After six albums, a split EP, extensive touring schedules and work with side projects, the members of Joan of Arc are still going strong. Tim Kinsella, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, says the band members still love it as much as they did in 1996, when they first came together to perform as Joan of Arc.

“I don’t really feel like I’m trying to accomplish anything so much as just enjoy it in the present,” Kinsella says. “I just wake up in the morning and start doing it. I don’t really think about it.”

Kinsella says he thinks a lot of aspiring musicians could be as happy as he is, but end up giving up on their dreams too early and end up not be able to do what they really want for life, like he has.

“I don’t think I’m happy because I’m able to do what I love to do all the time, as much as I’m happy because I realize I can do what I want all the time,” he says. “I think anyone could. I just think everyone feels sort of brainwashed and trapped. They go hand-in-hand. I don’t think it’s cause-and-effect so much. No one ever gave us permission to be in a band or start touring. It’s just something we want to do, and we do it.”

Kinsella says the band owns a warehouse space they use for both practicing and as living quarters, which makes it easier to do what they want musically. He says living together helps the band members in the songwriting process, and everyone eventually has many chances to contribute.

“We all write the songs together,” he says. “A lot of times, somebody will have a part, and we’ll write to that. Sometimes we’ll record as a live band and keep playing it over and over as we write stuff. Or we will jam to come up with stuff. We try to mix up how we approach it.”

However, Kinsella says he doesn’t see how the band’s unique approach fits into the music world — but then again, he doesn’t really care.

“I don’t really pay much attention to it,” he says. “I feel like the way we survive doesn’t have much to do with it. I can’t imagine what Britney Spears or something like that has to do with us, or even Blink 182. It’s just a different world. It doesn’t really matter.”

Kinsella says the band also has a very different approach in regard to touring and playing as Joan of Arc. Kinsella says his brother, Mike Kinsella, founder of the one-man band ‘Owen,’ plays on all of the albums, but tours based on whether he has the drive to do it. That’s the way it works with all of the other members as well.

When it comes to touring, Kinsella says he likes playing in Europe more than America because of the specific attitudes, ideas and opportunities for musicians.

“You get treated a lot better over there as a band,” he says. “It’s like different generations of people who go to shows. Also, there’s nicer meals, big breakfasts and nicer places to stay.”

One of the only things — perhaps the biggest — Kinsella says he doesn’t like about being a musician are the assumptions people make about his reasons for being a musician.

“I don’t feel like we necessarily have much in common with most bands or the music industry or anything,” he says. “I don’t think any of us are trying to get anything out of it except for what we are getting out of it right now. I think there’s a lot of assumptions if you’re in a band, that you’re doing the band to try to be a big star and make a lot of money.”

Who: Joan of Arc, Love of Everything, Make Believe

Where: M-Shop

When: 9 p.m., Friday

Cost: $7 students, $9 public