If 54-40's Brad Merritt ever gives up his bass, he'll at least have a cup of decent coffee to fall back on.

That's thanks to the Decent Coffee Cosy(TM), a contraption he invented in his spare time away from the veteran Vancouver band, and marketed via his decentcoffee.com Web site.

The simple device fits over any standard French press coffee maker to keep the brewed contents hot, and it has absolutely nothing to do with music.

Except that, as Merritt's found, the 54-40 connection isn't a bad way to sell a cosy or two.

The band is at The Phoenix tonight in support of their current album, Casual Viewin'.

"I've leveraged the band's good name for all it's worth," says Merritt with a laugh. "Now I sell several a week."

Does that mean his bandmates -- singer-guitarist Neil Osbourne, guitarist Phil Camperelli, and drummer Matt Johnson -- got free prototypes?

"No. I made them pay."

Actually, the bassist says, 54-40 afforded him plenty of time to work on the side. In fact, 54-40 might owe their longevity to such savvy business manoeuvres.

WEST COAST TOUR CIRCUIT

Founded in 1980, the group count U2 and R.E.M. -- bands they were frequently compared to in their formative years -- among their chronological peers.

They spent five years trouping up and down the West Coast tour circuit in do-it-yourself style before hooking up with the majors -- first Warner and later Sony -- and launching a reliable stream of Canadian hits that's taken them up to their 20-year mark.

More recently, the band convinced Sony to take their video budget for Casual Viewin' and spend it on a three-week trip around the world. Provided of course that they film it as a video.

Says Merritt: "The great thing about where we're at now is that we can enjoy and appreciate the benefits of being around as long as we have. We actually make our living at this, and we can do what we want. We can say, 'Hey, instead of us making a video with animated ants or whatever, why don't we just take a skeleton crew and some digital cameras around the world?' "

"Sometimes, somehow, these wacky ideas just work out."