The Blue Ribbons’ latest album, 2024’s “Forever, But Not For Long,” has plenty of pop hooks. Or rather, it had plenty of them before the band took sledgehammers and scalpels to most of the pretty bits.

“It took a while to get the bones of some of the tunes down just so we could break them,” bandleader James Rohr told Herald with a laugh.

Local champs the Blue Ribbons are a pop band in the same way that the Beatles or Steely Dan or Television are pop bands in that they like pop but “aren’t too precious about the songs,” Rohr said.

The Ribbons have the Beatles’ artistic reach, Steely Dan’s jazz chops, and Television’s orchestrated chaos — and even this doesn’t capture it all (add in some Tom Waits, a bit of Elvis Costello, and a pinch of Frank Zappa). Basically, Rohr and collaborators guitarist Mike Castellana, bassist Jef Charland, and drummer Tauras Biskis take catchy tunes and ugly them up without losing the hook.

“I love having a structure, let’s say it’s on a four-minute song, and I love that we can just beat the crap out of it or go crazy,” Rohr said. “I want there to be room in every song for anything to occur. We’re not forcing anything, or I don’t think we are, or maybe we have just to see what will happen. It might not sound like this to some people, but we are actually serving the song.”

Perfect example: new song “This Information.” The opaque-but-striking lyrics both disorient and prove some big sing along moments (“Gonna donate my body to science fiction”). The music charges around covering showtunes, new wave, punk, and jazz, but a sharp hook pulls you through the tune.

The band perfected this approach over a 15-year run of weekly Thursday gigs at Toad. The magic and sweat built the band into a wholly unique outfit, fearless but fun. But once a week turned into a bit of a slog (as it can after 15 years). Then, right as the band scaled back, the pandemic came. Then, right as the band got back to Toad, the venue closed last fall.

“I realized that all those years that I said I never took this for granted, well, it turns out, I took it for granted,” Rohr said with a laugh. “When we started at Toad again, we totally relished it. We were born again.”

Thankfully, the Blue Ribbons have found a new home in Toad’s sibling venue, the Lizard Lounge. The band returns to the room May 16 and plans on being there every other month.

The bigger room comes with the challenge of filling it, especially considering the Lizard is a ticketed venue and Toad had no cover. But Rohr saw a lot of old and new faces at the band’s February Lizard gig. And once people realize that a few bucks is nothing to pay to see the Ribbons break perfectly good pop songs live and in person, the residency should heat up.

For tickets and details, visit lizardloungeclub.com