Hailing from Oxford, Miss., Charles Adcock (bass, acoustic guitar, vocals), Adam Ray (guitar, bass, trumpet, vocals), Drew Shetley (drums) and Blair Bingham (keys, percussion, bass, guitar and vocals) make up The Red Thangs, a band as trendy as Zooey Deschanel’s bangs — every pun intended to the band’s quixotic tune, “(I am) Joseph Gordon-Levitt.” 

The band’s foundation was established in 2010 when Ray’s propensity for the guitar met Shetley’s beat. The two drummed up a band, founded mainly on covers, which manifested when Ray and Adcock forged a friendship while employed at a summer camp in 2011. As the dynamic duo of Shetley and Ray mixed with Adcock’s knack for bass, vocals and innate songwriting ability, The Red Thangs was formed. 

The band’s name, Ray explains, formulated itself out of an attempt to avoid a plethora of bad names. Ray, an evident grammar enthusiast, cited sentence fragments and possessive clauses as obvious faux pas when solidifying a moniker.

“We decided ‘the’ was a good word to have in a band name. We also like colors. So we chose red because that seemed like a good color at the time, and we’re still pretty pleased with it,” Ray said with an air of sarcastic humor. “And then Charles contributed the word ‘thang’ from some dark recesses of his mind.”

The band’s lone female, Bingham, claims she began practicing with the band under its false motives in 2012.

“We just kept inviting her to come hangout and sing with us over and over again, until eventually she knew all of our songs, and then we listed her as a member of our band on our Facebook group,” Ray said.

“And that’s how I knew,” Bingham chimed in, finishing Ray’s sentence as effortlessly as her voice coats the notes of his trumpet on the band’s track, “Sweaters.” 

The band’s effortless sound can be heard on its EP “Indie Girl Bang Swoop,” available on Bandcamp, which is a conglomeration of hopeful observations and deceivingly peppy tunes recounting the trials of unrequited love — though Adcock cites his girlfriend as a prime inspiration for his songwriting process.

Ray elucidates the jovial harmonies which illuminate Adcock’s lyrics arise from the band’s generally cheerful disposition. He explains their music is an extension of their own mentalities, an effort to extend and build on the happiness of others.

The band played Saturday as the opener for Starkville-based band Wolf Cove’s farewell show. Steven Calhoun, a junior majoring in software engineering, said the band’s stage performance is a true testament to the band’s jubilant spirit. He said the harmonic combination of Adcock and Bingham’s voices gave their performance an idiosyncratic quality.

“You can tell they really enjoy what they do, and they are genuinely passionate about what they’ve created,” Calhoun said. “You don’t have to come expecting your soul to be wrecked. You can just have fun.”

Ray and Shetley are graduates of the University of Mississippi, with Adcock and Bingham following suit this May. Ray cites “world tours and hit records” when questioned about future plans, before swiftly expounding the band has actually just finalized their first full length album, a true local effort, recorded at Tweed Recording in Oxford with Andrew Ratcliffe, “a true hidden gem of northern Mississippi.” The band plans to release the record independently this June.

The Red Thangs will open for Eric Hutchinson Saturday in conjunction with the Student Association and Music Maker Productions’ presentation of Old Main Music Festival.

Adcock said the band plans to unveil two new songs at this weekend’s show, with Ray adding audiences can expect new material in addition to the bands full repertoire.