‘Jimi Hendrix,’ ‘Daft Punk,’ more coming to Rubble’s for Halloween show

Rock legends will all be sharing the same stage Saturday as local bands take on different personas for a Halloween tribute show at Rubble’s.

Mount Pleasant bands The Watching Eyes and Newday Dreamers will be appearing, the former performing the entirety of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album and the latter performing as Daft Punk. Midland band Killer Kong will be performing a Jimi Hendrix cover set.

Guitarist and singer of The Watching Eyes, Nick Hoke, said the band has played Michael Jackson songs in the past, in particular “Billie Jean” and “Thriller.”

“We kind of put our interpretation on it,” Hoke said.

He said some of the songs have been a challenge but learning them have helped each member’s musicianship and helped them grow as a full band.

“We realized how significant the chord changes are,” he said. “We didn’t expect it to be as complicated as it is.”

Diamond in the Rough promotions founder Corey Densmore, who is putting on the show, said the bands are supposed to dress up in costumes. He said groups like Michael Jackson and Daft Punk have unique costumes that fans will recognize.

He said many of the bands have been working hard on their cover sets and some even have prior experience playing other bands songs, too.

“Newday Dreamers played a similar show in Lansing last Halloween as The Talking Heads, so they have some experience in these types of shows,” Densmore said.

He said the crowd at the show will be more involved than normal and get a chance to learn about different local bands.

“People like music they know and aren’t as willing anymore to support the up-and-coming bands,” he said. “This type of show will allow new fans to become acquainted with some local bands, even if it has to be done through a covers show format.”

Newday Dreamers singer and guitarist Micah Bracken said his indie rock band playing songs by deejays such as Daft Punk will be a bit of a challenge.

“Obviously they’re DJs and were a four-piece band so I mean, it’s been interesting,” the Mount Pleasant senior said. “I’m going to be playing keyboard for the whole set as opposed to the guitar. We’re able to have more diversity with the sound and be able to do more techno and funk kind of stuff with the keyboard.”

He also said guitarist Adam Marth will be using a talk box during their set to obtain certain effects.

Attendees are encouraged to wear a costume to the show.

The show is from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and is $2 with a costume and $3 without one. The show is for ages 21 and older.