SUPERGRASS - SUPER COOL ITS ROOTS IN BRITAIN, BAND'S POPULARITY KEEPS GROWING.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

Ask the members of Britpop trio Supergrass to recall their first-ever show and things get downright bovine.

``We were playing in a field to a herd of cows,'' says bassist Mick Quinn. ``That was closely followed by a herd of a&r guys.''

Like other Britpop groups, Supergrass' musical roots reach from the traditional '60s pop of the Kinks and Small Faces to the catchy punk-inspired sounds of the Jam, the Buzzcocks and Madness.

Prior to forming Supergrass, singer-guitarist Gaz Coombes and drummer Danny Goffey had already flirted with the music business when their school band, the Jennifers, released a single in 1990 when Coombes was just 14.

After the Jennifers split, Coombes and Goffey ran into Quinn at a local cafe and discovered he attended the same high school. The three launched Supergrass, releasing their first single, ``Caught by the Fuzz,'' a semi-autobiographical tale of a pot bust, on an indie label in 1994.

The lively pop-punk tune landed the band a deal with Parlophone and the single's re-release generated a widespread buzz that included praise from Blur and Elastica. A second single made it into the pop charts, and Supergrass was soon on tour supporting such then-hot British bands as Blur and Ride.

``We always hoped we'd stick together,'' Quinn says. ``But we never imagined we'd be signed and making albums.''

Supergrass just released its third high-energy disc, titled ``Supergrass'' (Island). The trio appears in an unusual series of local club dates starting Saturday at the Viper Room and continuing Monday at the Roxy and Tuesday at the Troubadour.

In addition, the cheerful young group will open the West Coast leg of the forthcoming Pearl Jam tour, which includes shows Oct. 28 and 29 at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion.

``We play small venues a lot better than large ones,'' Quinn admitted. ``We've always played club gigs in L.A., but with three dates, at least one should be good.''

Supergrass is a sturdy draw in Europe where earlier albums, the 1995 debut, ``I Should Coco'' (nominated for Britain's prestigious Mercury Music Prize) and 1997's ``In It for the Money,'' rode high in the charts.

``It takes a lot of touring and hard work to break through in America,'' Quinn says. ``It depends how quickly you want to become known. A lot of British acts won't bother. They already have a name for themselves in Europe and don't want to stay on the road in the States indefinitely playing to empty clubs. We're really not in that much of a hurry. I want to pay my mortgage like anybody else, but we don't have to stay on the road for months at a time.''

As for the new album, Quinn says much of it was devised on tour where song fragments were worked out at soundchecks.

``It usually doesn't take that long to make a record,'' he explains. ``After a year and a half of working on ideas, we actually ran out of songs to record. With the first record, you have 20 years to come up with the material. And then hopefully you have songs left over for the next one. But on this one we drew a blank, so we spent almost four months writing. Toward the end, we were writing a new song every day.''

Glancing at the U.K. albums chart, Quinn says the variety of genres represented, including dance, country, hip-hop, pop-rock, electronic and even Tom Jones, reflects both a thriving music scene and a strong music- oriented culture.

``I'm mainly interested in guitar-based music,'' he says. ``But there's still a lot of interesting music going on. England's always had a very healthy, lively music scene, and that continues today. I think people take it more seriously in the U.K. Music isn't just a soundtrack for shopping.''

Along with the current album, there's been another addition to the Supergrass catalog - children. Quinn and his wife recently had their first.

``It's something we had to come to terms with inside the band,'' the bassist says. ``It means we can't just disappear for months on end. We can't just take off and go on the road for endless amounts of time. Which is actually quite good.''

The facts

--Who: Supergrass.

--Where: Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; Roxy, 9009 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.

--When: 9 p.m. Saturday (Viper Room), Monday (Roxy) and Tuesday (Troubadour).

--Tickets: $12.50.

--Information: [phone].

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Photo:

Mick Quinn, left, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey play small L.A. venues this week.