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Steamboat Springs — A while back, the four members of Smooth Money Gesture wanted to step up their touring schedule and play more shows more frequently.

The problem was, the four members of Smooth Money Gesture were living in Girdwood, Alaska. Traveling 500 miles through nothing to get from one gig to another wasn't exactly conducive to broadening the band's audience.

Labeling themselves "groove-oriented, progressive psych rock," the band's members mix original songs with covers to produce a rock sound that dips a little into everything else that's been popular in the past five or so decades. On Memorial Day weekend, they'll join acts such as The Derek Trucks Band and Del tha Funkee Homosapien at the fourth annual Desert Rocks Music Festival in Moab, Utah.

Tonight, Smooth Money Gesture brings its intergalactic jam to Mahogany Ridge. Guitarist and vocalist Josh Gitlin-Rich spoke with 4 Points about living in Alaska, finding inspiration in every kind of music and the band's influences list, which includes Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, Ray Charles and Sound Tribe Sector 9.

4 Points: How would you describe your sound?

Josh Gitlin-Rich: I would call it rock 'n' roll with a twist.

4 Points: What's the twist?

JG-R: I guess the twist would be that we play a lot of stuff that isn't rock 'n' roll. We try to cover a little bit of a lot of different areas.

We're definitely influenced by a lot of different styles, everything from classic rock to jam-band styles, to Latin to funk to hip-hop. It's kind of going in every direction - we try to not really stay in one style as far as playing goes. We try to keep it fresh and change it up.

4 Points: Why incorporate all those styles?

JG-R: We all grew up listening to different stuff, and we all grew up with parents who listened to classic rock and oldies like The Beatles and (Eric) Clapton, who I would say are definitely two of our influences.

And then growing up we all listened to everything - rap, everything. And I guess that's just how I came up. We all love music, so we try to include as many styles as we can.

4 Points: How did you get the name Smooth Money Gesture?

JG-R: We formed up in Alaska, and it was just kind of one of our friends blurted it out one day as a joke, because it sounded cool. We started going by it, and it's stuck ever since.