It takes more than an equipment problem to stop the upbeat pop-punk machine of Ames up-and-comers Four Word Cause.

Following the band’s second song of their headlining set at Bali Satay House on Thursday, lead singer Austin Rader, sophomore in marketing, had trouble getting his guitar set up.

“I’m gonna say ‘f— this guitar cord’ cause $900 guitars always work, but $10 cords never do,” Rader said. “So, if you’re gonna buy a cord, make sure it’s 24-karat gold.”

So, without Rader’s guitar, the band launched into its next hook-laden, upbeat song – “It’s Not Your Fault.”

The song proved to be a hallmark of the band’s style, eschewing traditional rock song structures in favor of a punk-influenced, structural approach with a perky, driving style. Steady drums and a pulsing bass line served as a background for Rader’s vocals, Jayson Peterson’s guitar and Tyler Higdon’s keyboard work.

The five-piece mixed up its style by switching the roles of each instrument several times during each song – Steve Williams’ bass or Matt Dery’s drumming would come out of the background and lead the melody for a phase of a song before everything shifted back to the previous sound.

Onstage, Rader, Peterson and Williams maintained a high energy level, leaning out into the full-capacity, 170-person crowd. Between songs, Rader bantered with his audience, thanking the fans profusely.

The fans were one of the more animated crowds to grace a show at the Bali, dancing along to every song, singing along to the ones they knew and chanting “Four Word Cause!” before the set and immediately after, in hopes of an encore.

“What’s up, everybody? I thought we were done,” Rader said after returning to the stage. “I don’t know, we might have a song left in us – it’s a band decision.”

So Four Word Cause played a three-song encore.

The set commemorated the band’s first EP release, “Sing Your Heart Out,” and followed area bands Plastic Apartment and Finding the Warren and Chicago natives Made Avail. Rader estimated the band sold about 100 copies of the CD at the show.

Brandi Power, a DJ at 105.1 FM Channel Q, has been working with the band nearly since their formation late last September, promoting them on her Sunday night show, “The Garage,” and thinks the all-student band has what it takes to break out of Ames.

“They’re the most driven and hard-working kids I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of bands,” Power said. “They have the passion, the talent and the drive to make it.”

Power said the band’s sound, as much as its members’ dedication, is what will carry it.

“They’re very mainstream, but in a real kind of way – it’s not that fake, bubblegum, production bulls—t,” she said.

“It’s kind of pop-punk meets emo – but they’re not emo. Even with a really depressing message, it sounds positive.”