Lettuce plays Belly Up June 18

Grammy Award-nominated Lettuce plays Belly Up June 18 in support of its latest album, “Cook,” released last December.

In 1992, four Berklee College of Music alumni joined up with two others in Boston, and the six musicians have been fusing funk, hip-hop, rock, jazz, soul, jam, avant-garde, and go-go with a dose of psychedelia ever since.

In addition to their classical background, they’ve played hip-hop all their lives.

The musicians named the band after showing up at college parties, asking if they could play a few songs. “Let us play” became a joke among friends and led to the shortened name: Lettuce.

They released “Cook,” their ninth studio album, on their own label at Colorado Sound, just outside of Denver. While it blends funk, soul, jazz, rock, and hip-hop, it also explores new sonic territory. They’re committed to staying true to their own sound, hence their private label.

“That was the goal from the beginning, was to never have anyone (say) ‘What you guys need to do is (this).’ There will be none of that. It’s always what we dig and what our core fans would dig. That’s what it’s about, and that’s what we lost from so many of our favorite bands – they were chasing that hit. We may have a hit, but it won’t be on purpose,” said drummer and percussionist Adam Deitch. “We’re just making music the way we feel and making it organically on 2-inch tape and playing live in a room together. So, I really feel like it’s going to be an experience to hear.”

The record stemmed from listening to plenty of genre-bending bands from around the world, encouraging them to broaden their creative outlook. Lettuce had also just finished tours with rap icon GZA of Wu-Tang Clan and reggae legend Ziggy Marley. And last year, they had put out “Lettuce with the Colorado Symphony.” As a result, the album is a little more three-dimensional than past records, highlighting other facets of the band and delving deeper into production and arrangements, with saxophonist Ryan Zoidis mixing alongside Grammy-nominated engineer Jesse O’Brien.

As if the sonic appeal isn’t enough, they’ve also included six recipes with the album, each from a member of the band. It’s yours to explore which track pairs best with which recipe.

“Our saxophone player, Ryan Zoidis is a great chef, and our trumpet player, Eric  ‘Benny’ Bloom is a sous chef. They’re both intense foodies. That’s why we released a cookbook with the album. We believe that certain music pairs well with food,” Deitch said. “When you’re eating a really good meal that someone took time to cook, you should put on Lettuce because it took us time to cook up that record, and it’s all organic ingredients. There’s no trickery — no AI — it’s straight-up six friends in a room, making a record, playing live.”

The top of the title track actually emerged at a party in Denver during a jam session.

“I took the guitar — and I never do that at jam sessions. I’m always on the drums. Someone was on drums, just playing a beat, and I just started playing the main riff to that song, and I couldn’t believe it just appeared out of nowhere. I remembered to record it on the phone,” Deitch said. “I took that recording home and then ended up writing the rest of it later, but the fact that it happened at a party at a random, homies jam session is hilarious.”

Another track that stands out is “The Matador,” with its Afro-Cuban tinge.

“I approach it as a percussionist and a drummer, and the horns are powerful. There was a lot of room for b-boy style breaks that I could play that a DJ would loop multiple times to get people breakdancing. So I really like that song,” he said, adding that the band is in a good place, with gigs on the books and members feeling solid, which shows on the album.

“We’re not forcing it. All these songs came from our hearts, and we’re not on some weird record label telling us what to do. We’re putting out music that’s coming from our souls, and we hope everyone likes it,” he said. “We know people have a lot of stuff going on, and the phones are taking up time, but if you have a chance, put the phone down, and put on the record ‘Cook,’ because it’s a real vibe.”

While a lot of bands struggle after 30 years plus, they look up to bands like Phish, The Grateful Dead, and Tower of Power, who have maintained many of the same members.

“They are our idols,” he said, adding, “Everyone’s living their best life right now, and we are ready to give that back to the fans, especially in Colorado. We’re inspired right now because we met when we were like 16 or 17, and now we’re legit 50. It’s a beautiful thing to still be doing it — it’s inspiring.”

“We dreamed this up when we were teenagers, and here we are. We’re doing it,” Zoidis added.

Last year, the band members debuted their organic wines, Red Crush and Orange Crush. Bloom partners with various growers, so fans can expect more wine coming soon.

“He has studied it intensely as much as anyone could possibly study wine, and he works closely with management to make sure the next batches are getting properly done with no pesticides, no added sugars and no crap. It’s all organic, from small farms,” Deitch said.

The musicians like to eat and drink organically, which is why they demand it for their namesake wine.

“If you’re going to drink something, try to drink something less taxing on your body. We drink these kinds of wine anyway, so to make a wine with a winemaker that aligns with our ethos — very light, crushable white wine, and we make a lighter red — those are things we like to drink. It goes right with our music and our overall vibe,” Bloom said.

As Deitch points out, music and food are intertwined.

“Use the wrong ingredients in either, and you can ruin the sound and the meal,” he said.

Most of the band members live in Denver and love playing at Belly Up.

“It reminds us of the early days — back in the day, we used to go in rooms like that and funk the roof off,” he said. “The room’s pretty small, so you’re getting a double dose of the frequencies — you’re hearing the amps on the stage and through the system because the room’s small enough. Usually, when you’re in a big room, you only hear the system, which, if it’s tuned perfectly, okay, great. And in a tiny room, you only hear the instruments, which is cool — acoustic music, that type stuff. But this room is the perfect sonic room for us, and we’re going to record it and maybe make a record, so everyone get extra loud and be ready to dance and be stoked. We’ll bring that funk. We’re going to bring that soul, Nigel (Hall) will be singing some amazing soul music — what a voice he has — and the horns are coming up and the bass, the drums, and the guitar will be locked. I guarantee that.”