Crossover jam band Dyemusica returns to The Venue in Seaside.

Everything got much easier when Kevin Dye and his band, Dyemusica, truly embraced the Grateful Dead’s core philosophy; a dynamic that fueled Jerry Garcia and the band since their earliest gigs as an unknown jugband playing small Palo Alto pizza joints in the early ’60s.

“The Grateful Dead always had a realness,” the Dyemusica frontman explains. “They were playing for themselves and then people wanted to hear them. We’ve played our best stuff when there’s no one there except the bartender. Then we don’t feel like we have to play to the audience, we can play for ourselves.”

The first few years following Dyemusica’s 2011 formation, the group dedicated a lot of energy pushing for notoriety and trying to build an organic cult following in the vein of like-minded outfits like Umphrey’s McGee.

“If people want to hear our music, they’ll search us out,” Dye says. “We’ve learned to play what feels right. If we play a reggae song, we know people will dance. They don’t have to know the words or recognize the melody to have a good time.”

From jazz horn player Vince Pryschuk to funk bassist Mike Walden, the musical diversity of Dyemusica’s players makes the music more accessible – Dye even spent a stint with a heavy prog metal outfit in Phoenix.

Dyemusica’s second record, Distance, is an eclectic blend of neo-soul, funk, reggae-rock, jazz and electronica. Each track leaves wide spaces open for improvisational journeys in a live setting. The neo-ska tune “Miles” cries out for some mind-expanding, saxophone-guided vision quests.

“We just want to play music, meet people and smile,” Dye says. “It’s who we are.”

DYEMUSICA 7:30pm (6:30pm Italian food potluck) Saturday, March 3. The Venue, 1242 Siddall Court, Seaside. $18/advance; $20/door. 236-0220, instantseats.com.