by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Groupies and hookers, booze and cocaine, spliffs and E - all keywords in any given Dandy Warhols write-up, circa 1998, courtesy of the ever-perverse British press. The quartet has weathered a heavier buzz overseas than on U.S. turf, but U.K. fame came with reams of ribald stories, a few tales of debauchery heightened by a lurid splash of yellow journalism.

"If we'd really been doing what they said we were doing, there's no way in hell we would have made it to Thirteen Tales [from Urban Bohemia]," says Dandys keyboardist Zia McCabe, referring to their millennial rock 'n' roll record. And if all the Dandys did was sit in dark corners with straws in their nostrils and hands in each other's pants, surely they wouldn't have spent a year recording their latest album Welcome to the Monkey House, collaborated with Massive Attack, built their stately HQ, been invited on David Bowie's upcoming A Reality tour and developed a new stage strategy: no opening acts, three-hour sets.

"We're playing about 30 songs - four or five songs per album and a few covers," says McCabe, pointing to European ticket prices as their inspiration for going long. "We were, like, ‘Oh my God, we can't play an hour and 45, that's just rude!' Then, the first night, we got kicked off stage after two hours and 40, so we had to start playing earlier. Three hours seem to go by fast for us and the audience, but if we're sucking, we'll stop, and if people get tired, they can go home too - it's okay."

Although they miss the "summer camp vibe" of palling around with opening acts, the impressive guest list on Welcome to the Monkey House filled the Dandys with that communal feeling: producers Tony Visconti (Bowie, T-Rex) and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, Duran singer Simon LeBon, Chic's Nile Rodgers and former Lemonhead Evan Dando, co-author of "You Were the Last High." With input from new-wave artists and influence from modern electro and hip hop, guitars were peeled back to showcase McCabe, whose new confidence on keys sprung from the band's ongoing flirtation with Massive Attack.

"We stopped by their studio in Bristol a couple of years ago, but they're all keyboard guys, right, so I thought they would realize that I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't even go 'cause I was too scared, but the next time, I was like, ‘Come on Zia, pull it together,' and that's when I learned how to work on keyboards." Massive Attack's custom-made, psychedelically-lit keyboard room not only enriched McCabe's playing, but led to a recording session - at least an EP's worth of as-yet unreleased material (The Dandy Attack? Massive Warhols?) - and inspired the Dandys' new, hometown HQ, the Odditorium.

"Real estate is a hell of a lot cheaper in Portland, Oregon, than it is in Bristol, so our space is a quarter of a block. It's an old machine shop. There's a big stage with Roman columns, the floor is painted like a chessboard, there are sand dunes on the wall, we've got a lounge/theatre with surround sound, a library, a kitchen and a dining room where we run the Web site, graphic design, photo shoots, videos, recording. Yeah, Massive Attack are missing a few things!"

At the Spectrum on Tuesday, September 9, 8:30pm, $17.39

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