Strange Ideas readies its debut record and first SXSW appearance.

The guys who form Strange Ideas aren’t classically trained. They are not Berklee College grads or Juilliard prodigies. Instead they draw from a more rogue curriculum, a combination of self-taught understandings, rock-and-roll intuition and record-store education.

Frontman Matthew Hable, who joined up with bassist Eliot Curtis and drummer Fred Jennings in 2013, says songwriting was a natural progression after working at Recycled Records for a few years. (He appears solo this weekend, but will perform a number of the group’s songs.)

“I was exposed to tons of genres and subgenres and there were songwriters I identified with,” he says. “I started writing in that style: very plain and very simple.”

Hable says Curtis and Jennings are ideal bandmates, and collaborate on lyrics. “I present [songs] and they help flesh them out,” he says. “It’s very casual and I’m not demanding.”

The trio began recording its first album this past summer at El Studio in San Francisco (owned and operated by Bay Area indie rock notable Phil Manley).

Its “Why Do We Hurt Each Other?” is an old dusty Woody Guthrie B-side woven with the blues of Taj Mahal. A satisfying gust of garage-sale fuzztone carves out a blues progression rooted in “Fishing Blues,” while Hable’s vocals quiver with blue-collar vibrato.

From soul greats like Bill Withers to the kings of San Francisco’s nouveau garage-psych scene, Thee Oh Sees, Hable uses his musical influences that stem from hours spent submerged in vinyl.

The simple bassline and drum riff that fuel “Life is a Drag” permeate with a potent White Stripes, less-is-more minimalism. “Empty” opens with a hypnotic rhythmic loop that mesmerizes like the opening few bars of the Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”

Hable says the five-track EP will be released on 10-inch vinyl before the end of the year, in time to take it with them to Austin, Texas for their first appearance at SXSW in 2016.

Then the groups plans to shift gears.

“These are songs I needed to get out of my system so we can move on,” explains Hable, who also promotes local rock shows. “They capture a time in my life when I just started writing music. We’re ready to head in a different direction [after the release].”

Opener Duncan Nielsen, aka DonCat, returns to Monterey with his cavernous, all-encompassing folk rock highlighted by a naturally-masterful voice that’ll suck you in and keep you in your seat.

DonCat and Strange Ideas 8pm Saturday, Oct. 24. Pierce Ranch Vineyards, 499 Wave St., Monterey. $10. 372-8900. www.piercevineyards.com