Anyone who’s peered over the wing of a passenger airliner as it descends into the seemingly endless sprawl surrounding LAX for the first time might feel swallowed. It’s easy to get lost in a place like this. But it’s also easy to find your niche. For the better part of two years, the LA-based DIY act known as garbagebarbie has been releasing a steady stream of singles to a localized and dedicated fanbase who, in the vast expanse of the largest city in the west, have managed to find their niche.

On Friday, the band will release “kiss,” the latest in their run of singles priming listeners for their debut album later this year. Earlier, they brought a touch of wit and class to the following questions.

YY: Garbagebarbie refuses to be “confined by genre,” and you have the repertoire to back up that sentiment. One term I keep seeing, however, is “disco-punk.” What has contributed to the band claiming this sub-genre, and how do each of your music tastes and influences factor in to the band’s overall sound?

GB: One of the reasons the group started was because we wanted to create the culture we wished to be a part of and a genre we would be fans of.

Disco has a legacy of late nights full of diversity, debauchery and acceptance while punk continues to be at the forefront of positive social change and youthful ferocity.

We didn’t coin the phrase “disco-punk,” but it’s a description we claim proudly.

Similarly, with regard to garbagebarbie’s sonically diverse catalog of songs, do you find yourselves setting out to write a song in a particular style, or do they typically just find their way through the creative process?

We’ve always prioritized a musical diet that incorporates a little bit of everything. The cross-genre songwriting is a result of being fans of all types of music and the creative trust we have with each other to constantly push the garbagebarbie sound into new territory.

What does the songwriting process typically look like for the band? Is it usually a full group effort?

It fluctuates. Our best songs, or rather the ones we love the most, are written with all four of us in a room at the same time. But we are all individual writers, and when a song reveals itself, we aren’t too precious about how it’s finished. All that matters is that it feels like a garbagebarbie song.

Browsing the band’s Spotify, listeners might notice something unusual: everything from your band name to song titles is stylized in lowercase with no spaces — where does this come from?

The spacebar on our computer is broken :/

It’s something we’ve grown to accept and are too broke to fix.

Your newest single, “kiss,” is a pop-leaning track. Pop-oriented music can be frowned upon, especially in DIY circles, but I tend to think making music that appeals to most people must be some of the most difficult music to write. What made the process different for this song? Did it feel simpler? More complex?

The most DIY / punk thing to do is piss people off, so “kiss” is really just this meta performance art.

We just wrote it, we like it and we wanna share it.

Garbagebarbie is known locally for what sounds to be a charismatic stage presence. What do you think of a band’s relationship with their audience? What is your live philosophy?

Our audience is our community, our friends, our bar regulars and truly our family. We give everything on stage because it’s what they do for us as an audience. The band and audience might be looking different directions, but our shows are a shared singular energy. It’s a conversation. Plus it’s fun to dance, move around and scream like a freak.

I don’t know if there’s a philosophy, but we feel the music and respond to it physically.

In addition to lively shows, listeners have seen a steady flow of singles and EPs since 2023. After “kiss,” what’s next for garbagebarbie?

What will be considered one of the greatest debut LPs of all time ;)