Garrett Dutton III — a.k.a. G. Love, front man of the alternative hip-hop band G. Love & Special Sauce — put out a new album, Long Way Down, in 2009. Haven't heard of it? That's because it was only released in Australia.

In 2009, the band released Superhero Brother on Jack Johnson's record label Brushfire Records and traveled the U.S. to promote it-complete with a stop in Grand Rapids. Quickly after, the band released Long Way Down. The Australia-only CD is actually a modified version of Superhero Brother and features some of the same tracks but, according to G, "it's a different mix of tunes."

What's popular and varying taste in music motivated the special release, which was created to please Aussie ears.

"Country to country, certain things we do go over different in different territories," G. Love said. "It's true even within the U.S."

This won't be the first CD strictly for Aussie fans, and according to G. Love, it won't be the last.

G. Love & Special Sauce wsg Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad The Intersection, Grand Rapids March 11, 8:30 p.m. $20 advance, $25 day of (616) 451-8232, sectionlive.com

"We're gonna start doing that, kind of releasing different records independently down in Australia, just because we can."

For the time being, Love and gang are back stateside, bringing with them their signature, southern-inspired, sloppy blues and beats and are gearing to hit Grand Rapids.

"We have 10 albums out, so we try to touch on most of our records and play a lot of the favorites."

Tunes like "Cold Beverage," "Baby's Got Sauce" and "Who's Got the Weed?" (also a frequent line on his Twitter updates) have made this Philadelphia-born-and-raised band popular with fans who appreciate tongue-in-cheek humor.

"There's a very serious side to me but I'm also in touch with light-hearted side of life," G said. "I like to write about s**t that other people are afraid to or take themselves too seriously to write about."

Serious issues like falling in love, having a cold beer, smoking a good joint, and munching down on some milk and cereal are all topics G. Love has successfully tackled.

His song "Booty Call" was inspired by his desire to write a love song about something that everyone can relate to.

"I like to have something to balance between a laugh and sentimental, heart-felt moment," he said.

A typical G. Love show is what he describes as "an emotional roller coaster," a "gospel choir meet frat party" that relies heavily on improvisation and new, unreleased and unrecorded material-in addition to the G. Love classics.

"We like to play things different and let the music take a life of its own," said G. "We like to party down loose but really return to the music and become inspired, and hope others become inspired, too."