No one smells more like an ashtray than Ian Kettle.

So few people working Michigan’s music scene welcome the state’s upcoming smoking ban more than the 36-year-old sound technician for Grand Rapids’ Intersection nightclub.

Oh, plenty of others out there - rock cover bands, singer-songwriters playing open-mic nights, all those bartenders and servers - nightly endure the all-permeating haze of cigarette smoke.

But as the principal sound guy at downtown’s principal live-music hot spot, I’m betting Kettle absorbs more of these acrid-smelling, chemical-laced fumes than anyone else listening to rock, hip-hop, country and electronica at full-throttle volumes.

That makes the smoking ban in bars and restaurants - which takes effect Saturday - worth celebrating, he says.

“I can’t wait. It’s going to be so great ... from just a body point of view and my eyes and my sinuses,” says Kettle, who’s handled sound duties at the nightclub for eight years.

“Smelling like that, you’ve got to change your clothes before you can touch your kid. It’s just horrible.”

Kettle, who used to smoke, jokes that he “quit four or five years ago and it was real easy: I was getting so much nicotine on a regular basis anyway four or five nights a week. It was even cheaper than buying cigarettes.”

Veteran Grand Rapids drummer Randy Marsh, who plays in several bands, including Organissimo and Claudia Schmidt’s Funtet, also is “jumping for joy” about the ban.

“I have absolutely no tolerance anymore for cigarette smoke,” he fumes. “After May 1, I’ll be able to go to places like Billy’s (Lounge) again. I think it is going to be a boon to the live music-with-alcohol venues. I know a lot of people who quit going to bars to hear music because they just couldn’t take the smoke.”

As a nightclub-going live music follower myself, I’m with Marsh on this one: I long to kick the habit of stripping down in the laundry room after gigs and taking a quick shower to escape the smokehouse stench.

Granted, this ban isn’t embraced by all bar owners, musicians and smoke-’em-if-you’ve-got-’em types, which seems obvious considering it took years for the bill to finally make its way through Michigan’s politically charged Legislature.

Some bands and bars count large numbers of smokers among their regular clientele. Others just believe it’s another infringement on personal liberties.

“I’m torn because I believe people should be able to do whatever they want whenever they want unless it affects the well-being of others,” reasons Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Nathan Kalish. “Smoking is very unhealthy and shouldn’t be forced on people. However, the government shouldn’t have the right to tell some establishments they can or can’t allow this or any activity.”

One of those establishments, Jukes Bar, 506 Leonard St. NW, attracts a young, cigarette-smoking crowd for weekend rock shows. While he opposes the ban, owner Dave Eder speculates he can now book more groups into the club as “some bands won’t play Jukes now because it is so smoky.” And while the new law may upset smokers for a few weeks, he’s guessing they’ll return to the club scene after getting bored at home.

Billy’s manager Lyndi Charles concedes the ban may annoy some regulars and force the bar to stamp the hands of those who go outside to puff so they can re-enter without paying another cover charge. But she believes it could boost attendance for blues shows, because many older fans don’t smoke.

“Honestly, I think it will help us,” she says. “I think there’s a lot of the blues crowd that doesn’t come here because of the smoking.”

Kettle also argues most out-of-state musicians who roll in for shows at The Intersection already have adjusted to no-smoking rules. They usually express surprise they can light up inside the Grand Rapids club, because most music venues - from New York to California - banned cigarette smoking years ago.

The ban’s benefits extend beyond health: The tar in cigarette smoke is murder on laptop computers, amplifiers and other gear used to crank out music and control lights.

“Everything is coated in tar and trying to keep it clean and keep it from overheating is a nightmare,” says Kettle, noting he’s burned up several laptops because the computers’ fans suck in the cigarette smoke and its gumming tar. “On May 1, everything’s getting torn apart and cleaned - all the amps and consoles.”

Even cleaning up tables should get easier, he surmises. “The tar is just like any other oil. It doesn’t react well with water,” he says.

While no one’s really sure whether the live music trade will suffer due to the smoking ban, or how the rules might get enforced, Kettle insists it may give The Intersection more entertainment options.

“I think we could do more upscale shows, high-end blues and that sort of thing,” Kettle says. “Those audiences certainly don’t want to be around that smoke.”

Nor do I. And there could be an even more significant benefit to all this: It might persuade some folks to stop smoking altogether.

“I’m ready to quit along with everybody else,” says Charles, over at Billy’s. “I hope this makes everybody quit.”

THEY SAID IT

Michigan’s smoking ban in restaurants, bars and nightclubs takes effect at midnight Friday

What some musicians are saying:

• “(We’ve) played a lot of bar gigs. When you wake up the next morning, your clothes smell like smoke, your car smells like smoke from the equipment that was in the bar all night, and you just feel gross. ... Smoke hurts my ability to sing at the top of my game and I am happy for the ban. I don’t think it will hurt attendance but rather help it.” - Zachary Guy, bassist for Simien the Whale

• “I am sure most bars will start seeing a smoking area in the back of their parking lots, just like when we were in high school. I also feel certain clubs are going to let it ride until they rack up a few fines. Personally, I think the law is stupid and should not apply to any deck/patio or private or adult-based establishment.” - Dennie Middleton, piano player for Bimini Brothers and other bands

• “Overall, it’s a good thing for health and bad for the people of America who once again are being told they don’t have the wisdom to make their own choices. (But) music will go on being played wherever it was before.” - Nathan Kalish, singer-songwriter

How some music clubs plan to accommodate smokers:

• The Intersection, 133 Grandville Ave. SW, will rope off an outdoor smoking area in its parking lot to the north which smokers can access through a side door.

• Billy’s Lounge, 1437 Wealthy St. SE, has set up receptacles for cigarette butts outside its front door for smokers who will “just have to be on the sidewalk” because there’s no room “to do anything else.”

• Jukes Bar, 506 Leonard St. NW, also will urge smokers to puff outside the bar’s front door, likely providing “buckets with sand in it” for butts.

E-mail John Sinkevics: jsinkevics@grpress.com