Brett Bielski admits his band, The Flow, is always looking for new influences to dig itself into.

Later this month, the band will take a master class with Antibalas, an Afro-funk group from Brooklyn.

“Basically, they do workshops while they’re touring and Afro-funk is something we’ve been listening to a lot lately,” Bielski said. “We found their music to be really deep.”

The band will perform, with special guest Mission Orange, Saturday at Rick’s American Cafe, 224 Abbott Road.

The band will debut a couple new songs which imitate the feel of the bands recent emphasis on Afro-beat-influenced music.

It also recently performed its third tour of ski towns in Colorado.

“We’ve laid the groundwork for being able to go back there whenever we want, which is good,” he said. “It’s fun to go on the road and share what you’ve been working on with a bunch of new people.

“We played everything from little restaurants tucked into Winter Park to a huge club in Breckenridge, and pretty much everything in between.”

The band has also been busy breaking in its new keyboard player, Paul Lizinski, who Bielski describes as a monster.

“There’s no doubt about it, he’s amazing,” he said. “He started playing with us about three weeks ago and he’s definitely got a really diverse background.

“He’s trained in classical music and he’s pretty much a jazz guy, but he can throw down some amazing funk - he really adds a lot to the band.”

Cover is $4 for those 21 and over. For more information, call Rick’s at (517)351-2285.