For Strong Like Bear, it’s all about the songwriting.

“We’re all about the songwriting,” said Bryon Dudley, vocalist and guitarist for the local alternative rock band. “We sit down and hash out a good tune; we write songs that people want to hear.”

Strong Like Bear consists of Dudley, Jordan Mull and Rachel Dudley. The Ames group will be playing the Ames Progressive at 8 p.m. Thursday along with The Hollands! and Jimmy Hobbs.

The band’s songs stem from an array of different topics, but a common lyrical subject is bad relationships, Bryon Dudley said.

“There’s a lot of bad relationship songs,” he said. “We’re kind of all over the map. It’s sort of an endless well of lyrical material.”

Strong Like Bear has not restricted itself to playing in Iowa.

Many of the band’s fond memories come from gigs played across the Midwest.

“We had this real impromptu, guerilla-style gig in Madison, [Wis.],” Bryon Dudley said.

“We stopped at this bar to take a rest, and while we were there we said, ‘Hey, we’re in a band. Would it be okay if we traded a few songs for a pitcher of beer?’ and they said, ‘Sure!’ It was a lot of fun.”

Bryon Dudley said Facebook has helped Strong Like Bear reach its fans and get the name out to new ones.

“I think people are sort of afraid to go out and experience something new,” he said.

“If they don’t know who the band is, they have a hard time just going out and seeing them. Facebook has helped us a lot with that.

“We’ll set up events, advertise our gigs and I’ll give status updates that say, you know, ‘Hey, we’re playing here, come out and see us,’ and that seems to help us out a lot.”

Stong Like Bear’s future plans are to play more shows and eventually record an album.

“We’re working up an electric set right now, which is exciting,” Bryon Dudley said.

“We’ve been doing mostly acoustic stuff thus far, but we’re excited to branch out and see where that takes us.”