Kevin Seconds has never been a slave to expectations, even as his immensely influential band, 7 Seconds, helped to foster the West Coast hardcore scene in the early '80s. Never one to rest on his laurels, Kevin Seconds led his band beyond the confines of straight-edge hardcore and into more defiantly experimental territory, resulting in the tightening of certain areas of their fanbase, and the alienating of others. Dedicating their third - and, at that point, most openly melodic LP - to U2 was, for some, a bridge too far.

Perhaps, even less expected, was the decision for Seconds to strike out on his own as an acoustic singer-songwriter. While he still maintained a career as the frontman for 7 Seconds, the freedom of being one man and one guitar proved to be too tantalizing to pass up. Extricated from the context of the hardcore frontman, Seconds blossomed as both a writer and a performer. The man always possessed one of the best voices in punk, but his true range was given the spotlight once everything else was stripped away.

"A lot of those earlier, 50-second songs were written on the acoustic guitar, just slower," says Seconds. "Over the last 20 years, or so, I've started to play more outside of my hometown. I was doing open mic stuff, and just getting better as a guitar player and as a singer. Over the past few years, I've done a lot more touring and recording, trying to build up something - mainly because 7 Seconds isn't touring like we used to do. I still have the drive to go out and play, but I wasn't excited about trying to put a whole band together."

Naturally, the transition from the rowdy hardcore scene to the more controlled singer-songwriter crowd isn't always an easy one - although it's becoming a more frequent one, as punk ages and its wild men make the move to more intimate forms of music.

"A lot of people came out to shows (in the beginning), but as soon as they realized I was playing acoustic guitar, and not even doing a lot of 7 Seconds songs, people would sort of say, 'Oh, it's going to be this crap,'" laughs Seconds. "Eventually, it started to resonate with people, but it's still super underground. I play in front of anywhere from six people to 600 people. There's always a mix, so it's hard to say what my fanbase is."

Unlike some other punk veterans turned troubadours, Seconds doesn't much lean on the weariness of the road or a life lived hard. His music is largely spry and vital, belying a man of his history and experiences; his voice is clear and unfettered, strengthened by years of honing and tuning. On his most recent LP, Off Stockton, he explores familiar punk themes of revolt and alienation, but he approaches it from the point of view of a steady hand - no longer a reactionary youth, but a folk musician with a measured take on the ills of society.

"I just feel like there's a way to write songs," says Seconds. "It's my own thing, but I just feel bound to write in a certain way. I've tried to break that, and I've tried different things. Now that I'm doing this on my own, I don't have those moments of deliberation or the same boundaries that I used to have. I feel like I can write about anything, without thinking. As long as it feels good and I like it, it's fine. There's only expectations from our fans, or the people that really hate us. With the solo stuff, I'm just less conscious of who's listening and who's not."

Kevin Seconds is a man who's lived to see his work influence music, but he hasn't stopped stretching to see what else he can do.

KEVIN SECONDS, w/Erica Freas, Secret Abilities, Sullivan Street, 8 p.m., Friday, May 23, all ages, Northern, 414 ½ Legion Way, $7, Olympia