Quest for truly unique sound drives band

The four bandmates in Malibu Stasi are diehard record collectors and music fans with wide-ranging tastes, so inspiration often comes from unexpected places.

“One of my favorite musicians is the hip-hop producer Madlib, and he would go on airplane trips to Brazil where he would just go crate-digging for sounds he might never have considered using,” said bassist Tim Naskeli, who joins singer Gabe George, guitarist Cameron Harrison and drummer Jeremy Burgess in concert at the Spacebar on Thursday, where the band will celebrate the release of its new cassette, “Sitting Wild.”

“I want to do the same thing with my music, Naskeli said. "I like that mentality.”

While ostensibly a punk band, there’s a strong experimental component to Malibu Stasi’s music. Harrison, for one, isn’t as enamored of soloing as he is of shaping sound, using feedback to create buzzing textures that give the songs unexpected dimension. Witness the loping song “Dark Light,” which builds around whirring passages that sound like industrial sheet metal being cut.

“We’ll typically have parts where I’m not even playing the guitar so much as I’m Where: Spacebar, 2590 N. High St.

Contact: spacebar columbus.com

Showtime: 8 p.m. Thursday

Tickets: $8 to $10

pushing it at things and aiming it at amps and making feedback," Harrison said. "It’s more about creating a textural part but also using the noise more rhythmically so that it’s not just like, ‘Here’s some feedback.’”

Even George refuses to play it straight at vocals, at times barking his words in a way so that they almost become another instrument, with syllables hitting like sharp snare snaps. Lyrically, George and his bandmates favor restraint, with most songs building around short phrases.

“I remember earlier on, Gabe was writing a lot, and we kind of talked and I was like, ‘Man, what if you just pared it down a little bit?’” Naskeli said. “Now he’s getting it down to these very central words and phrases.

"I like to say that Gabe writes phrases that you’d like to get tattooed on you, like ‘Great artists steal. I’m a crook.’”

The phrase is also loosely accurate, as George is quick to point out, pirated from the saying, “Good artists copy and great artists steal,” often attributed to Pablo Picasso.

“I consider myself a one-trick pony. Having been in punk bands my whole life, I don’t got a lot of range, but what I do got is a selection of words,” George said. “But I love dub reggae and the influence that had on bands like Public Image Ltd., and that is definitely a voice being used as a percussive instrument.”

Malibu Stasi formed in December 2017 when George connected with Naskeli, who had previously all but given up music, caught up in too much drinking and drugs. When Naskeli stopped drinking, his interest in making music returned.

After a few early roster changes the group cemented its current lineup with the addition of Harrison, who joined the fold in late April, just prior to the recording of “Sitting Wild.” Harrison’s addition, and the chemistry that has blossomed in the months since, has the players excited for the band’s future prospects.

“There were parts (on “Sitting Wild”) that were holdovers from the first guitar player,” Naskeli said. “This new song we just recorded at Capital University (“He Tried”), it’s a quantum leap. … It’s more us now.”