Jam bands are a dime a dozen. Good jam bands? Now those are hard to come by. Gone are the days when hordes of jam enthusiasts would follow the Grateful Dead as their tour bus wheeled them from coast to coast. Phish has come and gone. Even the band Dispatch, a staple of my own youth that jammed heavily during live performances, is a thing of the past, leaving only meager remnants like State Radio.

While fewer and far between, there are still good jam bands out there though. StrawberryJAM is one of them and they’re playing at Ace’s Lounge tonight at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the 18 and up venue, $10 for everyone under 21.

“It’s really colorful. It’s like if you could taste music,” said James Bobal, lead guitarist and vocalist of Strawberryjam. “Think of the movement with the fraternities how everyone wears the bright colors. That’s what this music’s like. We’re not bringing the 80s but it’s just like a bright colorful entertaining painting to look at. There’s a lot going on.”

Bobal said that the group tries to incorporate as many styles and as many variations of those styles as they can into their jams which can last a good 10 minutes each. According to Bobal, music isn’t a formula.

“It’s like cooking,” he said. “You can follow the recipe if you want but you don’t have to and that’s when it gets fun. It’s like a kaleidoscope. We control that kaleidoscope but we let you look through it.”

Expect there to be quite a bit of dancing as well. Ace’s recently underwent some renovations that removed some seating for added dance area and StrawberryJAM plans to take advantage of that.

“When we’re there, Aces is a dance party. We want as many limbs and appendages moving as possible,” said Bobal. “We encourage people getting involved with the music, getting involved with the band.”

Would-be concertgoers wanting to get an idea of what the band sounds like before shelling out the $5 can download the group’s The Recession EP on iTunes or even listen to the band on their internet radio station.

“You can podcast it from your iTunes. You can listen to it from your iphone right now if you want to,” said Bobal. “It’s called Stawberryjamnation. One word.”

The station can be found through LocalLiveHouston.com. The band will also release a full-length album in the next six months. Until then, Bobal just seemed excited to play live for people.

“Watching the band’s going to be entertaining. Watching an individual rock out is going to be entertaining,” he said. “Every aspect of the show is going to be something where you can say ‘wow that’s really cool.’”