balcom swore that the Clean Prophets appeal more towards women, most audience members donned neatly trimmed moustaches, shoulder length T-rex hair and beaten leather jackets.

“It’s beautiful,” said fan and 2002 SF State business graduate Scott Eberhard. “The Clean Prophets live up to their record and really know how to lay it down.”

After leaving the legendary San Francisco band Brian Jonestown Massacre, bassist Dave Koenig found solace in Sleeper and Balcom’s new three-piece project, and the "Clean Prophets" were born.

“It was something different but fit in with what I wanted to do,” said Koenig. “If you’re a bass player, you get buried in a wall of guitar, but in a three-piece, you can hear everything. It’s an even, equal balance.”

Together since late 2004, the Clean Prophets have already won critical acclaim, winning praises from the Los Angeles Times and the Portland Tribune, and feature former members of the Superbees and Rough Trade’s Sunstorm.

Although the band mates hail from Los Angeles, a city known mostly for its Hollywood glam bands and commercial “punk” pop stars, Sleeper said they aren't together to make it big.

“Writing songs of quality is more important to us [then fame],” said Sleeper. “Now, people are interested in [good] songs and packaging is thrown out the window.”

The Clean Prophets’ first album, “Praise is Poison,” was released on their own DIY label Tuff Penguin, and features 11 richly produced songs like “Crime” and the title track.

After this February’s tour, the Clean Prophets will return home to southern California and complete the work they've already started on the next album.

“The new album is more focused,” said Balcom. “It is more of a collective and definitely sounds like us.”

Besides planning to perform at bigger and better venues, the three band mates hope that in the future, their sound will be definitively unique and their own.

“I hope we will be one of those bands where people hear us and say, that’s them,” Sleeper said.

For more information visit www.cleanprophets.com.