Minneapolis dwellers The Blenders are an all-male group that sings and even does a little dancing. But there is a major difference between The Blenders and your average boy band.

These guys have talent.

Meaning they write all of their own original music and sing everything a cappella.

Their latest tour, beginning tonight in Des Moines, is in support of “Nog,” a Christmas album they released in 1997 that features an abundance of classic Christmas songs with a blender twist.

“One of the nice things is that we did all of the songs a cappella, and that in itself sort of changes things up a little bit,” singer Tim Kasper says. “A few of the tunes we kind of mixed other songs into, and when we did ‘Let It Snow,’ we did kind of a lounge feel to it. We tried to do different styles of the songs but still keep them how they were originally intended.”

The result is a Christmas album that has sold nearly 30,000 copies nationwide on independent distribution.

“Doing a Christmas album was something we knew we should do and something we wanted to do,” Kasper says. “It’s just that getting around to it was another story.”

Hailing originally from Fargo, N. D. before moving to the Twin Cities, The Blenders began putting out records in 1992 with their debut release, “Totally Whipped.” They followed with albums in ’94, ’95 and a compilation in ’97, which include songs from their previous three recordings plus three new tracks.

The Blenders’ first major label effort comes out in February and is creating excitement among the group.

“I like it because I like the direction we’re going into, more of a pop genre and a younger kind of thing,” Kasper says. “But I like everything we do, really. I just enjoy making music and presenting it to people.”

With an a cappella group, the song writing obviously differs from a regular band, with every member only writing lyrics.

“We just write it individually. Usually, we don’t collaborate to much,” Kasper says. “But when it comes to the whole group, that is when it’s more of a collaboration through the process of getting vocals arranged and everything.”

One big stereotype The Blenders try to dodge – along with being called a boy band – is that male a cappella groups are always singing love songs.

“Oh man, we cover kind of everything, not just love songs,” Kasper says. “We have a song called ‘Charlie Anybody’ on our third album about a nine-year-old boy who gets accidentally killed. We try to show all ranges of topics.”

The Blenders’ live show has found them dancing more and more individually and adding in choreography for the group.

As far as being considered a boy band, Kasper and company find it hard to get away from that platitude, but they have learned to use it to their advantage.

“We just kind of do what we do and hope not to get pigeon-holed like that,” Kasper says. “I think it’s getting a lot of the younger junior high people involved and stuff like that. We’ve always tried to involve the high school and junior high kids, and that is just one more way to do it.”

Being full-fledged Midwesterners, The Blenders find themselves frequently performing in Iowa, including twice on the most recent cluster of dates.

“We love it. We play there all the time. It’s like our bread and butter,” Kasper says. “We live in Minnesota, but we play in Iowa probably just as much, if not more.”

The Blenders are constantly working on music and performing all over the country, including 46 states to date.

But when they finish with their Christmas tour, visions of another Christmas album are dancing in their heads.

“I’m actually hoping to record a new one in 2000 I can’t guarantee that, but I’m hoping to,” Kasper says.

All of the Blender albums can be picked up at the show tonight, including “Nog,” which is promised to be better than ‘N Sync’s “Home For Christmas.”