To the band members’ dismay, The Flowers of Evil is often considered a revival of ‘60s garage rock.

But if it is any consolation, they deliver one of the best sounds in Carbondale.

The Flowers are not on a journey to develop a particular sound like the garage or psychedelic stigmas often assigned to them. For the five-piece group, it is a free-flowing affair.

Despite having five albums, nearly one hundred songs and years of experience, The Flowers have only been together in their present form for about a year and a half. Vocalist/guitarist Kaleb Hunter started recording songs with a few friends in his hometown of Johnston City in 2009. He has played with his brother, Flowers’ guitarist Joshua Hunter, since childhood.

Eventually, drummer Chris Wittman and bassist Dan Tejada joined the band.

“It was probably five years ago Dan and I said, ‘one day we have to find a leader,'” Wittman, a Waterloo native, said. “And then one day, Kaleb dropped out of a cloud. But he doesn’t do a leadership role; we all have a say in what happens.”

Rather than being out in the world networking their music, the guys prefer to get lost within their own world, recording songs on a four-track recorder and working with new sounds. It is a fortunate trait for the band, guitarist and Sesser native Marcus Lappin said.

“We don’t really go looking for shows,” Lappin said. “They kind of fall into our laps. We don’t do a lot of networking. It seems like even whenever we try to stay home and record, we have all of these shows to play.”

Kaleb also appreciates being relatively hard to find.

“For me personally – and I think for the group too – I think being outsiders is kind of good,” Kaleb said. “Just to be outside of everything, we can just do whatever the hell we want, not have to answer to anybody really.”

However, when The Flowers are out on a public stage, it is difficult to miss such a distinctive and pleasing sound.

The Flowers played for a group of about 100 spectators during the Glove Factory’s 18th annual “Love at the Glove” art show Friday. While the group’s clear, yet menacing music resonated throughout the Glove Factory’s vast concreted walls, onlookers swayed their hips. Some paid more attention to the various displays of erotic art; in one case, a girl dressed as Cupid eloquently skipped and glided to the groove of Flowers’ more serene songs.

When Kaleb sings, there is a touch of Spacemen 3 in his vocals, echoing through the filters of delay and reverb he often uses. But there is something more melancholic and strained in his pushed-back voice, hidden behind the clean-clamoring guitars – it is a sound uniquely theirs.

The Flowers’ opening song at the Glove Factory – “Heaven Inside Your Mind” – fits a ‘60s art rock mold. It carried the swagger of The Velvet Underground (particularly “What Goes On”) with some bluesy undertones.

The attitude from their opener dissolved into a more tranquil mood during the transition into “Harrison Glenn Pt. 1 and 2.” The song breathed innocence and cheerfulness – like being on Xanax and drinking cheap wine on a 70-degree and sunny afternoon.

A cloud seemingly hovered over “Gone” a few songs into the set. Wittman introduced the song by banging on the floor tom and snare forcefully, and Tejada aided by providing a heavy complementary bass line. The guitars shrieked while Lappin shook the tambourine throughout the ominous jam.

The most abstract and sophisticated composition “Green Candles” brought The Flowers’ set nearly to the end with its moody soulfulness and the crying “wah” protruding from Joshua’s guitar.

People may pigeonhole The Flowers’ music however they find suitable, however the group will only continue to play what feels real to them. What they are playing now might be completely different from what they will be captivated by five years from now. The band members agreed having a hidden outlet in southern Illinois only helps them write genuine music. Being a part of the southern Illinois music community helps them create.

“The music scene has always been pretty open to bands like us,” Tejada said. “It’s kind of in a slump right now, but it goes through those stages.”

By staying ambitious and open-minded, The Flowers of Evil can cement themselves as one of the all-time great Carbondale bands, even if their music goes somewhat unnoticed for a couple decades.

“The way that I see the band now is if nothing happens now, in twenty years, somebody might discover what we’re doing now,” Wittman said.

Dylan Frost can be reached at [email protected]