Opinions about the actual music may vary, but almost everyone can agree on at least one facet of The Dead Kenny G’s. 

“The one consensus is that everyone loves the band name,” said saxophone and keyboard player Skerik. “Whoever I talk to, it always makes people laugh, so it’s great to be a part of something that spreads joy throughout the world (laughs). Even if they never hear the music, the band name made them laugh.”

Skerik represents one-third of the Seattle-based punk-jazz trio, along with percussionist Mike Dillon and bass player Brad Houser. Due to release their second CD on March 15, the group will play at the Dover Brick House on Wednesday, March 16.

All three players are also members of instrumental ensemble Critters Buggin, who have performed locally at The Stone Church in Newmarket. When Buggin drummer Matt Chamberlain became too busy to work with the group in the early 2000s, Skerik, Dillon and Houser branched off to form the Black Frames. The band released one album and toured around the United States and Japan. 

Skerik and Dillon later started a trio with pianist Brian Haas (of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey). When Haas left the group, they replaced him with Houser. It was a friend of Skerik’s who suggested the moniker The Dead Kenny G’s.

“I immediately started the band the next day,” Skerik said. “I called Mike and said, ‘Hey, this is a great band name. We’ve got to use this.’ And so we’ve just been going ever since.”

Laughs aside, it’s a remarkably fitting name, paying homage to seminal hardcore punk band the Dead Kennedys while also conveying their aversion to the easily listening smooth jazz of musicians like saxophonist Kenny G. The group showcases a unique brand of music that churns and bubbles with creativity, combining the seething intensity of punk with the artistic freedom of avant-garde jazz.  

The title of the new CD, “Operation Long Leash,” is equally appropriate. It carries an obscure reference to a clandestine CIA effort to subvert Soviet conformist ideals through Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s. The band similarly subverts the conventions of mainstream music with an abstract instrumental assault. 

A listen yields some barefaced social commentary. “Black Death,” the only song on the record with lyrics, compares the American public’s appetite for oil to a severe drug addiction. It’s a subject familiar to Dillon, who has grappled with heroin in the past.

“I was born addicted somethin’ stronger than smack / I was born addicted somethin’ stronger than crack / I was born addicted somethin’ stronger than meth / I was born addicted to the black death,” Dillon growls.

Skerik said the band strives to insert social and political messages into their music without getting too preachy or serious about it. 

“That’s a huge part of our attraction to punk rock from the ’80s,” he said, citing the Dead Kennedys’ “California Uber Alles” and “Kill the Poor.” “These are dropping very topical references to specific political players, Reagan and Jerry Brown.”

The group also takes inspiration from politically minded comedians like Bill Hicks, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Even the instrumental tunes on “Operation Long Leash” feature elements of playful humor, à la John Zorn or Frank Zappa.

“I always like to take my social awareness and political awareness with a dose of humor. It makes it go down a little easier and makes it a lot more interesting,” Skerik said.

Compositionally, the group’s influences include jazz pioneers like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Skerik lets loose on saxophones and keys, while Houser plays bass and baritone sax. Dillon goes wild on drums, vibraphone, tabla and other percussion instruments, creating an untamed sonic jungle. Jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter sits in on “Black Truman (Harry the Hottentot)” 

African, Balkan and Klezmer rhythms sneak into tracks like “Melvin Jones” and “Sweatbox.” Other tunes feature raucous, driving beats that halt abruptly and mutate into quirky jazz experiments. Skerik and Dillon wrote most of the tunes, with Houser taking sole authorship of the smooth finale, “Jazz Millionaire.” 

The trio devised many of the compositions while on tour last summer with Primus and Gogol Bordello. Skerik came up with the opening to “Black Death” during a sound check prior to a show in Milwaukee. Composing tunes during sound checks is a common practice in the music biz, he said.

“That’s when a lot of bands rehearse and write music. All bands, even huge bands, that’s their time to rehearse and write. That’s when you’re together. Because we all live in different cities, and that’s our time.” 

Skerik should know. The Seattle resident has performed in numerous musical projects since the 1990s, including Critters Buggin, Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade, Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet, and many others. He’s even toured with former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters.

Skerik is also a member of Garage a Trois along with Dillon, drummer Stanton Moore, and keyboardist Marco Benevento (who played in Portsmouth in February and whose label, The Royal Potato Family, is releasing “Operation Long Leash”). Garage a Trois has a new record due out in April.

Skerik said he enjoys bouncing between bands and keeping several projects on his plate.

“Oh yeah, man. Variety is the spice of life,” he said. “It’s a real human thing, too. Getting that inspiration from different people, different musicians, is always a learning opportunity. Trying to play with as many different people as you can is only beneficial. Anything to widen the funnel, you know?”

Skerik’s artistic liberty comes largely at the expense of commercial stardom. Shaking the fetters of mainstream music means sacrificing significant radio play and interest from major labels. He blames the crumbling music industry for turning its back on creative instrumental artists and homogenizing the music.

“Up until the ’80s, when lawyers took over the labels, there were always instrumental hits in music,” he said, pointing to Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” as an example. “It’s always been an interesting battle. But the record industry just ran itself into the ground. In the early ’80s, when they took over, it just got horrible quick.”

But Skerik remains unfazed. He’s seen musical fads come and go, including the alternative rock craze that swept through his native Seattle in the early ’90s. All the while, he’s resisted attempts to pigeonhole his style, opting instead to continue broadening his aural palette with new and riveting sounds.

“I mean, come on, we’re playing music. Get over it,” he said.

The show begins at 9 p.m. on March 16 at the Dover Brick House, 2 Orchard St., Dover, 603-749-3838. Tickets are $11.