To simply say that you listen to Vitamin A would be too much of an understatement. The truth is you feel it. The groove from a bass guitar taps you on the shoulder, introduces itself, and becomes a part of you.

The description of their sound maybe a little melodramatic, but this St. Louis band, voted as the best local band in the Riverfront Times 1993 poll, definitely plays the game a little differently. Its shows are unpredictable, with periodic stops to recite poetry or show slides, and its music consists of a lot of improvisation, with the same song lasting three minutes in one show and eight in another.

The band’s self-imposed label of psychedelic-inspired funk throws visions of Pink Floyd up on the wall, with a hint of the Grateful Dead thrown in to back it up. In a world filled with musical labels the band makes its own category out of nothing, in an attempt to simulate life with their concerts.

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We kind of make our show into a small lifetime, Dino English, who plays guitar and percussion, said. We play with the ups and downs, exploring different flavors, just like life is, playing with an organic feel.

And organic is definitely what this band’s sound has become. The audience may go to see a show, but in the end they become a part of it. During a recent performance Jimmy Tebeau, vocalist and bass player, said percussion shakers were handed out to audience members to play with the band, and at one point the band stopped playing and gave the audience a solo. It is also not uncommon for the band to ask members of the audience to join them on stage to play with them during the course of a night.

It is not an us and a them, it’s a we, Tebeau said. We like to tamper with emotions and make our own category. Life itself is happy and sad, and our music reflects that. We pull the audience in so that they can become a part of that.

We are always looking for the spiritual side of things, driving for a euphoric high, Tony Vrooman, guitar and vocalist said. We shoot for a pretty overwhelming psychedelic feeling, with a roller coaster aspect to it, which is kind of what life is.

As the music imitates life, so does the concert. The audience slowly begins to become a part of the show, and the emotional roller coaster that the band members refer to becomes complete. An organic feel begins to surface, with the members losing themselves to the creation of the moment.

Everything is a different emotion, and you are always trying to put a part of your soul into the music, Tracy Lowe, vocalist and lead guitarist, said. The best compliment I have ever had was Man, I was in a bad mood when I got here, but that was a great show.’

We want to try musical skits where we tell a story with the music and live action so that you never know what is going to happen, English said, describing how the shows are moving more toward a rock opera, with a story being told within the music as it rises up above the stage and crashes down on the audience.

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We don’t want to be like everyone else, Vrooman said. We have our own groove, and we like it.

Some bands consider variety a bad thing, but if you want a good show you have to throw a couple of curveballs in every so often, English said.

It is easy to see something is going on here. The band, like evolution itself, continually improves upon its music, pushing its way to a higher lever, taking its listeners along in the process for a psychedelic ride.

Vitamin A plays at 9:45 tonight at Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave. Admission is $2.