Local band Ordinary Peoples is releasing its new album, “Urban Sprawl,” with a release party on Saturday at Little Brothers. The band promises an exciting, live show, which includes Honeypot and other special guests. This release marks its third album and after performing with such artists as Wyclef Jean, Afroman and Ziggy Marley, Ordinary Peoples said it hopes this could be the release that helps it break into the national spotlight. We sat down with Gerard, Scraps and Ben to talk about its new album, the band and what their live shows are all about.

Lantern: What’s different about this, your third album?

Gerard Garrelts: The line-up is definitely different. We took the band from a seven-piece down to three.

Ben Levels: I would like to think its a little more real, more true and more focused.

Scraps: We had a vision of how we wanted to write it.

Lantern: What prompted the move from seven to three?

S: We were definitely about the music when we made that decision. It was a long time in the making.

GG: It wasn’t clicking so …

S: Also, seven people going on tour … (We’re trying) to make it work from the grass roots level.

BL: It comes back to the definite focus. Its about the dynamic. I like to think of the trio as being like mind, body and spirit.

S: We are all on the same page now.

Lantern: How do you guys do the writing?

S: Its a full-out group effort.

GG: We all add our own elements.

S: Also, we brought Marc Roberg, lead singer from O.A.R., and he co-wrote on “Rise High” and it brought a different sound to the album.

GG: Working with other artists was cool.

Lantern: I noticed some sampling on the new album. Was that the Duke I heard?

GG: Yes it was.

S: We try to sample…

GG: A lot of hip-hop is sample-based.

S: We aren’t.

GG: We use sampling to add recognition and visualization to our music.

Lantern: Is there a message on your new album?

S: We have a lot of different sides on the album.

GG: Its a dichotomy of humor, which is pretty tongue and cheek, and a seriousness on certain tracks.

S: We try to be activists. I remember a long time ago we started a petition to increase lighting on Pearl (Alley) after our boy got jacked. He was beat up pretty badly.

Lantern: What can people expect from a live show?

BL: A high-energy show. You can expect a lot of fun with the music, which is very danceable.

GG: My drum set is split, it’s like half drum set, half computer. It allows me to combine the sound of acoustic and electrical drums. It enables us to have a really full sound.

S: It’s a controlled full sound.

Lantern: You guys seem really serious about making this work …

S: We’ve started a jam band at the grass roots level.

GG: And we are building a following.

S: We are really on a mission and we are going to make this happen. We have even started our own label, GAB Records.

GG: It’s something we use to coordinate everything. Our new Web site is dropping today (www.ordinarypeoples.com).

S: I was on the phone all day and (Gerard) was on the computer until 5 a.m. It’s very consuming, but we’ve stuck with it for a reason.

GG: I’d rather nix the nine to five.

Lantern: Why Columbus? Why not move the band somewhere else?

S: C-town, this is our place. Its all about the support. We’ve been here for four …

GG: Five years. Columbus is wild.

S: They have seen us and know us. It’s what “Urban Sprawl” is all about — Columbus, and also that kind of suburban influence on hip-hop.