In actuality, the name of this rising St. Louis act, which plays Hangar 9 Saturday, comes from James Joyce’s complex novel Ulysses. The image refers to gluttony rather than passivity, bad consequences hiding in the guise of an appealing desire.

Singer/guitarist Mary Alice Wood refers to Sugarstickygirl as a coming together of differing styles to produce a new and inventive whole.

The style of our music is a little different, she said, a textual Midwestern rock. We draw from a lot of backgrounds. Bringing all of those different influences together makes a very interesting and unique sound.

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On And I Am, from the band’s demo tape, Wood sings about being away from her lover. Rock, pop and folk meld into one behind her voice, which carries the emotion behind the words well. The other songs also defy categorization by the combination of styles.

Wood started out playing in Belinda Chaire, which she described as a heavy grunge band. She moonlighted with her acoustic guitar as a solo artist, but she feared the stereotype of a woman sitting on a stool performing acoustically under a spotlight’s glaring eye.

I kept getting categorized as a folkster and I have a pretty rock edge, even acoustically, she said. In St. Louis, there were venues I wanted to play at that I had played with my other band (Belinda Chaire). I wouldn’t have done as well I wanted to have other good musicians around to make it more interesting. You can only do so much with one acoustic guitar.

Wood assembled schooled musicians Kurt Groetsch on guitar and Todd Dorsey on bass, adding drummer Toby Mecham, an alumnus of Columbia, Mo.’s Lost Dog and Buzz, to complete the lineup in the spring of 1994. Soon thereafter, the band recorded its eight-song debut cassette, At Your House. Sugarstickygirl stuck in the ears of many St. Louis-area critics, earning Wood a Slammy (St. Louis area music) award from Riverfront Times for best local songwriter in 1994.

In addition to touring locally, Sugarstickygirl plans to paste its way onto next spring’s Pointessentials III compilation, a St. Louis showcase put out by KPNT-FM (The Point).

Sugarstickygirl plays at 9:45 p.m. Saturday at Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave. Radio Iodine and Kristine Young will also perform. Admission is $3.