One man living in a house with six women has its advantages, but Babe The Blue Ox guitarist/singer and Ames native Tim Thomas used it in a different way than you would expect.

He started a band.

“We all moved to Brooklyn around the same time, and I ended up moving into a house with six women,” Thomas said. “There was a soundproof attic that Hanna [Fox] was learning to play the drums in, and one day we went up there and just started messing around.”

Messing around musically, that is.

Thomas, Fox and bassist Rosalee Thomson make up the Brooklyn, New York-based trio Babe The Blue Ox, who has been touring clubs since the early ’90s.

“All the scenes are different in every town. We go into every show trying to have an open attitude,” Thomas said. “It’s really great to play in my hometown. It is a good feeling.”

Thomas describes Babe The Blue Ox’s music as a free-form style that resembles a different genre in every song.

“We are making our own brand of music,” Thomas said. “We go from a trip-hop to a funk to a heavy rock to a pretty pop.”

The band is known for its high energy show with a lot of jumping around and improvising. A song heard on a Babe The Blue Ox record may not sound the same when played live.

“We like to take chances with our music,” Thomas said.

The band’s latest album, “The Way We Were,” is the second release from Babe The Blue Ox on RCA Records and its fifth overall. The record was produced by Steve Thompson, who has worked the likes of Metallica, Madonna and Rollins Band.

Babe The Blue Ox’s influences range from The Pixies, R.E.M., P-Funk and The B-52’s to Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchell, The Carpenters and “Superhits from the ’70s.”

The trio has played with big names such as Cake, The Offspring, Bob Mould and Hsker Du.

Thomas remembers playing with The Offspring when “Come Out and Play (Keep ’em Separated)” was first released.

“There were 1,500 teenage Offspring fans waiting to hear them. When we started playing, everyone just sat down and stared. They didn’t know what to make of us,” Thomas said.

Babe The Blue Ox is trying not to have any major goals for its future other than continued success.

“Our idea of success is to get along and make music. We let the record company set our goals. Right now it is to sell records,” Thomas said. “We make the music, and RCA does everything else as far as choosing the singles we put out and stuff like that.”

The first single from “The Way We Were” is “Basketball” and addresses the different angles with which vocalists Thomas and Thomson see the game of basketball.

Babe The Blue Ox will be playing with Sheila Divine Saturday at 9 p.m. at The Maintenance Shop. Tickets are $4 for students and $5 general admission.