Frontman and founder Brian J, center, and The Pimps of Joytime are returning to Bend, where they'll play at the Liquid Lounge on Thursday.

Google a definition of “janxta,” and you get page after page of results for The Pimps of Joytime, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based band that will bring its ear-grabbing blend of funk, soul, rock, Afrobeat and whatever else they throw in the mix to Bend’s Liquid Lounge on Thursday (see “If you go”).

“Give me some of that straight, all the way live janxta funky music, I like it,” sings soulful, fashion-forward frontman Brian J on “Janxta Funk!” the title track of the group’s 2011 album.

Go ahead and listen to the song on YouTube or the band’s website, www.thepimpsofjoytime.com, where you can also get a free, four-song download that includes “Janxta Funk!” You’ll likely like it, and want some of that straight, all the way live janxta funky music for yourself.

But just what is this funky stuff of which J so ardently sings? For that and other answers, we called him at home in Brooklyn, where he’s been working on a new album in his recently upgraded home studio.

“’Janxta’ is a combination of ‘janky’ and ‘gangsta,’ which is kind of the way we roll with this,” J explained. “Like we say, ‘Ballin’ on a budget.’ You can’t be gangsta when you’re all, ‘Oh, I can’t afford this and that.’ We just call it janxta. ‘Keepin’ it janxta.’”

J, who has also lived in Los Angeles and New Orleans, began singing young, about age 14.

“When I started it was only because the bands I played guitar in never had a singer,” he said, “so I was like, ‘Well, I’ll sing until we can get a singer.’

“And back then, being a singer (meant) you had to be able to sing high notes,” J continued. “Like, ‘If you can’t sing Led Zeppelin, you’re not a singer.’ Not a lot of people can sing high notes, so I never really thought I was a singer. I tried one day. I definitely couldn’t do it.”

Oh, but he would learn. After he moved to New York in 1991, J began working with people such as doo-wop and soul great Moe Holmes.

In 2005, he began assembling the parts that would become The Pimps of Joytime, whose lineup has changed a bit over the years, save for constants J and Mayteana Morales. Singer Cole Williams joined up in February, adding another voice and percussionist to the mix. Multi-instrumentalist David Bailis plays bass, synth bass and sampler, and John Staten is on drums.

In a world of derivative bands aping the past for their own gain, the Pimps seem like they were delivered here from 1976 by a time-traveling P-Funk Mothership with one mission and one mission only: spreading the funk gospel.

J promises that the band’s live show teems with “a lot of energy, a lot of grooves,” he said. “We definitely put down the funk.”

He also promised “some good harmonies and songs … it’s a party, but it’s not just a mindless thing. There’s artistry in how we approach the music. We fuse together the live instruments with the loops and samples and whatnot in our own kind of way. The show’s a funky good time.

“We come with a lot of energy, a lot of heat,” he said. “All the musicians are really special. You could focus on any particular person in the band and it would be interesting and entertaining. They bring their own style, their own flair. That’s part of how I created the band — it’s five people who can really do their thing.”

However, as a singer, J is still aiming higher.

“I feel like I’m just starting to get somewhere with it,” he said, “because I’m pretty hard on myself with singing. I have a high standard about it.

“If you don’t have good singing in a group, especially in the soul idiom … just hang it up. I’m trying to be up there with the best, so I’ve got a lot of work to do. But fortunately, singing just gets better with age — it’s not like an athlete.

“The kind of singing that I like,” he said, “when I hit 60, I’ll probably be coming into my own.”

If you go

What: The Pimps of Joytime, with Vokab Kompany

When: 9 p.m. Thursday, doors open 8:30 p.m.

Where: Liquid Lounge, 70 N.W. Newport Ave., Bend

Cost: $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Advance tickets available at The Cosmic Depot (541-385-7478) in Bend and with fees at www.bendticket.com

Contact: www.p44p.biz or 541-389-6999