If you are from the Chicago area, you may have felt a bit more at home lately on the late-night entertainment scene. That is because in local bars and smoke-filled, low ceiling basements of various Carbondale house parties, the Alright Blues Band compliments the atmosphere with its down and dirty Chicago-style blues sound.

The new kids on the Carbondale’s music block are moving up in the local ranks with its brand of blues. The seven SIUC students that compile their musical efforts to extract the in-your-face sounds won the Mastercard Acts competition for best University band on Nov. 30, 1995.

Brian Mr. Serious Boyd, bass guitarist for the blues outfit, said the band simply tries to bring something to the settings in which it plays.

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The seven of us try and put out a lot of energy, Boyd said. When we hit the groove, it is exciting for the whole night and the next thing you know, three or four hours have gone by and it’s over.

Boyd, a classical guitar performance major, said he is not interested in being a music teacher but tries to show people what it can mean to be an artist.

I try to teach people what music can mean spiritually, Boyd said.

Boyd contends that the satisfaction of playing bass comes from transferring the feeling of the music to the audience rather than transferring funds from the audiences’ pockets to his.

We’re playing for a loss a lot of the time, but as long as we’re playing, we don’t worry about money, he said.

Drummer Jeff Lien said the band just tries to have some fun.

We try and have a good time and get the crowd in good spirits, he said.

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Lien said some of his blues influences are Muddy Waters, Magic Sam and other musicians with the higher energy blues sound. Compared with the Mississippi Delta blues sound, the Chicago style is more aggressive in its presentation.

Boyd said influences for the band go back to the sounds of blues gods Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.

Dixon is everybody’s biggest influence, they just don’t know it yet, Boyd said.

Andy Gerzel, guitar player and vocalist, said the Chicago style is the one most of the band was familiar with because of their Chicago roots.

We grew up listening to the old style, he said. It isn’t as laid back as the Delta blues sound.

Gerzel added that it was the local blues band The Gravediggers that inspired him to start up the band.

That was one band I never missed when I came to Carbondale, he said. Not too many bands have that sound.

Chad Minier, a junior in music from Benton, provides the trumpet half of the Mighty Alright Horns section the band has incorporated into some of their originals. Larry E. Robinson completes the brass duo on the trombone.

Minier said he had been interested in starting a ska band before the original three members finally added a permanent drummer, horns and harmonica.

I had played in school ensembles and stuff, he said. But I wanted to play more freely and in bigger musical experiences than an ensemble.

The first time we played, we opened for this punk band (Bliss), and had to use its drummer, Gerzel said. Every week we had a new drummer- we went through like five or six.

The band will compete at the Mastercard Acts semifinals in Knoxville, Tenn. the weekend of Feb. 2.