The band recently passed through a scary phase as Garza's brother and band bassist Jojo Garza had throat surgery.

"We had just finished the first show of a tour and he had some pain, so he went to a doctor and found out he had a growth. It was a rough moment," says Garza. "We kinda limped through that tour, cancelled a few dates and went back to San Angelo.

"Your natural reaction when something like this happens is you expect the worst and you hope for the best. We were so blessed that it wasn't cancerous and that it was able to heal itself after the surgery. We are just truly blessed."

Garza noted that the band was half way through recording Rockpango but really weren't sure they would ever finish it. They laid low in San Angelo six months waiting for Jojo to bounce back, and he did.

"We hadn't put out a new studio album in three years, so we jumped right back on the record as soon as Jojo was good to go," says Garza. "And now we're out here pushing it hard."

According to Garza, the tour is only the three brothers, doing their Texas power-trio thing.

"[Drummer] Ringo has really upped his game the past couple of years. He's added congas to his kit, so we can really mix up our sounds more even though we're still just a simple three-piece."

While the new album certainly shows growth and maturity, Garza admits the band sometimes gets goofy, and "16 Monkeys" is the best current example.

"That was just something we'd been playing around with," he laughs. "During breaks in the studio we were fooling with it and everyone said we had to go ahead and do that one, put it on the album."

Sixteen monkeys ride around on a "chuck wagon" smoking pot and commenting on the scene in this spoken-word, low-rider funk anthem.

16 monkees on a chuck wagon rollin' down the road

They're goin' around town telling' everybody

Let's get stoned

"Funny as that song is, it really just came up from the stuff we see when we're out on the road," Garza explains. "Man, there's a lot of weirdness and goofy stuff going on everywhere. That song is just as true as any of the more serious songs."

With Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real, 8 p.m., Thursday, May 12, House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, 888-402-5837.