Ups and downs. Every band has ‘em.

Six months ago, Person People — the Bend-based 10-piece hip-hop group that will perform Saturday at The Annex (see “If You Go”) — was a bit down. Then numbering seven members, some of the spark seemed to have left the project.

Six months and three new members later, the group is again on an uptick, stoked about music and gaining momentum going into 2008.

Before we hop on the roller-coaster, though, we must go back to the group’s roots at Bend’s Ponderosa Skate Park.

(But first, a quick roundup of the characters: Kevin “KP” Prather, Garrett “Sorski” Wasson, Mike “Fish” Fischer and DJ Bryan Barisone started Person People in 2002-ish. Chris “Mez” Gomez, Adam “DJ A-Bomb” Rojas and Jason “The Rook” Graham joined around 2004. And last summer, the group expanded again with the addition of drummer Jared Forqueran, bassist Jordan Muller and keyboardist Aaron Miller.)

“Sorski, Fish, Barisone and I have been friends for years … through our shared enthusiasm for hip-hop and skateboarding,” KP said last week. “Since we were little kids, we were way into the scene and the culture.”

The guys “lived” at Ponderosa park, KP said, becoming close buds. And in 2000, Sorski and Barisone started DJing and Sorski got a sampler. Suddenly, KP and Fish, who’d been writing rhymes for years, had an opportunity to turn those rhymes into raps.

“We had a Dr. Sample, an old shelf-system stereo and a microphone, and we started making songs like that for fun,” KP said. “We were just having fun, really, making songs and not even showing anybody. It was just for us. For kicks, you know?”

They produced a 20-song CD called “R U A PP Head?” and in 2004, brought aboard Mez, The Rook and A-Bomb, then a 17-year-old kid making beats in his house south of town. Besides making fresh tracks, A-Bomb had technology that opened new doors for Person People.

“He had a computer. We weren’t used to having a computer,” KP said. “He had (some) knowledge that we lacked, so it was big inspiration for us in a way that, without it, it may have fizzled out.”

What came next was a carnival of creativity, with the seven MCs and DJs getting together almost nightly to write and record.

“Fish and I had five or six notebooks of old stuff that we’d never had the opportunity to record, so we were making, like, a song a day,” KP said. “A-Bomb had a stockpile of beats and it pumped him up that people were coming over to rhyme, so he started creating a lot. We were just fueling each other.”

The group’s first show came in August of 2005 at The Grove, and locals turned out en masse. (“We had ’em wrapped around the block,” Sorski says.)

“People were excited about it. We were super-excited,” KP said. “There had been rap groups in town, but this was seven cats that were into underground rap. Not, like, ‘Yo, yo, bling bling,’ but conscious rhymes and positive stuff.”

Things rolled from there. Person People played The Grove regularly and opened for touring acts such as Talib Kweli and KRS-One. But by last summer, things were again petering out.

“I think I can speak for everyone in that it was kinda seeming to fade a little bit — the original passion and excitement of it,” KP said. “And then we got asked if we wanted to open for (hip-hop legend Guru’s jazz-focused project) Jazzmatazz.”

The stipulation: To get the gig, Person People needed to perform with live musicians.

Enter Forqueran, Miller and bassist Ryan Collinsworth, whose previous band had just splintered.

The connection between rock band and hip-hoppers was instant and electric.

“We made two originals and nailed two of our old songs the day we got together,” KP said.

“We were having this cross-mojonization of blowing each other away,” Forqueran said. “It was just fantastic.”

After four practices with all 10 members, the Jazzmatazz set went off without a hitch. (Collinsworth later left the band and was replaced by Muller.)

“After that show, I said, ‘Man, I can’t see going back to rappin’ over a CD live on stage,’” KP said. “It was a whole new world to me. It reintroduced an old passion.”

Nowadays, Person People is building songs in a bunch of different ways. A-Bomb and Mez make beats and the live band uses them as a blueprint. Or sometimes, the live band will jam until a song surfaces. Meanwhile, five MCs are writing rhymes, both on their own and together.

They hope to record with the new lineup soon. And a tour would be nice, though with 10 people involved, such an undertaking would be tough.

No matter. The most important thing to Person People is as plain as the smiles on their faces when they perform.

“As long as it’s still fun, we’re all going to be doing it. I don’t see it ending any time soon,” KP said. “All we want to do is make the ‘PP Heads’ proud of us and just keep doing our thing and making good music that people will be happy to show their friends.”

IF YOU GO

What: Person People’s Holiday Extravaganza

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Annex, 51 N.W. Greenwood Ave, Bend

Cost: $6 ($5 if you wear festive garb)

Contact: www .myspace.com/personpeople01