One band that has become increasingly familiar to the Carbondale music scene over the years has been the ’90s music and dance cover band the Hot Sauce Committee.

With a band name inspired by a hit Beastie Boys track, it can be inferred that the Hot Sauce Committee knows how to bring the ’90s back to any venue they play.

The Chicago-based band combines ’90s hip-hop beats that gain emphasis with their two DJ’s but they combine it with the energy of a live band, which brings a whole new element to their on-stage presence.

The DAILY EGYPTIAN had the opportunity to talk with guitarist Brian Bender to discuss a variety of topics about the band.

How did you guys get together and start the band?

It was sort of a discovery or adventure. Basically, Serv and myself would essentially just go and hang out at parties and were in bands before and played a lot at this place called the Upper Room in Chicago. Then we met people through music and through parties. We met our DJ…at a party. Our bass player was playing in another band and we met him through that. We just fell in love with the nostalgia of the ’90s and playing ’90s music and we had that common thread. We’re all just a bunch of fun-loving idiots, I mean dancing on stage and playing the music. It actually turned out to be a cool thing where people actually enjoy what we do, so we get to play three to five times a week all over the Midwest.

Do you add your own sound to these ’90s tunes?

I’d say we add what we call “a little bit of sauce” to the songs. We do some ’90s hip-hop, rap and R&B, but then we’ll do some ’90s boy bands, pop and some alternative tunes… so its fun playing shows because you always get that fun-loving person that will say “play Free Bird” or they want to hear metal. There’s always that one guy at the show, so what I try to do is, I might play “Enter Sandman” while we’re playing “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G. or we’ll do “Wild Thing” and then we’ll add “Paradise City” by Guns N’ Roses, something that we don’t typically do, but I’ll add those recognizable guitar riffs or vocal lines just to give them a little of what they want, while also staying true to the music that we’re doing.

How would you describe your experiences in Carbondale?

Every time we come back it gets more and more amazing. We were very lucky, where we’ve been able to play some big events in Carbondale so it’s been a great experience meeting new people. Polar Bear and Unofficial are opportunities to kind of go above and beyond fun, so you get to dress up and everyone’s enjoying adult beverages if they are of age, so we went kind of over the top with it. Our first Unofficial, we dressed as storm troopers and did a little skit before our set and Polar Bear was the first show we had projectors and televisions hooked up to our songs … It was very snow-oriented with video representation behind us when we were playing so that was really cool. When it’s warm outside, we’ll play Pinch Penny Pub … so every time we come we meet people, we’re always hanging out after the show, Steak n’ Shake is usually where we kind of congregate after a show in Carbondale. Then, we take the six or seven hour journey to where we’re playing [next], either Illinois or Wisconsin.

What’s the future looking like for you guys?

We’re playing a ton of shows. We’re doing some special event things. At the end of the month, during Thanksgiving weekend, there’s a place in Chicago called Bourbon Street, where we’re actually becoming a boy band for one night only. We’re doing all the music from New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC. Sometimes we’ll do a Beastie Boys tribute where we’ll do a set of all Beastie Boys stuff. We’ll do events like that to kind of make it fun for people that have seen us a bunch, so it’s like a new experience. We’re doing new songs. We’re adding a ton of new video. We have dance rehearsals  like where people have ballet studios. We’ll go in front of the mirror and play our music and look at our dance choreography. I mean, there’s a ton of like fun stuff that we’re doing. The future is fun.