Had things played out differently, “FireOnyx” could have been an Elektrapod studio record.

Indeed, guitarist Gabe Johnson, co-leader of Elektrapod with vocalist Ze Rox and local promoter/booking agent with Parallel 44 Presents/In the Pocket Artists, respectively, has teased studio material from the funk/soul/jam band before in previous GO! Magazine interviews. But earlier this year, Rox moved to Tempe, Arizona, to attend a nine-month program at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, leaving the band’s future in doubt.

Before Rox left, she also recorded a hip-hop/EDM-influenced solo album, “Termini.” The project inspired Johnson to record his own solo record.

“I really came around to the thinking of, what I’d really like to do is showcase a variety of songs that are some of my favorites that I’ve written over basically what’s been the millennium so far — over the last 15, 20 years, even — and really focusing on doing all those songs supreme justice and really doing them up,” Johnson said. “It was a hard decision because I really did want to make another record besides the live one we have for Elektrapod.”

“FireOnyx” is credited to Brother Gabe — the name Johnson began using this year for an improvisational concert series (with friends) at Broken Top Bottle Shop this year — featuring Ze Rox and Swatkins, AKA keyboardist Steveland Swatkins of Swatkins & The Positive Agenda, Allen Stone and more. The album release show at Volcanic Theatre Pub on Friday will feature Rox, Swatkins, bassist André Zapata and drummer Tyrone Hendrix (the latter two are in The Positive Agenda, which also will perform).

Swatkins co-produced the album with Johnson during three rapid-fire sessions in April, June and August at Portland’s B-Side Studios. Vocalist Paul Creighton sang lead on two tracks, the slow-burn ballad “Wake” and aggressive funk-rocker “Off Your Chest,” while saxophonist Josh Cliburn and backing vocalist Arietta also contributed.

“I think that was one of the special things about this project, is that there’s nobody on the record that isn’t an old friend,” Johnson said. “Everybody put in extra love into it and care.”

Johnson, a veteran of the music scenes in Portland and Boston in addition to Bend, dug deep into his past for material, with the oldest song, “Wake,” dating back to 2001 and his Boston-based band Soulwork. Elektrapod fans will recognize new versions of “Cell Fish” and “Down to It,” the most recent songs on the album.

Initially, Johnson sent out live Elektrapod recordings and other demos of the songs to musicians and other industry-types he met through his years on the scene — including members of Lettuce and The Motet — intending to find a co-producer.

“The initial round of feedback was a lot of the people who did respond saying, ‘I’d love to do this but I (haven’t) got any time, good luck to you,’ kind of thing,” Johnson said. “And then Swatkins had taken a while to get back to me, but then essentially about a year ago he got back to me and said, ‘You know, I have a pocket of time.’” Inspired by artists such as Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix, Johnson and the core band also recorded a number of jam sessions that were cut into interludes between the main songs as aural palate cleansers.

“There’s a lot of content; there’s a lot of intense grooves and feelings,” Johnson said. “I don’t think there’s anything in terms of the song content of the record that’s not heavy-flavored, you know what I mean?”

The album’s title is a portmanteau of “fire,” “ironic” and “onyx.” The juxtaposition of fire and irony ties into the themes on the record, and into much of Johnson’s life philosophy.

“It’s really what I call the study of the transformational nature of irony,” he said, “and how the older you get and the wiser you get, the more you realize that irony is a specific, defining factor in the flow of everything in its development, the life and death and transformation of all situations — relationships, history, whatever. You can apply it to anything, I think. And personally, the older I get, the more I believe that it’s sort of like the spice of life. … And so ‘FireOnyx,’ or firony, being the idea that it’s just like fire in the development of a forest.”

Johnson and the band (minus Zapata) will perform an album release show Jan. 3 at Goodfoot Pub & Lounge in Portland with Excellent Gentlemen sharing the bill. Locally, Johnson remains busy with classic rock group Watkins Glen and the Maxwell Friedman Group, the funk/fusion band led by teenage Hammond organ prodigy Maxwell Friedman.

Beyond that, Johnson is looking ahead to booking Brother Gabe at festivals next year.

“There’s a lot of great musicians … who have sent me emails or texts just being like, ‘Dude, this is dope, dude,’” Johnson said of the response to “FireOnyx” so far. “Some of my most gratifying feedback on the album has been in that form. For example, Dave (Watts), the drummer from Motet … I said, ‘Do you have any advice for me?’ He’s like, ‘Put it out.’ Which is my favorite — like, yes.”