O.A.R. lead vocalist Mark Roberge.

AP / ROBERT E KLEIN

It’s the sort of break that a band like O.A.R. isn’t accustomed to.

For three months, the celebrated jam band stayed away from the road and the stage. That’s quite an accomplishment considering that O.A.R.’s grass-roots popularity was established largely through touring. That it shared some of those concert bills with such high-profile acts as The Dave Matthews Band, a group O.A.R.’s early music strongly resembled, didn’t hurt the recognition factor, either.

The reason for the break, if you can really call it that, was necessity. The guys in O.A.R. decided to devote a hefty amount of time to making a new album, All Sides, which was released last month.

“It was one of the longer periods of time we’ve been off the road,” said Benj Gershman, bassist for O.A.R. “But we were playing consistently behind the scenes. Besides, being in the studio was a learning experience for us all over again. I think we actually came out of this time off as a tighter band.

“Of course, there was a little bit of getting used to playing the songs again and remembering all the idiosyncrasies. So far, though, it hasn’t been too rough. While it was nice to kind of cool it from traveling so much, it feels great to be back out again.” The band comes to the Comcast Center, in Mansfield, Mass., on Friday.

O.A.R.’s last studio album, 2005’s Stories of a Stranger, was produced by Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison and sported a broader pop sound that chipped away at O.A.R.’s towering but sometimes debilitating reputation as a jam band. The album also yielded the radio hit “Love and Memories.”

The new album, produced by Matt Wallace (Maroon 5), drew mixed reviews. Said Rolling Stone: It “features glossy modern-rock songs that range from sweeping ballads (“One Day,” “Shattered”) to clattering guitar anthems (“This Town,” “War Song”). Too often, however, O.A.R. sacrifice the breezy, slightly skanked grooves that made their music keg-party-appropriate, opting for ultra-serious confessionals where they come off like a poor man’s Goo Goo Dolls. So it’s no surprise that the best track is the one where they seem to be having the most fun: “Living in the End.”

Gershman called the album “a step in our evolution. Our band is constantly changing, regardless of what people say we sound like. We’ve never wanted to stick to one sound or be one thing.”

And what do people say O.A.R. — short for Of a Revolution, although the band bills itself by its initials — sounds like? For some critics, the resemblance to Matthews’ puffy pop grooves punctuated by saxophone bordered on imitation. For other fans, O.A.R.’s love of jam-band-friendly improvisations didn’t carry over to the broader pop spectrum of Stories of a Stranger. And there is the stigma, the sort of generic toss-off, that comes from being labeled a jam band.

“You can’t help what people will say,” Gershman said. “Personally, though, I have so much respect for groups that are jam bands because they are musically very, very talented.

“People who throw us in that category probably haven’t listened to everything we’ve got going that makes us who we are. But if that’s what they take out of what limited music they know from us, that’s cool.”

If labeling O.A.R. a jam band misses the mark of the pop-groove music it specializes in, calling the ensemble a college band hits an undeniable bull’s-eye. That’s because the core of O.A.R. — Gershman, singer-guitarist Marc Roberge, guitarist Richard On and drummer Chris Culos — graduated from high school together in Rockville, Md., before attending Ohio State University, in Columbus. That’s where, in the mid-1990s, O.A.R. played its first serious gigs, built its initial fan base and recorded two independently released albums after recruiting Youngstown, Ohio, saxophonist Jerry DePizzo.

O.A.R. and the rock group Ozmatli will be performing at 7 p.m. Friday at the Comcast Center, 885 South Main St., off Route 495, Mansfield, Mass. Tickets are $35. Call (401) 331-2211 or order online at www.ticketmaster.com.