Yes, their name is taken from a T. Rex lyric, and, yes, they do look like the opening act for vintage Foghat or Doobie Brothers.

But Dirty Sweet's Mark Murino wanted to make clear in a recent interview that this is not a band that lives in the past.

"We don't want to be a throwback band," the band's guitarist and co-founder said last week as the San Diego band prepared for a three-night engagement at the prestigious Casbah to celebrate the release of its first album this weekend. "I don't want to live in a time that doesn't exist anymore. But when my ears perk up, it's usually classic rock."

And the untrimmed '70s look?

"We're hairy fellows," Murino admitted, laughing. "I think stylistically that's where our interest lies" he said of the Foghat/Doobie Brothers era.

"But we're fans of music. I'm a fan of '30s music -- I could take Django Reinhardt and Cab Calloway. I could take the '50s, and I'm into Elvis and Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers. Literally every decade, we have hundreds of bands we draw from. I guess we're always into popular music, so the Beatles are going to be there, the Stones are going to be there, Led Zeppelin is going to be there."

Murino said all five members of the band are huge record collectors, with more than 3,000 LPs in his collection alone. "We're all huge vinyl collectors, and our collections go very deep. From mainstream to very obscure stuff."

It's important to note, though, that those albums are inspiration: Dirty Sweet plays their own songs, not covers, and in doing so have built up one of the largest followings in San Diego County. In addition to Murino (a native San Diegan), the band includes singer Ryan Koontz (originally from Spokane, Wash.), guitarist/vocalist Nathan Beale (Detroit), bassist Shaun Cornell (Los Angeles) and drummer Chris Mendez-Vanacore (San Jose).

When the band formed three years ago, the straight-ahead rock 'n' roll sound they have today coalesced pretty quickly, Murino said.

"Basically, the sound kind of chooses you. This is how it is with every band I've ever been in: You bring five guys in and there's so much musical background -- and I'm talking Django to ZZ Top -- and then you have to find where everyone connects."

But of Dirty Sweet, he said, "Musically, we all really agree. We always agree on songs. … There's three ways a song comes into play: Either I, Nate or Ryan brings a song to practice. It could be totally done, and that's that. … Or one of us brings a riff to practice, and we all build on that riff. Or, what's been happening lately, we come to practice, we plug in and we start playing and we record that practice and listen to it later.

"What we're looking for more than anything is a groove: what has a good groove to it, what has a rhythm. Once we've established that feel, we can put it in any key we want, we can put lyrics to it.

"I wish we had more of a recipe. It seems the ones that just come out of thin air and come out the quickest turn out the best."

After the three-night CD release party at the Casbah this weekend, Dirty Sweet hits the road to promote its first CD, which is being distributed by A.J. Croce's San Diego-based Seedling Records.

"It's hard -- we're going to be gone for all of June, the last half of July and all of August, and we're going to Europe in September," Murino said. "We're literally going to be home for three weeks this summer."

The band is booking much of the tour itself, Murino said, and the venues that it's playing in take in a wide range.

"We've played 7,000-person arenas, and we've played to the Che Cafes of the world. We do it wherever there's a music fan."

While the band doesn't have a major label backing it, Murino said the Internet is an equalizer for bands such as Dirty Sweet.

"MySpace is a good way of keeping up with the people who love your band. You can send a flier out to all of them all at once. And it's a good way of gauging how well you played the night before and how you were received. We're watching the audience the same way the audience is watching us. Sometimes you see someone with their arms crossed and a look on their face and you think they hate you with every bone in their body and the next day you get a message on MySpace and a friend request!

"You realize not everyone is a dancer, and some people listen with their ears and you can't judge their body language."

As for going on tour, Murino said it's a sacrifice but one the band's members make gladly.

"When you've done this for so long it's just something you do, and when it has to happen, you just find a way to make it happen."

The band members range in age from 28-30, he said, and none is married or has kids. "We're total losers," he laughed. "We're married to rock 'n' roll."

Dirty Sweet

When: 8 p.m. May 24-26

Where: The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., San Diego

Cost: $10

Info: (619) 232-4355

Web: myspace.com/dirtysweetmusic