But the style’s appeal was still in question when the band ventured overseas this spring to England.

A European promoter said we’d just get one good show in London, and the rest would be crap, drummer Ted Moll said. So that was in our heads a little bit before we got over there.

But the band ended up playing show after show to crowds eager to get a taste of the energetic fury that MU330 shows create.

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However, the crowd attending MU330’s show tonight probably will respond to the band’s music a little differently than the overseas crowds.

Instead of a (mosh) pit, when one person fell down, everyone would get in a big dog-pile on top of him, he said of the English crowd.

Moll also said the ever-rowdy MU330 took part in the English ska-core custom.

We threw down our instruments and also got on the dog-pile, he said.

MU330’s trip to England was only a portion of the incessant touring the band partakes in. A great deal of the band’s last four years have been spent on the road spreading the sounds of ska-core.

At least two to five hours every day is spent in a van, Moll said. We’re just about to do our 1,000th show.

The time spent boxed-up in the touring van helps the band to perform more lively and energetic shows, which Moll said are essential for the true ska experience.

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It’s something that just happens from being packed in a van for five hours at a time, he said. I think we put on a good live show, and we treat every show whether there is two people or 2,000 people there. You can’t listen to ska and not move.

Rounding out the MU330 line-up is bassist Chris Diebold, guitarist/lead vocalist Dan Potthast and trombone players Gerry Lundquist and Rob Bell.

The band repeatedly has been critically acclaimed in the St. Louis area. In 1995, the band won the Best Ska/Funk Band, and MU330 was favored over the notable ska act the Urge.

But Moll insisted the ska music scene never has been focused on popularity.

It’s never been a competition. If we get the best or the worst in anything, it’s not going to change anything, he said. We’ll still do what we do.

And what the band has been doing since Moll, Potthast and Diebold’s early days of high school is playing the blend of music they love and music they grew up with.

We’re big rock n’ roll, ska and pop fans. We’re into the Beatles and other oldies so we throw it all together, Moll said. We love ska, but we were raised on rock n’ roll. In a sense, it’s kind of an unusual mix, but it seems to work.

And work it does. After all, more than 10,000 people purchased MU330’s 1996 release Chumps on Parade. This number may be peanuts to major-label bands, but for an independent band to sell so many compact disks spells out a bright future.

Widespread stardom, though, has never been the first priority of MU330, Moll said.

We’re going to keep playing the best we can. If we get huge, we get huge, but we’ll make sure we have fun first, he said. We’re not going to compromise that for stardom.

Moll said the show at the Copper Dragon, 700 E. Grand Ave., should be extremely fun because the band has been unusually dormant after a death in one of the member’s family.

We haven’t played for about a month now, he said. We just had a practice a few days ago and everyone was ready and obnoxious. It was great.

The ska-core act Orange Tree will begin warming up the crowd around 10 p.m. There will be a $4 cover charge. For more information call 549-2319.