Musician and independent record label owner Alex Oliver says he finds fodder for songs in his day job as a Denny's restaurant host. Photo by Isaac Brekken.

By day, Alex Oliver is host at Denny's restaurant on Las Vegas Boulevard South, near the Stratosphere.

Away from Denny's, Oliver is lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for Poppermost, a local pop-rock band that he formed in 2001 with drummer Phil Kaz and bassist Roy Al Rendahl.

He's also founder and owner of Suicide Pop! Records, producing the band's compact discs with the technical assistance of Al Rendahl. Poppermost's latest recording, "Absolutely Sonic," released in 2004, is a collection of 12 songs that draw upon Oliver's experiences at Denny's.

"A lot of these people are my seeds of inspiration," Oliver said during an interview at Denny's, where he drank chocolate milk, munched on the sampler plate and chatted with co-workers. "They were the topics in the new album. Each of those songs on there was written about someone in here, their strange habits. It's easier to write about me if I see what they're doing and what they're up to."

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Oliver came to Las Vegas in 1998 for a "change of scenery," to visit his brother and take a vacation. He'd played in several bands in L.A., took music classes at L.A. City College that he found boring, earned a degree in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and taught for two years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

"I just got tired of teaching. It burns you out relatively quickly. You work with kids and parents who don't know how to raise them because they're kids themselves," he said.

It was the peak of summer when Oliver came to Las Vegas, 115 degrees outside, and he found that he really liked it.

"It wasn't Los Angeles. I was also a musician in Los Angeles, but people don't take it seriously, even though the industry is out there," he said.

Poppermost takes its name from a term the Beatles coined in their quest to become "the toppermost of the poppermost." The band has produced two CD singles and its self-titled, first full-length CD, "Poppermost." The band's Web site is www.poppermost.com.

Question: You're a singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Which do you do best?

Answer: I would have to say songwriter.

Question: What's your favorite of the songs you've written and why?

Answer: My favorite all-time song, on our first CD, is called "Lady in Waiting." That's probably my favorite. I wrote it for my mom while she was sick (with cancer) and she passed away before she could hear it. You can tell on the recording that's my favorite. I worked hard on the guitar and vocals. I just really wanted to capture that feeling of her not going to be around much longer. There was so much she wanted to do. Being a nurse and a mom and a student, it took up so much of her time.

Question: How much does it cost to produce an album?

Answer: Poppermost is very fortunate in that Roy, our bassist, sound engineer and technical wizard, has his own Trimordial Studio. Because he and I are the band's chief architects, he fronts the band studio time. After we've finished recording, he calculates time spent in his studio and is paid accordingly. With "Absolutely Sonic," we recorded 35 songs and mixed 15 of those for release at a low cost of about $2,000. CD sales paid for the studio time about three months after its initial release, thanks to our faithful homegrown fan base, a growing European fan base and Internet radio.

Question: What do you like least about the music business?

Answer: Performing. I've been doing it since I was 20. I'm 36 now. My knees are starting to give out. There's only so many times I can fall off the stage and let the music take me over. I'm not Iggy Pop.

Question: What do you like most about the business?

Answer: When I write music and record. I can pretend to be any of my heroes. I can pretend to be the Beatles or Led Zeppelin or Sly Stone. I think that's the reason I got started. When I was a kid, I got a guitar and pretended to be the star of the moment, like Pete Townshend and smash my guitar.

Question: What's the worst job you've ever had?

Answer: I was a teacher in Los Angeles. As a teacher, we were told there's a certain percentage of kids who just won't make it and we were told to pass them along, just get them through (school). It's unfortunate. We're rated No. 46 in education in the whole world and we're the richest country.

Question: What are some advantages and disadvantages of producing your music on an independent recording label?

Answer: The big disadvantage is you don't have a lot of money to promote yourself. You have to be extremely creative in promoting your music and your band. If I was independently wealthy, I'd have plenty of ways to get my songs on the radio.

One big advantage is I can do whatever the hell I want. I don't have to follow industry standards. If I want to put out one song, I can. If I want to put out 12 songs, I can.

Question: How tough is to get exposure as an independent label?

Answer: The Internet makes it very easy, but you're put in there with a lot of other independent labels, so you just keep plugging away and make sure your music connects with people. So we've actually had more exposure through the Internet than in Las Vegas. We've been played a lot more. Once we put stuff on the Internet, people actually started buying our songs.

Question: What are your musical influences?

Answer: First off, the Beatles, the (Rolling) Stones, the Who. In their day, they were musically the best and they were the best performers. The thing that pushed me is songwriting and nobody comes close to the Beatles. They were the best songwriters and their music touched on everything: rock, folk, R&B, even Indian music.

Question: Do you still have hope of making it big? If so, what will it take?

Answer: There's being big and there's being successful. To be big, you've got to be in your late teens and early 20s and have sexual appeal. A lot of bands look really good, but their music is suspect. Then there's those bands you never see what they look like, but their music really gets you going. Like Steely Dan. People caught on to their music rather than the image of those guys. If you want to be big, look like a rock star. If you want to be successful, write great songs.

Question: How are you able to balance your music and your recording business?

Answer: Being schizophrenic. There's part of the day where I'm creative and I love that. Then there's part of the day where you shut that out and become a businessman. If you don't take care of the business of music, the business will take care of you. You have copyrights, so if anybody wants to use our music, unless you have a claim on your work, there's no way to get paid for your work and make sure you actually did it. There are too many robber barons out there.