The members of Honnold don’t want to be a part of a typical rock band. But then again, the trickiest part about understanding Honnold may be figuring out who the band members are to begin with.

When they first united in the halls of their high school in 1996, the standard “singer-guitar-bass-drums” formula was easy to apply to their sound and to their lineup. But shortly after the release of their first full-length album, “Bedtime Glory,” in 2000, careers, families and college began to replace concerts, jam sessions and recording time.

When the dust cleared, these long-time friends had been scattered from Ames to Ankeny to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

In a situation where most fledgling groups would simply split up, this menagerie of musical talent did the opposite. Two of the members — Brian Gumm and a man known only as “The Dude,” — have given the project its own unique twist, yet they still consider all of the founding members to be a part of the band.

“I like to refer to them as members emeritus,” Gumm says, in reference to James McConeghey, Jeff Kinkaid and Tim Vos, the band’s three dormant members. In addition, Honnold’s new album features guitarist Josh Parker and drummer Jordan Spence from Indianola-based act Index Case.

“It’s like a gang, but without knives or colored bandannas,” The Dude says. “I think we record music just to entertain ourselves, because we all enjoy music a lot and want to show each other up a little.”

Honnold’s ever-changing roster might be confusing at first, but the cover of its latest album, “Transparent,” released earlier this month, explains it best. Standing before a crowd of darkened stick figures (picture the symbol on a men’s restroom door) is a lone, white stick figure holding a guitar. It is in this way that Honnold is able to thrive — everyone associated with the band is considered a part of the group, yet each member is encouraged to record and perform his own material under any band name they choose.

If understanding the Honnold lineup is difficult, classifying the music on “Transparent” into one category is next to impossible. With songs that range in sound from Megadeth-esque hard rock to the alt-country stylings of Wilco, there is bound to be at least one song on the album that fits into almost every listener’s musical tastes. Luckily, this is exactly how Gumm wanted the album to be.

“There’s two definite moods between the first half and the second half of the album, and I like to think of them as the daytime and the nighttime,” Gumm says. “The daytime is the rock tunes, and the second half is pretty mellow and subdued.”

“It’s funny, because some people tell me that they really love the first half of the album,” Gumm says, “but then I have other people like The Dude tell me the exact opposite, and that they like the second half better.”

Although The Dude did write several of the songs on the new album, his side project, “Bandit Girl And The Bandit Dogs,” represents one more layer in Honnold’s multifaceted and oft-confusing history.

“I was going to start a new band called the ‘The Maxim Paddies,’ but I changed my mind,” The Dude says. “I’m going to bring back ‘Bandit Girl’ in 2003.”

As if Honnold isn’t complicated enough, there is one more piece to add to the puzzle. The band’s Web site, www.honnold.org, features a discussion forum designed by Gumm. The message board was originally intended to be a place for the various band members to discuss Honnold. However, the site has slowly morphed into an online community, with people visiting the site every month to discuss all sorts of topics.

“The Honnold forum has spun off into its own little creature. Last month, we had close to 7,000 hits,” Gumm says. “There are complete strangers starting to become regular contributors to the site, and I don’t even know who these people are.”

The Web site’s popularity may have been a surprise, but Gumm says that its success personifies what Honnold has been trying to accomplish from the beginning.

“That’s really what Honnold is all about. It’s turned into a community more than anything else,” Gumm says. “You’ve got this collection of musicians and songwriters that make up the band section of Honnold, and then you’ve got the greater online Honnold community that are always on the forum. We’ve even got some junkies now.”

WEB FEATURE

Listen to Honnold in MP3!