Ryan Curtis is matter-of-fact as he explains the name of his band: Quailskin.

“It’s loosely based around comparing our music to skinning a quail,” he said. “We are very resourceful, just like anyone that would take time to make anything out of quail skin.”

Insightful? Certainly, but the senior didn’t originally have this explanation in mind. “The origin is basically arbitrary,” he said. “But I feel like it can spark curiosity.”

Conveniently, Curtis’ explanation fits Quailskin’s musical focus: resourcefulness. They describe their sound as a “fusion of genres,” inspired by Curtis’ desire to “make something that didn’t have many stylistic rules but was still accessible to people.”

Luckily he found band mates with a similar vision. Guitarist Nathan Divers, drummer Dominick Lee and bassist Samuel Weaver all wanted “simplicity (and) accessibility without sacrificing uniqueness and progressive aspects,” Curtis said.

Curtis said each member brings something unique to the table.

“Nathan is the official band boyfriend in that he has the car and looks the most like Ryan Gosling,” Curtis said jokingly. “Dom handles a lot of the technical side as well as maintains our “studio” space, (and) Sam plays video games and nonchalantly writes classic base lines.”

Curtis said he writes all lyrics and song structures.

“I try to keep things semi-open so that everyone in the band can add their personal touch,” he said. “It’s a good dynamic but takes more communication and effort than just telling people exactly what to play.”

He describes his lyrics as personable, relatable and heartfelt.

“I’ve been inspired lately by the feeling of constant activity in my life,” Curtis said. “Being a senior in college, working and also pursuing music can be very stressful at times, but also very inspiring.”

Curtis sees every roadblock as an opportunity.

“For every anxiety and breakdown I encounter, I am that much more driven,” he said.

For the band, the effort seems to be paying off. Its newest release, INTERFANTASTIC, dropped this August and is on iTunes for $9.90.

“Of course it was awesome” Curtis said of the recording process. “It wasn’t (our) first attempt, but definitely (our) most refined attempt.”

Fans of Quailskin are in luck. Curtis said he is pretty sure it won’t take much time before the band has another release.

He said Quailskin by no means equates an album on iTunes with success.

“One release isn’t going to win over an audience,” Curtis said. “I plan to build a catalog of music and for the progress and evolution of the music to be noticeable when someone listens through the archives.”

For now, live shows are still the main outlet for this MU-based band, not that members are complaining.

“A huge gratification from playing live shows is just seeing the progress we’ve made and being able to tell that the crowd also sees the progress,” Curtis said.

The concept of audience feedback was evident Thursday night, when Quailskin headlined a show at Mojo’s in downtown Columbia.

Curtis announced a song the band opened with and then repeated four songs later.

“This is the first song we played for this show,” he explained. “And we don’t have a name for it yet, so just … like it!”