When you're in a band that's constantly touring, writing music and recording, you sometimes have to miss out on the little things in life.

For the Disco Biscuits keyboardist Aaron Magner, that pastime is cooking, an interest he's been unable to pursue.

"Pretty much every book I read is about a famous chef," Magner said. "I don't really get to do much of my own cooking though, but I get to eat at great restaurants in all he cities we go to."

The kinds of diverse and gourmet tastes this amateur epicure immerses himself in are a lot like the different sounds his band collects as influences.

The group, made up of Allen Aucoin, Mark Brownstein and Jon Gutwillig in addition to Magner, integrates synthesizers and other electronic elements into its jam band setup. The "trance-fusion" band will be performing its second area show in just over four months at 8 p.m. Sunday at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.

The group is no stranger to State College, having played multiple times at the now-defunct Crowbar venue, which has since reopened as the Cell Block, 420 E. College Ave. When the group was very young, it played steady gigs at a much smaller Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave., Magner said.

Magner said the band's "trance-fusion" label is apt in that it recalls aspects of 1960's jazz-fusion artists who began integrating standard jazz elements with psychedelic rock.

The Disco Biscuits carries on the same tradition, taking those boundary pushing '60s elements into the future, Magner said.

But for a band so concerned with the future, it certainly took a risk when it kick started its career.

The band initially formed at the University of Pennsylvania, where the members met and began to play in various groups together. However, they left the school before finishing their degrees.

"It's never too late to drop out of school is my motto," Magner said. "I'm searching for honorary degrees all around the country."

The Disco Biscuit's current tour is in anticipation of the band's next album, Planet Anthem, set for a January 2010 release. The new record marks a change for the group in songwriting -- for the first time, the band began writing all of the songs from scratch collectively, Magner said.

The group also purchased its own studio, which allowed members to take their time without "label people standing over our shoulders," Magner said.

With its newfound freedom, the Disco Biscuits ended up writing 40 songs, 18 of which were used for the recordings.

The others are still played live and may be released someday, Magner said.

The group also enlisted several producers to help with the record, including hip-hop producers Don Cheegro and Dirty Hairy, which has given the band some fresh angles, Magner said.

"It was a lot of fun for them to work in a new context, but the album certainly is not a hip-hop album," Magner said.

"We were able to get a lot of different perspectives, input and influence working with so many renowned and respected producers."

The band has also hired renowned artist Storm Thorgerson to create the artwork for the upcoming releases, which Magner said will be connected thematically. Thorgerson's body of work includes albums like Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin.

"His résumé is absolutely incredible," Magner said.

"Working with someone with as big a résumé as his comes with a price, but there's a guarantee of quality."

For all the lengths the group is going to for the album, the band remains devoted to live performance and will be playing two full sets and an encore with no opening bands Sunday, totaling about four hours of music, Magner said.

Though some aspects of the studio material won't aren't possible to reproduce live, the band is capable of putting on a great show without post-production trickery, said Mike Negra, executive director for the State Theatre.

Negra saw the group when they last played the venue in June.

"I thought it was a great show and a lot of fun," he said. "It was straightforward --they didn't have a lot of gimmicks."