The first question for a band with a name like Come See My Dead Person always is: Where did that name come from?

There were so many ways that this story could have gone. They could be a band of funeral directors. A band of murderers. A band of people who think dead people are funny (indeed, there was talk of Weekend at Bernie's). Instead, it's a band of people who think death metal bands with long names are funny.

"We used to be a death metal band and then we stopped that. We thought of it for that band to make fun of the bands with really long names. It just stuck," says guitarist/singer Matt Mejia.

It's an unwieldy name for an unwieldy band. Come See My Dead Person is a nine-membered band with no genre affiliation. They play folk, rock, bluegrass, Irish jigs, blues, country and whatever else they can conjure with a few plucks of a few dozen strings. In short: whatever comes out and sounds like a party.

"We never set out to write songs in a certain style. We just want it to be fun. We want everyone to have a good time, listen to some music, and dance," offers drummer Sean Martinez.

It is this rejection of structure and boundary that allowed the band to grow to nine people. The band tells the story of member Brian Green, who saw CSMDP at a show and wanted to be in the band. As a joke, they told him to go get a banjo.

"He showed up the next day with a banjo and I was like, 'oh shit, this dude just went and bought a banjo,'" Mike Mejia says. "'Now I have to let him in the band.' He's been playing two years now and he blows me away."

Matt Mejia says there's a method to that madness.

"It has changed the way we write music. When you don't know how to play an instrument, or the way you're supposed to play it, you freestyle it."

While this sounds like a jam-band approach, the music Come See My Dead Person creates isn't anything like the rambling fields of jam band territory. Rat Song is as gypsy and as grounded on earth (as opposed to some peaceful jam in the sky) as the swirling insanity of Gogol Bordello. Sunday Morning Dreaded Day is dirty blues vocals set to the beautiful twirls of the only classically trained musician in the band, violinist Dave Thomas. For a bunch of people without formal training, this is technically proficient, interesting stuff that elevates party music, much in the way the Sideshow Tramps has done, but with a more growling, guttural take.

The band claims Galveston as its home, with Gravity Bar on the Strand its home base until Hurricane Ike.

"We could play there and draw 500 people a night. Then Ike came and destroyed all of that. Ike pushed us out here, where we're still trying to find our footing," Mike Mejia says.

CSMDP has taken strides in that direction, sharing bills with Spain Colored Orange, Two Star Symphony and B L A C K I E. And if that tactic doesn't work, the band is giving away its EP at shows.

"We encourage people to torrent this disc, give the songs to their friends," Martinez says. "If you can sell this CD and make money at it, let us know how to do it. T-shirts are $10, but the music is free."

Come See My Dead Person after Beetle. 10 p.m. Thursday. Continental Club. Free.