If you fell in love with the songs on 2007’s Go Ghetto Tiger, the eponymous debut from the Vancouver trio composed of MarQuo Blacquiere, Jason “Super J” Urquhart, and Skoty B, you’re out of luck if you want to hear them live anytime soon. In February, the group—which has been drawing fans with its mix of industrial noise, ’80s new wave, and ’90s indie rock—lost guitarist-vocalist Skoty B to time-commitment conflicts. Without him, eight of the nine songs on the record are off the set list, and the group is almost starting from scratch. But fear not—there are no tears in the Ghetto. While the group may have lost a guitarist, it has gained a new drummer, and Go Ghetto Tiger is more excited than ever about writing songs.

Sitting in a Main Street café, the band’s members hardly look the way they sound. Vocalist and bassist Blacquiere, 34, is the gregarious leader who, apart from fingernails painted with what appears to be Sally Hansen’s Ru-by or Not to Be nail polish, comes across as the kind of guy you might see in a sports bar watching the game. Sporting horn-rimmed glasses and a floppy, fringed haircut, 26-year-old keyboardist Urquhart offers a nervous handshake and seems your typical shy indie-rock enthusiast, and new drummer Jason Quirk is somewhere in between the two.

But after just a minute’s chat, Go Ghetto Tiger, or perhaps more accurately Blacquiere, is all enthusiasm and rock-star dreams. While the band may at some point add guitars again, right now it’s all about songwriting and whatever Quirk brings to the mix.

“For three years, we had a sequencer,” says Blacquiere. “We went on tour with an MP3 player with all the drum tracks on it.”

“I’m replacing a computer,” adds Quirk, who previously held down the back end for Vancouver punk/new-wave band IROC. “A robot. I’m actually still playing a bit like a robot. I’m a human trying to play like a drum machine.”

“We’re supertight. That’s our thing,” Blacquiere says. “Tighter than most. We’ll have to prove it to everybody. But I’m serious. Tighter than most.”

The group laughs at this, but frankly its members will have to be tight if they’re going to continue to make the music they do. Not terribly radio-friendly, and certainly not trendy, Go Ghetto Tiger’s body of work traverses some strange territory. For example, Go Ghetto Tiger’s opening track, “Deluxe Deluxe”, manages to recall ’80s also-rans the Icicle Works, ’90s indie-rock bands like Nada Surf and Soul Coughing, and, to add to the confusion, Vancouver’s own industrial legends Skinny Puppy. In other words, the song is every night at Luv-A-Fair rolled into three minutes and 32 seconds. Four tracks later, Urquhart’s “Before We’re Friends” reveals the soft-spoken musician’s affection for dreamscapes in the vein of Sigur Rós and synth-pop í  la Violator-era Depeche Mode.

Sound like a muddle? Strangely, it mostly works, especially when Urquhart’s keys are at the forefront.

Indeed, if there’s anything that might be a bit over-the-top about Go Ghetto Tiger, one suspects it will be fixed with the new lineup. The beats that seemed a bit prefab on the debut will likely sound more soulful with Quirk behind them, and the effects-laden guitars that made the record just a tad too ’80s presumably departed with Skoty B.

“Our next record, we’re skipping 10 feet ahead,” says Blacquiere. “This past record was not as well crafted. I’m definitely feeling really excited about crafting more songs and making them perfect. We’re definitely a pop band. A lot of people say that we’re ’80s, and I guess I can kind of hear it, but I’m also a huge fan of noise bands—Fantí´mas, Mr. Bungle. I love death metal and speed metal.”

Quirk interrupts. “MarQuo tends to write faster-tempo songs, and Super J tends to write the slower songs, so I think it’s a pretty good marriage,” the drummer says.

Whatever the chemistry, it seems like Go Ghetto Tiger is headed in a new direction. Blacquiere promises more-accessible lyrics, and Urquhart insists he’s learning how to write up-tempo songs that are less sad and more dance-oriented. Quirk, for his part, is playing catch-up, but says that this is the most democratic band he’s ever been in. One thing is for sure: the group’s notoriously energetic live shows—sometimes replete with uniforms, makeup, and other visual surprises—aren’t going anywhere. Go Ghetto Tiger wants to be a band that sounds even better live than on disc.

“When I first started Go Ghetto Tiger,” says Blacquiere, “for me, it was a situation where I wanted to impress people, and I thought that would get us ahead, whereas now I feel this intense happiness when we’re playing in a room, and I really just want to continue to do that.”

Go Ghetto Tiger plays the ANZA Club next Thursday (March 27).