Tackling the concept of music as product, the Warhol-inspired box that decorates the cover of Shamgod's current album is more than just an ironic illustration. The garish red, white and blue box bears the band's logo, with the bold proclamation that the CD contains "pop art music with brain enhancer." These are not merely tongue-in-cheek claims.

"Rock 'n' roll is, in many ways, about regeneration of old styles. Rock is also about commoditization of those old forms," says Shamgod singer/guitarist Mary Byrne, adding that it's inevitable for music to be seen as product. "To pine for some lost time when it wasn't is yearning for something that never really existed."

Byrne bristles when she hears musicians shun the commercial possibilities of the music industry. "Personally, I think we should live in a place in society where poets could sit and write all day, and are paid a living wage for doing that," she says. "Modern society doesn't treasure or prioritize artists as in past centuries, when patrons underwrote their favorite painters and writers."

But what about those touted "brain enhancers"? Byrne says Shamgod calling its music "intellipoprock" is simply the band's way of denoting kinship to the literate, slightly quirky new wave of the early '80s.

Though she's as comfortable on stage as she is on a soapbox, Byrne has no immediate plans to campaign for anything other than for her band. "Since we first started, I've been out there with a staple gun, flyering every pole and storefront, getting our name out there," she says. "It was like we were running for mayor."

Shamgod plays 9 Lives Saloon Fri., March 21.