Triangle tribute bands rock out Friday

It’s time to dig out the chokers and waist-tied flannels for this weekend at Cat’s Cradle because Friday is 90s Night. 

It’s not just any old retro dance party, either. The three bands performing — Joe Hero, Adhesive and Jars of Flies — are all tribute bands from the Triangle covering grunge music heroes Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains, respectively. 

Tribute bands aren’t the same as cover bands, explained Durham-based Jar of Flies’ front man Trey Richardson. Cover bands play songs from several different band, while tributes focus on one band and try to emulate its members. For Richardson, he tries to imitate rocker Layne Staley. 

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” Richardson said. “It does take a lot of skill to change what (technique) you’re used to and try to play someone else’s track.”

Tribute bands can get their start in a number of ways; for example, Raleigh-based Joe Hero, which formed as an original band about 10 years ago, decided one night to do something different and play a show exclusively comprised of Foo Fighters covers. 

“We were all a fan of Foo Fighters, and (our lead singer) Linc’s voice kind of had a Dave Grohl sound to it,” said Scott Hardesty, Joe Hero’s drummer. “We ended up playing a couple shows (like that) … it seemed to go over well and we enjoyed to it, so we thought, ‘What if we became a full-time tribute?’” 

And lucky for them, Foo Fighters already had a song titled “My Hero,” so they were able to keep the original band name as a reference to it. 

Hardesty said one of the great things about seeing a tribute band is that it’s a cheap and fun outlet for people to hear the songs in a live setting.

“It’s a way for people experience the sound and energy of that band you know,” he said.

Joshua Smicker, a UNC communication studies adjunct professor and frequent lecturer of its “Popular Music” class, said part of the reason cover and tribute bands are popular is because people have always liked taking something that already exists and turning it into something new. 

“There’s even an increasing percentage of movies that come out of Hollywood or television that are remakes of earlier things,” he said. “It’s sort of the nostalgia cycle.”

This nostalgia cycle Smicker mentioned deals with how trends come back every couple decades with things like fashion, technology and — of course — music.

“It’s something that’s close enough for you to have some sort of connection with it,” he said. “It’s familiarity but novelty, too.”

Adhesive’s lead singer, Zack Kitto, said in a Facebook message that another advantage of being a part of the tribute scene is networking with other musicians. 

“It’s a good way for us to showcase our talents in some prime venues while we work up original and other cover material,” he wrote.

Hardesty echoed this when he mentioned that Joe Hero has played with both Jars of Flies and Adhesive several times before.

“It’s nice because we enjoy playing and hanging out with them anyway,” he said. 

“It’s fun to have an excuse for that.”

arts@dailytarheel.com