The last time Minneapolis-based Manplanet played the Maintenance Shop, two girls in the crowd presented the lead singer with a homemade ball, fashioned out of twine, before the band sang its song, appropriately titled, “Ball of Twine.”

Jeff Ham, Manplanet frontman, held onto the ball of twine with the intention of bringing the unique gift on tour with the band while taking pictures of it at various locations. Manplanet keeps all of the gifts people give them, even the unusual ones, in their touring van adorned with Polaroid I-Zone pictures of people they have met across the country.

Although Ham admits Manplanet has received some weird gifts, they have yet to receive another ball of twine.

Manplanet invaded the M-Shop last spring and wowed Iowa State with its stunning visual appearance and a peculiar sound, often described as Devo meets Weezer.

Each member portrays a unique alter-ego, fully-equipped with an identifying color and complementing stage name.

Manplanet’s stage names and respective colors are: Jefferson White (Ham), Tim Crimson, Pete Green and Atom Blue Tron.

The members also dye their hair and paint their fingernails their individual colors, as well as have color-coded instruments, amps and drinks on stage.

Since its visit last spring, Manplanet has been recording more songs and gaining national exposure, thanks to Comedy Central’s new game show, “Let’s Bowl.”

This unique opportunity gave the band the chance to play fragments from a few of its songs before and after commercial breaks. The episode with Manplanet was scheduled to be the fourth episode, but executives at Comedy Central decided to use the Manplanet episode as the premiere for the show, allowing them to bowl over a nationally-known band who had done the show before them.

“For the pilot episode they used Soul Asylum, but that never got aired,” Ham explains. “That was kind of cool that they chose us after using them.”

Perhaps it was the band’s unique brand of space-inspired pop that won the hearts of Comedy Central executives, or perhaps it was its colorful flair and perpetual energy. Either way Manplanet has made a name for its music, if not for the stretch-vinyl outfits and the use of pyrotechnics that add a much-appreciated spark to its live shows.

“You do it once and you kind of get that name as the band who wears the suits and blows stuff up,” Ham says. “If you don’t then people are like `yeah, are you guys going to blow some stuff up now?'”

Although Ham promises their lineup changes don’t have anything to do with the color blue, Manplanet is on its third blue guy. After the first blue guy had to quit because he had a couple kids and the second blue guy couldn’t tour because of his career, Manplanet was left trying to fill the void; hopefully for the last time.

“I think this one’s going to be in for a while,” Ham says. “I think we found the right blue guy.”

Manplanet kept pumping out its robotic pop music this summer while they recorded a new EP, titled “An Introductory to Musicianship.” The EP will include six songs in the same vein as their debut EP, “Skylab.”

Manplanet’s fall tour in support of the EP kicks off tonight at the M-Shop. This appearance promises all of the excitement of previous visits, plus a little bit more. Armed with the usual pyrotechnics, Manplanet is keeping its live show fresh with the addition of some new material and a new look.

The only thing the members of Manplanet have to worry about this time is explaining why they don’t have pictures of the ball of twine.

Manplanet’s original plan was to supply the girls who made the famed ball of twine with the pictures they had taken of it.

Unfortunately, the ball of twine reached its untimely demise in the band’s van before the objective could be met.

Prior to its unravelling, the ball of twine did get to visit Duluth, Minn. where it paused for a photograph on a famous bridge.

“We’re going to be in trouble when we see [the girls],” Ham says. “Maybe they’ll bring us a new one and we can start over again.