Kansas City hip hop/funk five-piece Pomeroy has seen some changes since the attacks of Sept. 11. The band realizes the enormity of the anniversary of the events, but it wants to make a few people smile with an appearance at People’s Bar and Grill on Wednesday night.

“Part of the anniversary is moving on, really, and that’s what our show is going to be about – moving on while still remembering,” says Dave Fairbanks, vocalist and percussionist for the band. “It’s going to be forever. No one will ever forget that day.”

While the band members see the sensitivity of the day, they want people not to be afraid to go out and enjoy music.

“We realize that is what’s going to be on the backs of everybody’s minds that night, but we came to do the job and we are still going to do our job,” says Matt Marron, guitarist and vocalist for the band.

“We were actually affected pretty heavily by 9/11,” Fairbanks says. “It kind of made you step back and go, `Holy shit, this one event that happened so far away trickled down and affected this little band out of the Midwest.'”

Pomeroy had a large show scheduled in its new hometown of Kansas City at an event called the Crawfish Festival a few days after last year’s attacks. This show was going to be the group’s first big breakout Kansas City show, and it was canceled. It was one of three shows that had to be called off following the attacks.

Pomeroy feels the events helped members put both their lives, and their universes into perspective.

“That day, when it happened, you wake up and you see all that going on, you really think, man, I put my whole life into this band right here, and how insignificant it feels to be really worried so much about what is going on in my life when thousands of people just died over some bullshit,” Fairbanks says.

Although the members live and breathe for their music, they realize that if things got bad enough, they would have to walk away.

“If we got into a world war, who is going to care about Pomeroy touring as a regional act, trying to make ends meet and play shows?” Fairbanks says. “You look at what is important in life in the end, and you find that sometimes what you are doing, in the great scheme of things might not be as important as you think, even though it’s the world to us.”

That sound so important to the group is a mixture including funk and hip hop, incorporating all genres that influence the band into its musical spectrum. When asked who would be included on the Pomeroy’s dream bill, answers ranged from Frank Zappa to Incubus, Parliament to Led Zeppelin.

“I would love to play with the 1980s Michael Jackson,” Fairbanks decides. “Michael Jackson from the Thriller tour. That would be great.”

“Yeah man,” Marron says. “Michael, back when shoelaces were fat.”

Drummer Chris Davis disagrees.

“I would want Justin Timberlake to be on the bill, man.”

His bandmates nod in agreement.

“The new stuff is bad ass. I must admit,” Fairbanks says. “People laugh at that because he is who he is, but man, I’m sorry, the shit is hot. The people who have biases that can’t get over him for no reason – it’s stupid.”

“They are haters,” Marron says. “If you really sit down and listen to it, that song its great. It’s a flawless song. He sticks it, man.”

“Exactly,” Fairbanks says. “He’s going to be the white Michael Jackson of the next decade.”

As a puzzled look rushes over Davis’s face, he exclaims, “Wait – Michael Jackson is the white Michael Jackson.”

Along with their pioneering musical crossbreeds, the energy level and positive vibes of Pomeroy’s live show keep many fans coming back.

“That’s what we really try and put across – our connection with our fans,” Fairbanks says. “It should be straight-up fans and band, getting down on the same vibe. It is a conscious effort, yet at the same time, we are the kind of people who, put together as a collective unit, kind of produce that kind of energy.”

Davis feels this is what makes the connection between band and fan so special.

“It’s almost like you deliver this small ball of energy and you throw it out there, and it comes back a beach ball . and you push it back and it comes back a bowling ball,” Davis says.

Also adding to the live show is a pair of dancers, the infamous Sug and Mickey.

Touring with the band and brought out a number of times throughout any given set, the dancers add a special something to the Pomeroy mix.

“I think what we bring is a filibuster,” Mickey says. “If there is any kind of bias towards the band, when we step in, we will clear that all out.”

“We love these guys. These guys will always be welcome to perform with us as long as they can,” Fairbanks says. “As long as there will be a place for them to dance, and as long as they keep working hard. That’s the only rule that this band has – that you have to always work hard every day. And they work hard.”

Having played People’s three times, as well as the Taste of Veishea stage last spring, Pomeroy is excited to return to Ames.

“Ames is great. It has really taken off for us. We had our first show and it went well, and then we came back a few weeks later and our second show sold out,” Fairbanks says.

In the band’s hometown of Manhattan, Kan., it plays a country bar for lack of a live venue.

“A lot of towns, like our hometown, Manhattan, have no music venue,” Marron says. “Everyone’s heard of People’s. We had been trying to get a show there for like two years, and we are excited to be able to return.”

Pomeroy will take a break from its touring schedule in late fall or early winter to record a new five-song EP, which the band is hoping to release before Christmas.

The boys feel they have come to a point where they want to make it, realizing they want to do this as a career.

“Now we are in this for the longevity, and we have kind of settled into it, realizing we will still be all right if we don’t get picked up and thrown on MTV tomorrow and make millions of dollars,” Fairbanks says. “If we work our way up, say like Incubus did after 10 years, then you have staying power. And that’s really all that matters.”

For now, the band is taking it one show at a time, concentrating on its art and its fans.

“Getting out there and playing a show for our fans – there is no other way we would rather spend Sept. 11,” Marron says.