Three Degrees of Freedom play Buskers in the Strip

Three Degrees of Freedom

Buskers

Feb. 4

11 p.m.

2117 Penn Ave.

Strip District

$3

21+… Three Degrees of Freedom

Buskers

Feb. 4

11 p.m.

2117 Penn Ave.

Strip District

$3

21+

These days, it seems like every hippie-sounding band credits the Dave Matthews Band as an influence. Add one more to that list. This band’s claim to fame, though, is being named “Best in Genre – Jam Band” by the Denver Post, which describes the band’s music as “preppie rock.” Isn’t that sort of an oxymoron?

Preppie rock puts an image in your head of clean-cut young men and women wearing the latest Abercrombie ‘ Fitch clothes while pulling up to the studio to practice in their ragtop Jeep Wranglers that their daddies bought them for graduating high school. Talk about jam bands and you think of tie-dyed T-shirts, hemp jewelry and a sound similar to that of Rusted Root, ekoostik hookah, O.A.R. or the recently reunited Phish.

Three Degrees of Freedom is the latter. They might not sport dreadlocks or Birkenstocks, but if that’s what they want to call “preppie rock,” then so be it. What they really have is a mix of funk, rock, John Mayer-esque pop and a hippie jam sound that they have taken all over the Rocky Mountain region. Perhaps sipping on the GO FAST! energy drink that sponsors them, the quartet has toured relentlessly in and around their home state of Colorado. They made a short appearance on the east coast last summer, hitting New York and Ohio – though without the Jeeps and Abercrombie digs.

And with all of the on the road practice – more than 125 shows in their first year and a half together – they are sure to be one of those bands who has a studio record that just doesn’t do them justice.

Three Degrees of Freedom is the kind of band that is sure to be quite unpredictable on stage, stretching three-minute songs into 15-minute jam sessions that seem to be over too soon. But if you are going to name yourself after a combination of releasing your mind, body and soul, aren’t you entitled to jam out for as long as you please?