While quite a few musicians call San Diego home, and many of them write music, very few are in the same league as Dave Howard. Prolific to a fault, Howard is one of the most respected tunesmiths in the area, with a catalog of covers to his credit. Whether they know it or not, most San Diego music fans are familiar with his work; among many others, his tunes can be found on albums by Gregory Page, AJ Croce, Berkley-Hart and The Coyote Problem. Currently performing under the alias Billy Gruff in The Shamey Jays, Howard continues to write and play music inspired by his childhood heroes. Fans can see Howard perform as Gruff with the Shamey Jays at Brick By Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave. in Bay Park, Tuesday, Oct. 28. Howard said he does more acoustic performances when he plays under his name, whereas the Shamey Jays are rock’n’roll, with attitude. “This way people don’t have to think about whether it is the acoustic or the electric music they are going to hear on a CD or at a show,” he explained. “People who come to our show will not see Dave Howard. They will see ‘Billy Gruff’ playing with The Shamey Jays.” Raised in Brooklyn, Howard moved to San Diego in 1980. “The Beatles and The Who were my main inspiration to play music,” he recalled. “I was fortunate enough to have parents that appreciated their music. My brother used to give me his Beatles 45s. He was much more into the Stones.” While his brother played drums, the youthful Howard had to resort to whatever was around the house. “I used to use mops and brooms as play guitars,” he said. When he was 6, he was given a ukulele for his birthday and he taught himself to play from the book that came with it. A few months later, a cousin brought him a guitar as a souvenir from a trip to Spain, and he was on his way. Howard’s prolific songwriting abilities first came to the public’s attention in 1988, when he and friend Frank Foley delivered 91 songs to 91X for the Loudspeaker program. “When I was young and irresponsible I wrote all the time,” he said. “In recent years, I’ve put more of a focus on family and earning money the old-fashioned way at my day gig.” He downplays the number of tunes he has penned over the year. “I don’t think I have a huge catalog,” Howard said. “I have a few hundred songs that I can recall or have written down or recorded. Many, many more have disappeared into the ether of time.” For the Shamey Jays, Howard enlisted three well-known musicians — Matt Silvia (Sweet Tooth), Spud Davenport (SD & the Messy Necessities) and Jerry Rig (Butterface). “The idea was to put together a ‘supergroup’ that could play a variety of genres, improvise and support original tunes in a variety of settings,” he said. “We play ‘songs that don’t make you think or cry.’ That’s our trademark.” He cites the Hoodoo Gurus, The Fleshtones and Faces as influences, and considers locals such as Joey Harris and The Mentals or The Night Marchers to be kindred spirits. While the band is focused on original songs, the occasional cover does slip in. “We do the hardest version of ‘Stayin’ Alive’ you’ve ever heard,” he joked. Now approaching his third decade as a lynchpin in San Diego’s music scene, Howard still gets as much out of music as he did when he was a kid. “I get even more enjoyment from it as the years go on,” he said. “I keep writing and trying to make the ‘old’ songs new again. When someone is first discovering your music, the old songs are new to them, so that is even more reason to keep performing.” The Shamey Jays with the Kobbs and Heavy Young Heathens Brick By Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave. Tuesday, Oct. 28, 9 p.m. 21 and up Tickets are $7 www.brickbybrick.com