Lamont Landers tends to close his eyes onstage while he's singing and playing guitar.

But when he opened his eyes following his group Lamont Landers Band's performance during a taping of the Fox's TV talent competition "Showtime at the Apollo," there he was.

Onstage at the Apollo Theater.

The same storied New York venue where James Brown cut an all-time great live album.

Same place Billie Holliday and so many other greats sang.

"Those thoughts were already running through my mind even before we got there," says Landers, who is from and based in Decatur. "Just anticipation of being able to perform on such a legendary stage. One of my favorite performers of all-time is D'Angelo and he got one of his biggest breaks on that stage. And like you said, James Brown. Stevie Wonder. Michael Jackson. Just countless, countless legends. It was a huge deal, huge honor."

You can watch the Lamont Landers Band on "Showtime at the Apollo" 8 p.m. April 12.

For the show, the group played Bill Withers' 1972 funk smash "Use Me," a tune they've covered live for years and one of Landers' all-time personal favorites.

"Use Me," with its spidery keyboard riff and sparse arrangement and big vocals, is the smartest kind of cover: one that hasn't been done to death already, so people who do know the track will be psyched to hear it; and it's straightforwardly funk enough people who've never heard it before will be shimmying, singing the hook by the second chorus.

Lamont Landers Band taped their "Showtime at the Apollo" episode last summer. They'd received an invitation to appear on the show after someone connected with the show had seen an online video of the group performing.

Now, more than nine months later, Lamont Landers Band, which also features keyboardist Kevin Canada, drummer Bowen Robertson and bassist Jaraven Moe Hill, will finally get to watch their "Showtime" performance.

The group is hosting an 8 p.m. viewing party at Moe's Original Bar B Que (address 202 Moulton St. E., Decatur) that will double as the release party for their latest single, "Into The Fold." The midtempo track features Landers' soul-rock vocals. "Into the Fold," the first taste of Lamon Landers Band's forthcoming debut album, will be available on all major streaming platforms. In addition to Landers' impressive pipes, their prior single, 2017's "Showing," boasted Allman Brothers-type lead guitar.

The group was highlighted in AL.com's "20 up-and-coming Alabama bands to know in 2017" list.

"Showtime at the Apollo" borrows the audience evaluation element of Apollo's long-running Amateur Night. The Amateur Night was basically a cooler, blacker "America's Got Talent" long before "America's Got Talent" existed - but with an entire theater of brutal honesty instead of just one Simon Cowell's worth.

"The crowd was insane," Landers says of his band's "Showtime" taping. "I don't know if we were just too naive to realize how bad it could have went, but that was not even a thought that crossed our mind. And we saw people get viciously booed, I mean it was a Roman Coliseum gladiator kind of feeling." The closest thing to heckling the Lamont Landers Band usually has to be wary of is some plastered dude requesting a country song.

The singer says the Apollo's tiered seating configuration makes it feel "really big and intimate at the same time. The last show his group played immediately before the Apollo Theater? A wedding gig in Auburn.

Landers calls his ensemble a "paycheck band," proudly stating, "We'll play anywhere as long as they're playing." He's not kidding. In addition to bar, wedding and corporate bookings, Lamont Landers Band has played more than one grocery-store grand-opening. Now 26, Landers graduated from Decatur High School in 2009. He recalls musical acts like Mumford & Sons, MGMT and Owl City being big with his classmates back then.

"Showtime at the Apollo" brings a diverse array of performers to the stage - not just singers or bands. Magicians. Comedians. DJs. Dancers. Ventriloquists. Etc.

Landers had no idea his comment made to a staffer during a preliminary interview would later be used by the show's host, mustachioed comedian Steve Harvey, during taping.

"At some point they asked me, 'How would you describe how you guys look?'" Landers recalls. "I was like, 'I don't know. We're not the best-looking group of guys. We're kind of weird-looking honestly,' and we carried on with the conversation and I didn't think of it. Well, right before we're about to go on, Steve's doing our introduction and he's like, "Alright, this next group of guys, even the lead singer says they're not the best-looking group of guys. And they're kind of weird-looking. Well that's alright, we like weird. Welcome, the Lamont Landers Band!"