Particular

No one's particularly fond of playing the desultory "sounds like" game when it comes to music, but whatever. In Particle's case, an A-meets-B-meets-C type of comparison is warranted. This middle-aged California-based quartet really does resemble a sonic collage comprising the Grateful Dead, Roy Davis Jr. and the Chemical Brothers as it whips crowds into a frenzy with blends of mellow grooves, psychedelic freakouts and long improvisations. On the act's debut, Launchpad, Steve Molitz manhandles a giant rack of keyboards while Charlie Hitchcock slams out rock-and-soul riffs on lead guitar and Darren Pujalet holds it down on the drums.

We recently caught up with bassist Eric Gould, who was more than happy to explain the meaning of "Calilicious" and expound on what the smelly hippies of Boulder can expect when this group of "ugly mutts" visits the People's Republic later this week.

Westword: Are you a hippie?

Eric Gould: I definitely have some hippie blood in me. They used to call me "the angry hippie." I got peace and love in me, for sure.

Are you guys friends with DJ Harry?

He's one of my favorite DJs to jam with. The first time we ever jammed together, in 2001, was in Vegas, before we knew what his whole vibe was about. Minutes before we went on stage, he whipped out all these little things: signals, outboard gear. It was hysterical. We just jammed out. Everything was changing so fast.

Your website is www.particlepeople.com. Is that some kind of a cult?

Particle People is a cult, a fan base -- whatever you want to call it. The Particle People stem from the ancient ruins of Egypt in the King Tut era. They were looking for something to latch onto, and they found Particle.

Does your guitarist, Charlie Hitchcock, always get that prune face when he's playing?

Charlie definitely embraces his personality within his guitar. Charlie can go all over the map. He can be the stonefaced guitar god or this ball of static energy jumping up and down and whaling on it. Every once in a while, he gets that prune face.

What the hell does "Calilicious" mean?

We have been touring all around the country, and we basically go everywhere. Whenever we go home, we're like, "Oh, we're home. Cali." When home is paradise, you're in a really good place. Calilicious is us embracing our home and taking that on the road.

Who's the sexiest person in the group?

We're all a bunch of ugly mutts.

What can people expect from your live show?

We're trying to push the envelope with this. You'll see us do different stuff every night. You never know what you're gonna get: Maybe we'll play some Jane's Addiction, maybe some Snoop Dogg or Journey. We're trying to reinvent ourselves every time.