It's a Nicey Nice World

Since October 2010, Joyce Rooks has driven her cello from Oceanside to Marcelo Radulovich’s studio in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Jim Call brings a theremin from Lemon Grove. Wherever the trio sets up, it’s a Nicey Nice World.

The group’s collective résumé is impressive. Call was in San Diego’s first punk band, the Penetrators. Rooks played with the Penetrators and Cockpits; more recently, she’s worked with David J of Bauhaus. Originally known for his role in Playground Slap, Radulovich has garnered a reputation for cutting-edge experimentation.

How did the group and name come about?

Call: “We’ve all known each other for a long time. Finally, at a party, the three of us were speaking. We observed how nice it would be to get together to play and see what came of it. When we did, a particularly felicitous chemistry was noted, making us want to do it again.”

Radulovich: “We were in the annoying period a group experiences at the onset, the ‘What are we gonna call it?’ period. We were talking about something — cultural misconceptions, perhaps. Jim said something along the lines of, ‘They want it to be a nicey-nice world.’”

From the band’s web page: “We make unlearned music — and, insofar as possible, unplanned.” So everything NNW does is spontaneous?

Call: “More or less. We do use electronic loops. We might play along with the loop in a way similar as previously...or not. We have a few songs that we generally do play similarly. It’s still ‘unlearned,’ and, at least to a degree, ‘unplanned.’ I’m guessing a good 50 percent or more of any Nicey Nice World show is made up on the spot.”

How did you settle on Ducky Waddles bookstore/art gallery for your monthly residency?

Rooks: “My husband Jerry and I own Ducky Waddles — it was originally opened in 1992, in Silverlake. The store was damaged in the Northridge quake — that’s when we returned to San Diego. We set up in the main room, and there’s audience seating.”

Nicey Nice World will make it up as they go along, sort of, Friday, April 22, at Ducky Waddles in Encinitas.