SEATTLE, Wash. -- Sometimes these days Shawn Smith will be on stage playing with his band Brad and he'll look around him and be overwhelmed by a sensation that has less to do with music and a lot to do with friendship.

"It's weird to be playing sometimes, and to look over at the guys and think about how far we've come together... as friends and musicians," said the 32-year-old singer/songwriter for Brad, his melody-driven rock band formed with Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard.

The band was in town recently playing to a sold out crowd at The Moore Theatre. For the velvety-voiced Smith, it was only the second time he had played the legendary Moore Theatre stage, and, if that night was any indication, it probably won't be the last. "We played here once a few years back as Satchel, opening up for Urge Overkill." Then thinking back on it, he added, "It was a pretty lifeless show."

For others, such as Gossard, it was this stage that helped launch Pearl Jam into superstardom. Gossard's other band played some of its best shows ever on this stage, including a gig used as the footage in the now-classic video for "Evenflow" that has singer Eddie Vedder swinging off the balcony like a howler monkey.

Everyone who was anyone in the local music scene turned out Halloween night for the one-and-a-half-hour show that would put Brad's touring days on hold for awhile, and send Gossard back into the final stages of organizing Pearl Jam's highly anticipated upcoming tour in support of their new album due out next year. "But this is Brad. And I'm gonna miss it," said Gossard who added that he was looking forward to re-joining Pearl Jam in a few days.

Realizing, perhaps, she may not see her son again for awhile, even Gossard's mother turned out for the recent Brad show. In the back row of the darkened theater, the tiny silver-haired woman shuffled her feet to the rhythm. "That's my son," she said pointing him out on stage, smiling with excitement at the well-dressed and well-polished Gossard. "That's my son!"

That night, as their good-bye to the road after several months on tour, Brad played a five-song encore, including the radio hit, "The Day Brings." "I, for one, wish it could have gone a little longer," Smith said. "A few more weeks really before I reach my breaking point."

But just because Brad is taking a break, doesn't mean Smith will stop working on his music. In a near constant state of record production, releasing new albums for three separate bands that are all characteristically his bands, he has modeled and shaped a sound all his own since forming Brad in 1992. The voice is what sticks out and marks its territory. The lyrics are sometimes sad and often bitter sweet. Besides working with Satchel, Smith also teams up occasionally with Steve Fisk's deranged electronica prowess, releasing albums under the name "Pigeonhed." "I don't want to do without any of them," Smith said. "There may be a new Brad album by next spring, a new Satchel record probably -- and maybe a Pigeonhed shoved in there somewhere in-between. It's all in the air."

But to think about how he got to this point, is sometimes too much for Smith, he said.

Drummer Regan Hagar, who started playing drums with Malfunkshun and the late Andrew Wood when he was a boy, met Smith during the formation of several big name Seattle acts, including Mother Love Bone, which was formed when Wood enlisted the aid of friends Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament to his project. When Wood overdosed, Ament and Gossard found Vedder and went on to form the seminal Seattle rock outfit Pearl Jam.

Around this time, Hagar and Smith started Satchel.

Relaxing backstage before the show and reflecting on the past, Smith said that while Pearl Jam has obviously established its own style in the years, there isn't a big difference between Satchel and Brad. "It's basically just a personnel difference. I consider both bands to be about the same, but with Brad we get Stone and he brings in another twist to the action."

In fact, Brad is made up of 60 percent Satchel, 20 percent Gossard and 20 percent Mike Hill guitarist/keyboardist from Three Pound Thrill. Satchel bassist, Mike Berg, fills in for Jeremy Toback who handled the bass lines on the new album Interiors. But it is Gossard who has likely drawn the most attention, with fans chanting his name before and after the recent show here. Though he is the frontman, Smith doesn't seem to mind. "Stone's a great songwriter," Smith said. "And he brings a lot of focus into the music."

However, having Gossard on tour does bring with it a certain segment of the crowd who want nothing but Pearl Jam covers, he added.

Meanwhile there are plans for another Brad album next spring and a mini tour to follow. If that tour is anything like this last one, fans can expect more of the same grab bag music courtesy of Smith and company.

After the slow opener of Satchel's "Isn't That Right" that treated the crowd to the soft melodies of Smith and his piano, the band launched into a combination of songs from the new Brad album and from Satchel's 1996 release A Family Affair. Prancing around the stage in true Pearl Jam fashion, Gossard seemed at home with his other family, moving to the sweet melodies, and layering it with his intricate guitar work as Hagar pounded the drums.

It is a chemistry that not only works on stage, but off. Hagar and Gossard also own and run the fledgling label Loosegroove Records together. The label produced Brad's first album Shame, and it also signed Weapon Of Choice, Critters Buggin, and Hi-Fi Killers to its ever-expanding list of label mates.

With Brad, you get sort of the melting pot of Brad and Satchel -- the joining of the soulful harmonies of Smith and the searing guitar work of Gossard. This time off though will allow Smith to get back to his real passion, recording. "As long as I'm recording, I like where I'm at," he said. [Thurs., Nov. 13, 1997, 9 a.m. PDT]