A Triple Treat -- Three New Rock Bands - Marcy Playground, Matchbox 20, Days Of The New - All Have A Seattle Sound

------------------------------- Concert previews Matchbox 20 and Cool for August, 8 p.m. tomorrow, Mercer Arena, Seattle, sold out; Marcy Playground and Lincoln, 8 p.m. tomorrow, RKCNDY, Seattle, sold out; Days of the New and Black Lab, 8 p.m. Saturday, RKCNDY, Seattle, sold out. -------------------------------

It's like triple cherry pie. Like new rock superfly.

There's lots more than sex and candy on the music menu in Seattle this weekend. Not only is Marcy Playground, the band with the buzzingest buzz cut of the moment, "Sex and Candy," coming to town, so are two happening neo-grunge bands: matchbox 20 and Days of the New.

None of the bands are from Seattle, but all of them sound like they are.

Marcy Playground is East Coast-based, but listen to its debut Capitol Records album (formerly on EMI) and you hear Northwest references. There's the guy who drowns in the Chehalis River in "One More Suicide," and there's "The Shadow of Seattle," which says our rain is like "tin angels falling down" (nice!) but implies we blindly support unworthy, dishonest local bands (hey!).

Marcy Playground singer-songwriter John Wozniak (see accompanying interview) graduated from The Evergreen State College, and he wrote some of the songs on "Marcy Playground" while still living in Olympia. Other songs reflect his East Coast roots and experiences, including "Saint Joe on the School Bus," in which he recounts being abused along with other misfits at Marcy Grade School, and "The Vampires of New York," a look at the seamier side of the Big Apple.

But the one tune that has brought Wozniak and his two band mates back to the Northwest is the irresistibly delicious "Sex and Candy," a simple, slow-burning song of passion about a lonely guy who's hanging out downtown and consuming too much caffeine (another Seattle reference?), when suddenly he finds himself being scoped out by the woman of his dreams. "I smell sex and candy," he sings, playing with the last word. When you hear it, you can't help but smile.

For a while, however, the song seemed doomed. Marcy Playground originally was signed by EMI, which released the album and single last summer. But shortly afterward, EMI shut down. Marcy Playground was stranded without a label.

Then radio programmers came to the rescue. Stations such as Seattle's KNDD-FM (107.7), which had played the EMI single, let radio-promotion staffers at other labels know that a hot song, and band, were available. Capitol Records listened and, after polling music directors at modern-rock stations, signed the band, bought the album's master tapes from EMI, and, three months after its original release, re-released the album and single.

Capitol began promoting the single in September. Virtually every station that played it got strong audience response. By early December, it was the hottest new song on modern-rock radio. By New Year's Eve, it was No. 1 on Billboard's modern-rock tracks chart. It's still No. 1, eight weeks later.

Now "Sex and Candy" is poised to assault the Hot 100 Singles chart, which is based on Top 40 playlists and singles sales. Although teen-oriented stations may balk at its directness, the song seems unstoppable. It's already lifted "Marcy Playground" to No. 40 on Billboard's album chart. Be prepared to hear the song until you're sick of it. It could stick around 'til summertime.

matchbox 20, which likes to spell its name with lower-case letters, already has crossed over to the big time, thanks to its even more provocative single, "Push," and equally dark-edged follow-up, "3AM." The album from which they came, "Yourself or Someone Like You," has sold 4 million copies and is No. 6 on Billboard's chart, almost a year after its release.

"Push" perked up radio listeners' ears with the angry hook "I want to push you around" - an anti-love song if there ever was one. Lead singer Rob Thomas' mannered, overwrought singing style - reminiscent of Live's Ed Kowalczyk - is an acquired taste. Essentially a commercial adaptation of grunge, it passes for passion for many listeners. While matchbox 20 is a competent group, it doesn't have an original vision, like Marcy Playground.

Days of the New is grunge lite. The young band, headed by brooding singer-songwriter Travis Meeks, tries to capture the Seattle sound, circa 1990. Its breakthrough hit, "Touch, Peel and Stand," is equal parts Alice in Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam, without reaching the creative level of any of them. There's talent and potential in the band, but it has yet to find its own style.