If the world of music were a supermarket, you might find Twistin’ Trees with the jams and jellies, among preserves like the Grateful Dead and Phish.

More precisely, Twistin’ Trees might be more like a big jar of Welch (Avenue)’s mixed fruit jam. Fruit flavors like Santana Strawberry, Operation Ivy Orange, Dave Matthews Band Berry and a twist of Al Green Lime come together to create Twistin’ Trees’ amalgamation of music. The band’s goal: to spread their jam to the edges of the toast that is the United States.

Twistin’ Trees consists of nine members, seven of whom came to chat at Pizza Pit, 207 1/2 Welch Ave., one dreary Wednesday afternoon. ISU alumnus Chad Jacobsen, keyboardist and auxiliary percussion player, and Dave Schwerdtfeger, guitarist, are the farmers who handpicked the fruit of the band in December 2000.

Bassist Seth Minnihan and drummer Dave Lilienthal, senior in mechanical engineering, round out the rhythm section.

A four-piece horn section, including Mike Beede on tenor saxophone, John Luna on trumpet, Justin McManus on alto saxophone and John Olofson on trombone backs up lead vocalist Ben Maynard.

All the band can say about their musical style is that it is quite eclectic.

“We don’t like to be boxed in [by labels],” Olofson says.

Twistin’ Trees have described themselves as a “bluesrockfunkjam” band or, as Olofson prefers, “alt.stoner.” Either way, the band’s diverse influences range from ballads to funk rock jams to songs about belligerent and shoeless strangers.

“For me, there’s a lot of Jack Johnson, and a lot of old school stuff like Al Green,” Maynard says. “Everyone brings their own stuff to the table.”

The track “Billy No Shoes” stemmed from an incident that occurred one winter night as band members walked to their favorite hangout, Welch Avenue Station, 207 Welch Ave.

As Maynard and others approached the establishment’s door, Maynard says, the band heard the patter of bare feet.

“Of course I was being a jackass, because I usually am,” Maynard says. “He runs by and I’m like, ‘Hey man, you got no shoes on,’ and he’s like, ‘No shit.’ “

A confused and disgruntled Maynard told the kid to repeat what he said.

In lieu of a spoken response, the kid jumped, clicked his heels in midair, turned and landed with both middle fingers extended. He then continued to walk away.

As the stranger departed, band members noticed the name “Billy” on the back of the man’s soccer jersey — later that night, the band wrote the song.

The music that accompanies Twistin’ Trees’ lyrics is cultivated during rehearsal, Olofson says. He describes the band’s creative process in an extended allegory.

“Someone in the band, whoever it may be, comes to rehearsal with a seed, and this is, like, their idea of a song. And they bring this seed and plant it in the ground, and the ground is, like, the band,” Olofson says. “What you get in the end, this tree or this flower, is, like, the song. It’s more of a tree than a flower … And sometimes then we’ll go look at the tree and, like, prune it, and like, make it grow healthier, and make it the best tree it can be.”

The rest of the group stifles their laughter as Olofson smiles at his metaphorical prowess.

The band members do better justice to the subject of file sharing, however. The members all agree — though illegal file sharing is costing some musicians money, what is more important is the fact that the music is being heard.

Twistin’ Trees’ Web site, at www.public.iastate.edu/~chadly/homepage.html, gives away the band’s music via MP3.com.

“We’re all about sharing music,” Jacobsen says. “We follow very much the Grateful Dead business model in which you basically give your music away.”

“It all comes down to listening to music and being a music fan,” Olofson says. “And I don’t think you should be punished for that.”

Download an MP3 of the Twistin’ Trees’ “Hangin’ Around.”