Lashes make no apologies for their pop-rock sound.

Byline: Carolyn Lamberson The Register-Guard

Seattle pop-rockers the Lashes have something in common with the faux-British heavy metal band Spinal Tap.

Drummers. A lot of drummers.

The Lashes are on drummer No. 11 since singer Ben Clark put the group together in 2000. And while none of those drummers has spontaneously combusted, died peacefully in his sleep while playing or choked on someone else's vomit, Clark said there's a certain edge surrounding drummer Mike Log- gins.

`When you get to your 11th drummer, and then things start going well, you can get him to do just about anything for you if you just keep threatening that you're going to fire him,' Clark said in a recent phone interview from Seattle.

Kidding aside, Loggins has been a solid member of the Lashes family for 2 1/2 years.

`We knew we had everything else right and we weren't going to settle for anything but the best and the coolest,' Clark said. "As soon as Mike came in, we knew we had waiting for 11 for a reason.'

The Lashes is a tight-knit six-piece - the band members share a house in West Seattle - that will release its major label debut, `Get It," on Columbia Records next month.

The music is straight-up pop-rock, a label the band enthusiastically embraces.

`Before record stores became Nazi-infested bunkers that were full of people who gave you dirty looks if you picked up a No Doubt record, there was just one section called pop-rock,' Clark said. "We all consider it pop-rock because we're playing pop-rock 'n' roll music, which, when it comes right down to it, means catchy songs about girls that you're totally going to be obsessed with.'

The band's brand of pop-rock draws frequent comparisons to the Strokes, Big Star, Cheap Trick and Weezer - comparisons Clark doesn't mind at all.

`I won't say that we're bummed out about any single band we get referenced to, so far, because every band that gets brought out, they write great pop rock 'n' roll songs. And that is what our thing is.

`Our philosophy on pop is that it doesn't matter if you have a disco beat behind it or a swing beat behind it. If it's a pop song, it's a pop song.

`When it comes down to it, we just want to write classic pop songs about girls.'

After playing "about 700' shows at the Indigo District - that's Clark's estimate - the Lashes are heading to the WOW Hall for a show Thursday in support of fellow Seattle-ites Amber Pacific.

Last time the Lashes were at the WOW Hall, the band was in the audience for a Built to Spill show.

`It'll be cool to actually get to play in that place,' he said. `It's rare to pull into a city to play a show and show up at a club and feel like there's a somewhat of a scene going around where you're playing.

`That's what I really like about Eugene and the WOW Hall in particular.'

And rest assured, Lashes fans, when Clark and his boys take the stage on Thursday, Clark's variety of belts will be on display. He started sporting extra belts - studded belts, utility belts, whatever - on a lark, he said. Now, it's become a bit of a trademark.

`The scenester guys in town who love to hate me and my fashion choices started to give me looks about my extra belts,' he said. `So I started to wear as many belts as I could. Then it took on a life of its own.

`Now, kids are coming up to shows and bringing me belts. So I think I'm now in a place where I'm going to have to live with wearing belts."

CONCERT PREVIEW

The Lashes

With: Amber Pacific, Paramore and Terminal

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Where: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave.

Tickets: $8 in advance, available at the WOW Hall, CD & Game Exchange, CD World, House of Records, La Oficina, the Erb Memorial Union ticket office and online at www.ticketweb.com; $10 at the door

CAPTION(S):

The Lashes are upfront about their music. "We just want to write classic pop songs about girls,' frontman Ben Clark says.