Alternative Unknown covers pure '90s

When it comes to covering alternative rock music from the 1990s, there are a lot of bands that will attempt it and put their own spin on it. The Lubbock-based cover band Alternative Unknown, however, strives to keep the music just as it was first recorded and performed.

"That is one thing that I would like to point out," Alternative Unknown member Josh Crook said about the band's sound. "We are a cover band, but I feel like we are covering substantial music. There are other bands that do covers and add sort of their artistic sway to the music, but as for us we are purists.

"We like to make the music sound like it did in the 1990's," he added. "I think of the music as substantial because a lot of that music like from Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden are not easy to play and a lot of bands stay away from that."

Alternative Unknown is scheduled to perform at 9 p.m. Friday at Jake's Sports Café and Backroom.

The cover band is made up of Crook on vocals and rhythm guitar, Corey Burnett on lead guitar, Garrett Hopp on bass guitar and Jordan Polk on drums. The band's influences consist of 1990's bands such as Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Audioslave and the Smashing Pumpkins.

"My brother introduced me to a lot including Soundgarden and Nirvana and stuff like that," Crook said.

He also said that both he and Burnett are big Pearl Jam fans and Hopp is just getting introduced to the music as they go. Polk, on the other hand, is more into the punk end of the 90's pool with influences such as Green Day.

What they all have in common, though, is they are all family men and this is a part-time gig and many of them do have children. And while they do have a love for the music and performing the covers, they have other jobs and the family really still comes first.

"That's the one thing about our group," said Crook. "We stick to the weekends because we are really busy."

They do perform on the weekends and then practice once or twice a week or whenever they can. Crook said the band, a few of them met online, started out with the purpose of jamming and sharing a love for music, but then decided to start performing. One of the founding members has moved on due to work, but the others still work to keep the sound alive.

Crook is currently a Texas Tech student majoring in English. His plan is to graduate and then apply for law school. He has aimed high and hopes for a place in either Harvard or Yale. Crook said he spent 10 years in the military before going to school. Being in a band will probably always be just a sideline project for the current student.

"I'm doing really well at Tech," he said.

While some cover bands play off of the crowd instead of relying on a set list, Crook said they are staying pretty close to their arsenal of covers as one of the members is still fairly new and learning the ropes. But, when they are able, the band does work from the crowd's vibe and aims to please those who are fans of the 1990's Alt-rock era. Right now they are working with an arsenal of about 40 songs from several bands and work on the music to make sure that it is heard in its true and original forms.

"We really try to achieve that sound and doing that is important to us," said Crook.