MUSIC / BLUR : Rockablooey : The psychedelic British band is at times heavy on feedback but can also be melodic.

Blur. Blurred. Blurry. Blooey. Blurfect.

It must be this week’s British psychedelic pop gods, Blur. The band, which will headline the Anaconda Theater in Isla Vista tonight, offers a swirling, guitar-heavy presence that would be the perfect soundtrack for the spinning vortex at the beginning of old “Twilight Zone” episodes.

Blur is at times a feedback-crazy band like the Jesus and Mary Chain, or at other times more melodic like the Stone Roses. Front man Damon Albarn has a pleasing voice, and when he croons “She’s So High,” you almost want to look up.

Blur formed in 1989 in London and began playing around town, built up a following, got a buzz going, got signed, released an album, and now is living happily ever after on that big, endless tour.

The band’s debut album is “Leisure.” Besides Albarn, blame guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree.

In a recent phone interview from Vancouver, the reporter played the part of Joel Cairo (“Oh, Mr. Spade, you always have such a clever answer for everything. . . .”) and Albarn played Sam Spade (“Whatdaya want me to do, learn to stutter?”).

The band has been on the road for quite awhile, so are you guys rich rock stars yet?

That was never an ambition, really.

So what would you be doing if you weren’t in the band?

I’d just be playing my songs and probably supporting myself with a day job.

Why Blur?

It was just a random, random choice. There’s nothing particularly significant about the name.

Besides doing these interviews, what do you hate most?

I don’t hate interviews, but I do hate to get sick when we’re touring.

What’s the dumbest thing ever written about Blur?

People perpetually write stupid things about us. Some of the British journalists think we’re a bit too severe for some people, that we’re too head-oriented. In England, there’s a fad every few months. We’ve been written about so much that now we’re the Old Guard, which is ridiculous. There’s a group of journalists that love us and a group of journalists that hate us. I think we’ve been accused of being too intelligent.

Isn’t that good?

No, it’s quite frustrating. It means we’re not getting our message across.

So what’s Blur’s message?

We don’t have one, really. I don’t really trust people who have a message to put across.

So what’s a good thing about being in Blur?

I have an opportunity to be myself, or try to be myself. I don’t enjoy the extended periods of blankness on end. You’re on a big bus with a lot of people. We’ve been in the bus for three days going from Minneapolis to Vancouver.

So don’t you write on the bus?

Sometimes. My girlfriend won’t let my write at home.

Describe a typical day in the life of Blur.

Wake up. Take some aspirin. Do a few radio interviews. Do sound check. Drink a few beers. Play. Collapse around 4 a.m.

Your bio says you “. . . don’t look the way you sound.” Do you sound the way you look?

I don’t take any responsibility for things record companies say and how they perceive you. And you have to do your best to redress anything that may have been written.

Is your career going according to plan so far?

Nothing goes according to plan, so we have no plan. We have had a perfect career so far.

Did you guys listen to a lot of ‘60s music?

Yeah, and a lot of late ‘70s music as well--punk and new wave. Right now, the Seattle bands are really big over there, especially Mudhoney. They were the first, before Soundgarden and Nirvana.

Everyone loves Mudhoney because they’re sort of fat, nerdy types.

The world needs fat people. There is sort of a strange national obsession in America to eat as much as you possibly can, then try to exercise it away.

Would your parents go to a Blur show?

Yeah, they come to our shows.

Tell me about a strange Blur gig.

We played an arts festival in Rotterdam, and the whole place was decorated like a mental institution. There were about a thousand people there acting like mental patients and a lot of pigs running around everywhere, real pigs. People were talking to the pigs, behaving like pigs. It was quite unreal.

What advice would you give new, struggling bands?

They should not play material they’re not entirely happy with. And don’t expect anything to happen too quickly. You have to maneuver yourself into a position to get noticed. So much of it has to do with luck.

Who’s the woman on the cover of “Leisure?”

She’s a ‘50s swimmer. She had a look in her eye that no one has anymore, sort of innocently naughty.

What’s next for Blur?

We’re making a film for British television.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Blur, tonight at the Anaconda Theater in Isla Vista, 935 Embarcadero del Norte, $15, 685-3112.