Spending time living together in a farmhouse outside of Lawrence, Kan., is just one of the things that make The Billions unlike any other band you will ever encounter.

Brothers Sam and Dan Billen, along with three other band members and Dan’s wife, shared the house until about a year and a half ago.

“We all shared one bathroom and one outhouse,” says Sam Billen, who sings and plays guitar and keyboards for the band. “I think Dan used the outhouse once.”

In approximately seven years of existence as The Billions, the band has gone through a few different members, all of them longtime friends.

“I grew up about half a block away from [the Billens] in Topeka,” says Simon Bates, guitarist.

Bates joined the band two or three years ago and now lives in the farmhouse with drummer Ken Komiya, whom they met in high school.

The Billions’ real break into the national scene came by way of a tip from a friend. He told them to send their third self-recorded album, “Quiet as it’s Kept,” to Eric Campuzano, owner of Northern Records. He then called them to talk about a record deal.

“We didn’t even know he had a record label or anything,” Sam says.

They signed to Northern Records a year later in spring 2002 and, since they were all in school at the time, spent their Spring Break from college recording in Los Angeles.

The band’s Christian faith is displayed in its music, though not usually directly addressed. In their next album, currently dubbed “Trash and Treasure,” which is due out sometime this year, its faith is clearly demonstrated in a few serious songs.

“It represents that this life we’re living right now isn’t what’s final; it’s trash compared to the treasure that’s in store in heaven,” Bates says.

Four years ago, the Billens’ mom died of breast cancer, and Dan says some of their songs reflect trusting God as your anchor in times like those.

Although the album has serious bookends, as Dan calls them, the majority of the content is fun.

“We just wanted it to be a quirkier album,” he says.

The band has been called quirky before because of aspects of its live performance, including its routine of playing multiple instruments to recreate an album sound.

The band’s quirkiness continues into its non-musical ventures. While on one of their three national tours, The Billions got themselves into the vintage T-shirt business after noticing they were really low on merchandise and, as Sam says, totally broke.

They stopped in Indiana at a Goodwill in what Sam called a Quaker town, though Dan clarified it was Amish. Sam says they found the coolest vintage T-shirts they’d ever seen. Some of them fit, but others were far too big or too small.

“So we just got all of them for, like, $5 total, and then we sold them at our show for, like, $5 each,” Sam says.

They started calling them gas money T-shirts so people knew why they were selling them. The band has also sold hats, greeting cards and buttons.

“Parents stand in front of our [merchandise] tables and say, ‘What is this trash they’re selling?'” Sam says.

“I’m sure it’s illegal somehow, but we haven’t been caught yet, so oh well.”

As often happens with bands, the demands of real life are getting in the way of music for The Billions, and band members say they are unsure of what the future holds.

Right now, two members are full-time students, two have full-time jobs; the Billens are both married, and Dan has a child.

“We are all going completely opposite directions [in life], but we meet up with our music,” Bates says.

“It’s our dream to make music together … We’re not trying to be super rock stars or anything like that.”