Dean Lubensky may or may not be telling the truth when he tells you how he evolved from manager to lead singer for the Mortal Micronotz, a rock 'n' roll band made up of four Lawrence High School students.

"One night the bass player got me drunk and got me to sing," he says. "It turned out I could hit a couple notes so they decided I'd be the singer."

Whether or not the story is true there's a ring of truth that closely parallels how the entire band started playing together. It's a classic example of a band forming before everybody knew how to play. In this case, two of the Micronotz weren't musicians before they joined the band.

The band's first live performance was a four-song set at Lawrence's Off-the-Wall Hall on Dec. 12, 1980. It got the invitation to play as a warmup act before a performance by Embarrassment, a Wichita-based band, after the manager of Embarrassment heard a tape recorded by a couple of people now in the Micronotz. The two local musicians hurriedly filled their ranks with two friends, had a band and met the performance date. "We got a lot of good vibes from people so we decided to try it," the 15 year old Lubensky recalled. "It was really a lot of fun. We got to meet a lot of good people and destroy a lot of good songs."

Since then, the band has played at the Music Box in Kansas City, the Cedar in Wichita a few times and at Off-the-Wall Hall "tons of times." They average playing about once a month, although drummer Steve Eddy, said, "Some months we play four times and some months we don't play at all."

"We don't go out and look for jobs," John Harper added. When four high-schoolers (in this case, Lubensky, Eddy, 16, Harper, 16, and David Dale, 18) get together to form a rock 'n' roll band it conjures up images of poorly played songs and outsized egos.

The Mortal Micronotz make that image as outdated as last year's calendar.

While hoping to keep their local act together, the band members have no illusions about someday hitting the high road as a rock 'n' roll band.

They are featured on the first cassette tape produced by Fresh Sounds, a local business operated by Bill Rich that is trying to promote, on a nationwide basis, bands from Kansas. Recently the Micronotz recorded a demo tape at Ramona Studios in Lawrence to send to another independent recording company.

That studio recording session was the band's first time in a studio, but he members didn't seem awed by he surroundings. Later, when the engineers recorded them without their knowledge, the band members put up a mild protest but seemed to like what they heard when it was played back for them. "Don't you just love studios," Eddy said. "They can make a nobody sound like somebody."

But the life of a rock 'n' roll musician probably isn't in the future for any of the Mortal Micronotz' members. They are serious about their music, yet it is a seriousness tinted with a desire to play for the fun of it. "We are as serious as we can be for our age, " said guitarist Harper.

Harper said he wants to continue playing in a band, but not full time. There are other things, he said. "We don't try to be serious, but I guess we're serious in that we want to be a good band," said Lubensky, who says he hopes to somehow remain involved in music.

The four also want to remain high schoolers for the time being, and they insist that they are just four teen-age friends having a good time without entertaining any thoughts of someday making Mortal Micronotz a familiar name in households across the nation. "It's just part of being a kid and having fun," Lubensky said.

The Mortal Micronotz-the name is meant to imply that the band is small, but human-has been called a punk rock band, but the members have so far shrugged off any label that might get put on them or their music, most of which they write themselves.

"I'm not sure we go along with the punk philosophy," Lubensky said.

Eddy said the musicians aren't trying to fit any existing image or project any of their own except that they are themselves. "We're just interested in playing what we want to play and doing what we want to do," Eddy said. "This is how we dress for school and this is how we dress when we play."

However, as it is with any group or individual that stands out from the crowd, the band does have its detractors. The group has been criticized by people who tag them with the punk label. "A lot of people don't understand what we're trying to do," said Lubensky.

"People didn't like us before, but now they're starting to like us," Harper said.

The band claims it was inappropriately brought into a recent turmoil involving another band at the high school that was definitely punk. That band, since dissolved, penned a song with a reference to a handicapped student, causing a controversy at the school that culminated in one of the band members being physically beaten. The Mortal Micronotz was targeted for the same type of abuse even though the players, too, thought the song was in bad taste. "The problem is, they weren't giving us a chance," Lubensky said.

The songs they write pretty much reflect their stated attitude of being in business to have a good time. One, a tongue-in-cheek number called "Ignored and Abused," pokes fun at the attitude some people attribute to the Micronotz.

"I'm a star I'm the best I'm so much better than the rest. Be cool Tell lies Then you, too, will be idolized."

Another song, "Individuality," is a more straightforward approach to the Mortal Micronotz's philosophy.