Pseudopod isn’t your typical college band. Not only has the group won the Best College Band Award of 2000 from rollingstone.com, but the band’s lead singer has also faced a life-threatening illness.

“I was in Colorado with the band, and we were going to do a show that night in Boulder,” said Kevin Carlberg, lead singer of Pseudopod. “We were hanging out one minute and the next thing I know, I’m getting sick to my stomach and my head is in searing pain.”

Immediately Carlberg was taken to the emergency room, where the doctors told him he had a brain tumor and needed immediate surgery.

“There was no looking back,” said bass guitar Brian Fox. “Our friend was staring death right in the face. We all knew what we had to do.”

The band, also consisting of Tim McGregor and Ross Grant, canceled their show that night and drove almost 24 hours to Los Angeles for Carlberg’s surgery. With the tumor taken out, Carlberg went through weeks of blood tests and chemotherapy treatment to make sure there wasn’t a relapse of cancer.

If one was to look at Carlberg today, no one would be able to tell that this had ever happened.

“The only way you can tell is by my hair,” said Carlberg, pointing to his shaved head. “I still take 15 pills a day. Some are herbal remedies, and others are vitamins. Every other week I go to the nearest hospital and have blood drawn to see what my white blood cell count is,” he said.

Most of the members in the group have been playing since junior high school.

A few of them had played in other groups before getting together in college at UCLA.

Pseudopod has had success on tours. They have opened for Blues Traveler, Sheryl Crow and just recently finished up a tour with O.A.R.

“We are just a weird rock group with a lot of pop influence wanting to put on a good show,” Grant said.

“You really have to see us live and make a decision for yourself about what we sound like or how we sound. It depends on every show and our crowd.”

Their self-titled album was released in early November.

It’s a mix of sounds from Sister Hazel to Blues Traveler. Many of the songs were co-written by each member in the band.

“I think good music comes from a collaboration of the band’s members,” Carlberg said. “No one person just writes the songs. It’s all of us working together.”

The disc also has a distinguishable acoustic flavor. Carlberg is often found strumming his guitar in most of the songs which creates the band’s distinct feel of melancholy.

“Most of the songs on our album are about things that we all went through together in college,” Carlberg said.