IF EVER THERE WAS A SIGN THAT JAY Diola looms as one of Los Angeles's chief musical tastemakers, it was earlier this year, when Interscope Records finally signed ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, a noise-pop outfit from Austin, Texas, that Diola had been championing for months. "I kept telling their marketing execs that these guys were better than any band on their label," says Diola. "Then, strictly as a coincidence, Interscope's chairman, Jimmy Iovine, flew some people to Texas to see them, and they signed them on the spot. I didn't get the band signed," he adds, "but I like to think that I helped out."

Although Diola, a tall 27-year-old with black hair waving out beneath a green knit skullcap, looks and sounds like the kind of fledgling A&R whiz one might find lounging outside the Troubadour on a Friday night, he's in fact the co-owner of Good-form, a hair salon that caters to those A&R whizzes and their rock star charges. Maverick Records chieftain Guy Oseary is a regular, as are Scott Weiland and other members of Stone Temple Pilots, to name just a few of the shop's boldfaced clients. The salon, staffed with young, plugged-in stylists, many of whom work with bands and assist on video shoots, has emerged as a nerve center of L.A.'s music industry, and as such, it both shapes and reflects what tops playlists right now. It used to be that curious types in L.A. turned to the almighty KROQ, or even MTV, to hear the latest music. Now, with the bluster of rap metal clogging the airwaves and MTV caught in the grips of teen popdom, the best chance to check out interesting bands is while getting a wash and rinse at Goodform.

Diola and company indulge their enthusiasm for all manner of music on a 51-disc CD changer donated by Drew Barrymore and a sound system that can only be described as very loud. In the last year those who ventured behind the salon's nondescript storefront on Fairfax Avenue were among the first to hear next big things the White Stripes, a Detroit guitar-boogie duo, or the up and coming local new wave band the Start. Lately, the salon's been hyping Diola favorites like Autolux, a guitar outfit, and the Blood Brothers, an indie hard-corn band from Long Beach, as well as Stun, a Pixies-sounding group that's the choice of stylist Justin Conlan. There's also a liberal dose of older acts like the Stooges. "Jay's kind of funny about music," says Conlan, a former L.A. punk-rock kid. "There are certain things he doesn't like that I can play only on days he's not here, like old Orange County punk bands."

Record execs, knowing a hot test market when they see one, consider Goodform to be one of the first stops on the road to breaking a new artist. "It's an obvious outlet," says Bobbie Gale, senior director of publicity for Capitol Records. "It's a place where people within the music industry hear things. It's a crowd that can get a buzz going."

The salon has been a player on the local music scene ever since its previous incarnation as Delux in the early '90s. (Later, it was known as Lather until Diola amicably split with one of his partners last year.) On a given afternoon at Goodform, which has the look of a '50s beauty parlor and the feel of a clubhouse, one can overhear a woman griping about how Iggy Pop has overslept his wake-up calls at the Four Seasons while Dave Navarro gets his nails done nearby. "Once I sat on the couch here with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, bouncing his baby on my knee," recalls Diola. "That was the most starstruck I've ever been."

Diola prides himself on being an early adopter of new sounds, and he says he receives more than 25 promos a month from record labels. He was one of the first to spin Slipknot, a cartoony metal outfit that went on to have a Top 10 record this summer. But just because he gets a promo doesn't mean he'll play it. Take recent offerings from Maverick Records' Oseary, for instance. "He's got all of these soundalike bands now," says Diola. "Like this one he just brought in, Tantric. There's no way I'm ever going to play them. They sound just like Creed."

COPYRIGHT 2001 Los Angeles Magazine, Inc.