01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 6, 2004

For most of their history (1979-86), The Schemers ruled the roost in Providence. Stalwarts of the "Three L" tour -- Lupo's, the Living Room and the Last Call (now known as The Call) -- they played pretty much weekly in town, as well as throughout New England.

They had the smart, classic songwriting and warm, Tom Petty-ish voice of Mark Cutler. They had a sound that could range from the youthful dissatisfaction of '80s New Wave ("I've had enough of these plain-Jane girls/ I think it's time I went downtown," Cutler sang in "High Fashion Girl") to a rough-hewn, warm-hearted Americana feel ("I know I'm going somewhere/ Maybe in the ground, maybe nowhere," from "Remember").

They won the 1982 WBRU Rock Hunt, then the 1984 WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble, in Boston. Most of the Providence rock scene hoped, thought, even assumed that The Schemers were on the way.

It didn't work out. A demo was recorded; a few sketchy offers were made; nothing much happened. Then, in 1986, Cutler, feeling The Schemers had hit the roof but hadn't broken through it, left to join what would become The Raindogs. And that was it.

It all happened so quickly, and ended so suddenly, that The Schemers didn't leave much of a recorded legacy behind. There were a couple of singles, a few tracks on compilation albums. But those were soon hard to find, and trying to explain what all the fuss was about could leave a fan sounding like Old Man Wilson talking about the old times.

But that changes, starting Saturday night, as The Schemers release Remember, a compilation of their best work in the 25 years since their founding.

Eight of the 18 songs on Remember are original recordings from the early '80s with guitarists Cutler and Emerson Torrey, bassist Jimmy Berger and drummers Rene Blais or Matt Koomey, including two recorded live on the 1984 night The Schemers won the Rumble.

The other 10 are new recordings of old songs, with Cutler, Torrey and Berger joined by longtime member Dickie Reed (keyboards) and drummer Bob Giusti, a relative newcomer to the group but a Providence music veteran. (Blais has been plagued by back problems in recent years, but Cutler and Torrey say he'll probably join the group for a song or two.)

"We said, 'let's go into the studio and [redo] a few songs,' " Torrey says, "and we were originally going to do 4, and we ended up doing 10."

After The Raindogs (who recorded two albums for Atco and toured extensively) broke up, The Schemers would gather for occasional reunion shows over the years.

Still, "we never had that real representation," Torrey says. "We never had that whole thing, looking at the body of work."

"And then," Cutler says, "we said, 'It's 25 years later, and we never did a CD. Let's put out something just to celebrate it. It's a big part of our lives.' "

CUTLER AND TORREY met when The Schemers formed out of the ashes of two other bands, and they've been together musically ever since. "We're as close to brothers as you can get," Cutler says. "At one point, he was living at my mother's house."

"We've made a career out of working our guitars together," says Torrey, who eventually joined Cutler in The Raindogs and is now part of Cutler's current band, The Dino Club. "Weaving the sounds and trying to make things work melodically and rhythmically at the same time."

"There's no distinction of lead and rhythm; we're both guitar players," Cutler adds -- "and it created a lifetime friendship."

Cutler works in Boston, testing computer software. Torrey owns his own computer consulting business, building computers and servicing networks. He had his own construction company, whose most visible project was probably the mid-period Lupo's, the one in the Peerless Building. (Cutler was part of the construction crew at the time.)

They're not the only longtime partnership in the band: Cutler says he's known Berger since eighth grade.

"It's really a family affair," Cutler says. "They say the best bands are formed by mates, and I consider these guys my mates."

So does the release of the CD mean The Schemers are a going concern again?

"Not really. A semi-going concern," Cutler says. "We'll do a few gigs a year; I think that's the best way to do it. We've got the Dino Club going on, and that's what we're writing songs for. I think all the songs have been written for the Schemers."

"The Schemers are a fun band," Torrey adds, "and there are a lot of people who enjoy watching it . . . [but] it's probably related to . . . when they were growing up with us."

WHEN CUTLER and Torrey get going about the old times in Providence, it can make a listener nostalgic for the pre-Renaissance scene.

"There was a great burgeoning scene at the time, with the old Living Room, which used to be across from the old Lupo's," Torrey says with a laugh.

Randy and Brian Hien of the Living Room were particularly strong supporters, booking The Schemers to open for plenty of touring acts (as well as in their own weekly Tuesday headlining spot) and putting out some of the band's music on their own Big Bubble Records. Cutler and Torrey say that in Providence they would typically draw 500 to 600 people on a weekend night.

"What a cool scene that was," Cutler says. "I knew at the time that it was special; I knew I'd be talking about it later on in life, and here I am."

But local success was part of the problem -- it was hard to branch out.

"I think we were kind of content being the kings of the little hill here," Cutler says.

"It was pretty comfortable," Torrey agrees.

"Maybe if we'd changed things a little," Cutler says, "and been a little more adventurous about getting into a van and humping it a little, maybe things would've been different.

"Maybe they wouldn't have been; maybe things would've been miserable. Because The Raindogs -- it was pretty miserable."

"We always talked about doing that, but we never got around to it," Torrey says. "The prospect of switching [from] making between 800 and a thousand dollars a night, and going on the road and making 50 dollars as an opener . . . We needed the money, because we were living off this. We were making these demos and trying to shop them around, hoping we would forgo that -- just get into the schedule of having a record and doing a tour."

WHEN THAT DIDN'T happen, the world of the "Three L" tour got small quickly.

"The year after the Rumble went by really fast," Cutler says, "and we didn't accomplish what we should have, I think. . . . Some hopes were dashed, and that's when I got a little disappointed. And then I got approached, and I said, 'Well, maybe it is time to go.' . . .

"I was waiting for the bottom to drop out," Cutler says, "because how often can people come see you every week?

"I used to introduce songs, and sometimes I'd introduce the same song the same way. [One night] I'm looking down in the audience and I see this girl saying the exact same words that I'm saying. . . . It was bizarre and it was disturbing."

Despite the bafflement, Cutler and Torrey are glad to have put together a definitive Schemers collection, for themselves and their fans.

"They were so loyal," Torrey says.

"I'll never take it for granted that people came to see us," Cutler says, "because they made that part of my life, and your life, I'm sure (indicating Torrey), a wonderful time."

The Schemers celebrate the release of Remember Saturday night at The Call, 15 Elbow St., Providence. The doors open at 8 p.m. and The Schemers go on at 9:30. Admission is $15, which includes a copy of the CD. Call 751-2255.

Gryner performs at AS220 Saturday

On Asian Blue, Emm Gryner merges journal-entry songwriting with a pop lyricism that's all too rare. She can more than hold her own against the Michelle Branches to whom she's most comparable.

Asian Blue is pretty heavily produced, though; how she'll do at AS220 with just herself and a cellist (!) will be a true test. If she passes, she can put on the jet-pack, as far as I'm concerned.

Saturday night at AS220, 115 Empire St., Providence; Christopher Monti opens at 9 p.m. $8; call 831-9327.