Love Seed Mama Jump to play milestone concert at Rusty Rudder on July 31

Dewey Beach-based band Love Seed Mama Jump has impressively been around so long that they formed five years before the original “Space Jam” film, starring Michael Jordan, was in theaters.

The longstanding band will celebrate their 30th anniversary with a hometown concert at the Rusty Rudder on Saturday, a venue they’ve been gigging at since July 1991.

In addition to earning the title of Most Random Band Name in Delaware, Love Seed also earned the title of the official house band for the NFL’s Washington Football Team.

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The six-piece pop-rock band started when Cape Henlopen High School classmates Rick Arzt, Pete Wiedmann and former guitarist Will Stack started playing school talent shows together.

“We were friends in high school and a bunch of the guys also did lifeguarding in Rehoboth and Dewey. We just used to play in small bars around Rehoboth, like Arena's and at some places that are gone; Sydney's is gone now,” the frontman Artz said. “We used to play at lifeguard parties and we sort of grew from there.”

Love Seed has sold between 150,000 to 200,000 copies of their five albums, including "Drunk at the Stone Balloon," which remains one of the state's most beloved live albums of all time.

In 1996, Billboard featured the unsigned Love Seed, drawing attention to the popularity of "Drunk at the Stone Balloon," which the magazine reported sold 16,000 copies in its first year. (It ended up selling about 100,000, according to the band.)

The two originals on the album, the humorous punk-turned-hippie ode "She Likes the Dead" and the harmonica-laced "Free," remain as two of the band's most requested originals. And since their own songs are slipped into both their covers-dominated shows, many think they are cover songs as well.

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Today Love Seed has outlasted a dizzying number of bands that started in Delaware.

But much like the “Space Jam” series, the gang is still putting smiles on people’s faces, decades later; and they’ll do just that during their milestone show in Dewey this weekend.

Their concert at the Rusty Rudder (113 Dickinson St., Dewey Beach) is on Saturday. Tickets are $20 and that includes an open bar and appetizers from 8 to 9 p.m. For more info, visit rustyrudder.com or call (302) 227-3888.

News Journal reporter Ryan Cormier contributed to this report.

Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com.