The term psychedelic punk sounds at first like it would describe bands similar to the Sex Pistols with a heavy Grateful Dead influence.

But the term actually is applied to bands that just happen to have a retro sound with garage-band roots such as the psych-punk band the Aquavelvets, who will play at Hangar 9 Saturday night.

Aquavelvets vocalist/organist Matt Dietrich said the psychedelic and retro labels do the band justice, but the crowd at the Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave., may be confused by the punk label because punk bands often are associated with heavy, anger-ridden power chords played super fast.

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We’re punk, but not thrasher punk. The crowd is not going to hear much angst or alienation in our music, he said. It’s psychedelic punk with a power-pop influence. The retro label comes from the fact that I play a Vox organ.

And it is the Vox organ that supplies the framework for much of the band’s material on their latest release The Then . . . The Now. Dietrich said the organ gives the band a retro sound but it’s not the style of music on which the band focuses.

There is a retro aspect sound only because whenever you hear a Vox organ, the assumption is made that the music is retro, he said. We like that sound but we’re not too far into it.

The Springfield quintet actually comes across like a mix between Elvis Costello and the Ramones with keyboards. That may be a little vague, but the neo-psychedelic bands that created the style, such as the Fuzztones and Chesterfield Kings, are equally obscure.

Dietrich, a University of Illinois graduate, cites the Fuzztones as giving him the musical bug and getting him interested in playing in bands again, which he had not done for a few years.

His move from Champaign to Springfield got him acquainted with some local musicians. They were eager to start a band that would stray from the sounds of the times being created by the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

When we started this band, our sound was really different than what anyone else was doing, he said. Everyone was playing power chords and wearing flannel.

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The musicians Dietrich hooked up with were guitarists Joe Patkes and Tom Dooley Woolsey, drummer Tim Harte and his brother, bassist Matt Dietrich.

The Aquavelvets formed in 1991 (the year Dietrich purchased his first organ) and put out two EPs before releasing The Then . . . The Now earlier this year.

Included on the album are some of the band’s earlier garage-inspired songs from the initial EPs. The heavy drumbeat and hard riff of Vodka & Prozac show the band’s ability to rock. The newer material like The Stupidest Man in the World and Hitman display the sarcastic wit that accentuates the catchy swirling of Dietrich’s organ playing.

Dietrich said he is excited to play in Carbondale because college towns offer crowds that either know what the music is about or show interest in hearing new styles.

It will be a fun show. Our style lets us do a lot of one- to 1 1/2-minute songs, Dietrich said. The crowd will probably hear about 60 songs that night.

Dietrich added that the crowd should prepare themselves for some punish references about him playing with or touching his organ throughout the night.

We make at least one organ joke per set, he said. Be ready and maybe have something to throw.

The Aquavelvets will have the whole night to themselves when they play Hangar 9 Saturday. The show will start at about 10 p.m. and there will be a $2 cover charge.