For Wassabi Collective, it’s all about the vibe. For the band, the vibe is always energy-building and positive. For the crowd, they simply let the music move them.

The five-piece band has been filling dance floors with their fusion of pop-rock, hip-hop reggae, funk and jazz for close to a decade, and with their latest album, Get It, which came out April 20, they have even more of a reason to tour the country, including a stop in Jasper.

Wassabi Collective, who hail from Nelson, B.C., have often been known for their ‘jam band’ type shows, “a kind of ambiguous, selfless kind of groove that goes on through the night,” as guitarist Brent Hongisto (Gisto) explains. “And that part hasn’t really changed. Except that now we’ve just embraced a lot more lyricism and a lot more songwriting to a point where now we’re much more song-oriented than it used to be, where we would just get up there and strictly just ride the vibe.”

“Get It” features high-energy dance music, up-tempo beats and vocals on almost every track from singer and percussionist Melissa Meretsky. Gisto describes it as a departure from the old style of fewer lyrics and an arrival of the new.

“It’s still just like that [the jam style]. There is just a lot more songwriting into it, and it’s been going really well that way,” says Gisto. The album is full of positive lyrics and messages, which he says has always been part of their theme.

“Even in our instrumental music, it sort of carried that vibe. Now it’s just transferring it over to lyrics, that’s all. Just thinking about those sorts of things, and there are many different layers and aspects to life, it’s good to be able to sing songs about it and sort of relate to people on day-to-day things, big-picture things, little-picture things,” he says.

“Get It” is the band’s second full-length studio album, one that came out very naturally because it was recorded and produced in their home studio in Nelson. Since its release, the band has done about five shows, which Gisto says were all really well received. In the past the band has shared the stage with the likes of K-OS, Hot Hot Heat, Bedouin Soundclash, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Randy Bachman.

As for the Jasper show, Gisto says it will hopefully get people moving and really going off to the music while the band showcases their new songs, totally written into the same old jam band style, ensuring there is never a dull moment.

“It’s going to be a party – it’s going to be a dance party,” he says.

Wassabi Collective have always had a core influence of roots-reggae and dance hall, world music with techno tribal parts, Gisto says, but now the band is less judgmental and open to all sorts of music, and they are wrapping it all into their style.

“It’s a post-genre world and we’re kind of a genre-mending group, so we’ll take anything we kind of feel is relevant in the moment for our own. For Wassabi Collective, really it’s all about the vibration and the tone and just kind of building the energy through the night. It’s not so much what styles we do, its kind of just how we do it,” he says.

To hear Wassabi Collective’s new album, “Get It,” visit www.wassabi.net. The band will play the Downstream Sunday, May 2.