In 2019 alone, alternative rock band X Ambassadors released a new album, helped pop sensation Lizzo produce hers, were heavily involved with a “Game of Thrones” soundtrack album and released a benefit single about gun violence.

The band also has been on the road since April, and the tour continues well into 2020 but first will stop Friday at the State Theatre in Portland.

X Ambassadors is the trio of singer Sam Harris, his brother Casey Harris on keys and drummer Adam Levin. The Harris brothers grew up in Ithaca, New York. The band formed in Brooklyn in 2007 and is now based in Los Angeles.

“Orion,” released in mid-June, is the follow-up to the 2015 debut “VHS,” home to the hits “Unsteady,” “Renegades” and “Jungle.” Like its predecessor, the new album has cracked the charts with the singles “Hey Child” and “Boom,” and the album reached No. 125 on the U.S. Billboard 200. As for the band’s streaming numbers, I’m not sure I can count that high.

In August, X Ambassadors released “Optimistic.” The heavy-hitting song speaks about gun violence in an unflinching way with lyrics like “Gunshots and online forums, American decorum/I cried my (expletive) eyes out.” It also declares a bold hatred of President Trump. Proceeds from “Optimistic” benefit Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control.

Sam Harris, 31, became involved with Everytown soon after the mass shooting during a Las Vegas music festival in October 2017 that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more. But it was the back-to-back shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, at the beginning of August that inspired “Optimistic.”

“I was listening to an interview with a parent and I was crying my eyes out, out of anger and frustration,” he said in a phone interview from Savannah, Georgia, on a day off between shows in Florida and North Carolina. Knowing he had to do something, Harris said, he turned his car around, drove back home and wrote the song in about an hour.

“Once the song was written, I knew that when we put it out I wanted it to be something that had real, concrete purpose to it,” he said.  The single’s artwork directs people to the Everytown website, and Harris hopes people are moved to contact their local representatives about responsible gun laws. “We all have to do our part in the democratic society we live in and try to make a difference.”

Harris said the response to the song when the band plays it live has been positive, even when it takes the crowd by surprise. “They’re all kind of taken aback a little bit, some of them slack-jawed because it’s very loud and aggressive, and comes right in the middle of our set.”

Harris also said if there’s been negative reaction to the song, he’s not aware of it, though he presumes it exists. “Personally, I’m just going to speak my truth. You can try to pretend that there’s no problem in this country with gun violence but I see one, and I’m speaking out.”

That quality made him a natural match with singer and rapper Lizzo, whose breakthrough album “Cuz I Love You” was released in April, and it has X Ambassadors’ fingerprints all over it, in songwriting and production credits. Harris said working with Lizzo was one of the greatest surprises for the band.

“We were such huge fans of her. I heard her ‘Coconut Oil’ EP back in 2017 and immediately said, ‘I have to write with her,’ ” said Harris. The whole band got involved and is continuing to establish itself as a production team for other artists.

“We wrote ‘Jerome’ together on the first day we got in the studio and it was just kind of magic, we work so well together,” said Harris.  “She’s such a brilliant songwriter and creative, and so uniquely herself, and it’s been incredible to be on this ride and watch her meteoric rise. It’s so very well deserved.”

Another recent accomplishment of the X Ambassadors is its significant role in “For the Throne: Music inspired by HBO Series Game of Thrones,” a compilation album released in April, featuring songs inspired by the show by artists like Maren Morris, The National, The Weekend and several other big names.

X Ambassadors wrote the song “Baptize Me,” recorded with singer Jacob Banks, co-wrote several other tracks on the album and helped produce it. Harris, a big “Thrones” fan, loved the experience. “It was so fun to write for such a rich world. I mean, we’re talking about loyalty and death, and sex and love, and power.”

But even with all its big-name success, the band very much appreciates that fans put the effort into seeing them play live, which is good news for people with tickets to the State.

“They deserve everything, they deserve a hell of a show. So I try to bring that to our audience every night.”

And Portland is sure to give back, at least in the form of Eventide lobster rolls.

“I’m dreaming of it, I’ve already had it and it’s my favorite,” he said.

X Ambassadors
7:30 p.m. Friday. State Theatre, 609 Congress St., Portland, $32.78 in advance, $35 day of show. statetheatreportland.com

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