Alyssa Suede is just a girl with a guitar, a new CD and a big brother named Beck. Yep, that Beck, the eclectic rocker who has released hit albums like "Odelay," "Sea Change" and 2008's "Modern Guilt."

New at the rock 'n' roll thing and not yet jaded, Suede is enjoying her first lengthy tour, speaking from the midst of all those hippies in Chico — a long way from her Glendale home. While not exactly capitalizing on her famous brother, she is following his advice and playing as often as possible. To that end, she's booked dates at Mai's Café in Ventura on Saturday night, the Beachcomber in Oxnard on Sunday and SOhO in Santa Barbara on Nov. 20.

Suede's new release is actually an EP, "Black & White in Color,'' and this is what Miss Suede had to say about things so far.

@TO 1-Text Ragged Right no indent:How's the new CD doing? You're a rich rock star now, right?

I wish, but it just came out about three weeks ago so it's brand new.

And it sounds like what?

Oh, man, this is the worst question people ask me. It sounds like me?

Yes, it does. Very good.

It sounds like me if you mixed this with this and threw in a little something you've never heard before. It's very melodic, so I guess you could call it melodic folk-pop or alternative melodic pop.

Any prior 805 adventures?

Yeah. I played there once about two weeks ago and it was cool. It was my first time in Ventura. I live in Glendale.

How does a girl and a guitar make it in the music biz from Glendale?

Well, write some tunes on your guitar, get out and play wherever, and just hope people like what you're playing.

When did you know you wanted to do this?

You know, I've only been actually playing guitar for a year, so I've been at it for a year and a half.

Then you're doing great.

Yeah, it's definitely a newer thing for me in a way, even though I've been surrounded by it all my life. It's been a year and a half, but since I decided I wanted to do this, it's been 24/7 since then.

How far from Glendale have you ventured on road trips?

This is my first time touring and I'm actually in Chico right now, where they have pre-sold 100 tickets. The other night, I was in San Francisco and Sacramento, then Fresno and back to San Francisco. I really like Beale Street in San Francisco. There were 70 or 80 people there, and I sold 30 CDs, so I was very happy about that.

And life on the road suits you?

Oh, I love it. On the road, it's usually just me, but I'll be playing the Hotel Café in Los Angeles on Nov. 14 with a full band and a string quartet. I'll probably just be solo in Ventura.

How do you handle all the groupies?

I haven't had that happen yet, but there's still time.

Where did those classical influences come from?

I was a competitive figure skater for a good eight years and at the rinks, I always used classical music, so I definitely love Rachmaninoff, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky — all that stuff. I also love all that Broadway stuff; my mom is actually writing a Broadway play right now. Growing up, I also did a lot of musical theater and, of course, I'm into everything. I like certain country, certain hip-hop and R&B. I love artists like Regina Spektor, Feist and John Mayer. I'm all over the place. Jason Mraz is my new favorite.

Any advice from your brother?

His advice would be to play anywhere and everywhere, even if it's for a bartender, which he did a lot of when he was younger.

Now he can afford to buy the whole bar.

Exactly.

What do you know now that you didn't know when you started this adventure?

You have to be very persistent. It's not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. You have to be very outgoing. Different people have their opinions as to what music should sound like, what they personally like, but you can't give into everyone who says, "Oh, you should sound like this.'' You have to keep your integrity and play what you love and how you see yourself.

Does bad love make for good songs?

Exactly.

How many Alyssa songs are there?

I have about 35, but this is my first EP. It was tough deciding which songs to put on this first EP, but this was more for management and press, which is why we put a variety of stuff on it so they could see which directions I could go in. I'm going to do a full-length album, which will hopefully be in the spring. But for now, it's tour, tour, tour and hopefully land a spot as an opener on a major tour.

— E-mail music writer Bill Locey at blocey@pacbell.net.