The Chicago-based, pop cover band Hello Weekend will bring the party atmosphere to Pinch Penny Pub this Friday.

Cover for the show is $5 and for ages 19 and older.

The band has played venues all over the Midwest, putting their own personal twist on current Top 40 jams.

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The band consists of six members, Christina Bagby and Connie Baltzell on vocals, Chris Brown on guitar, Scott Steele on bass, Ivan Dunki on drums and Bob the Bunny.

The DAILY EGYPTIAN spoke to Bagby about how they began as a band, what inspired their on-stage performance and what they have planned for the future.

How did you meet and form the band? 

Well, our bassist Scott and our drummer Ivan were in two other bands together where they both actually played guitar and they had wanted to put a project just like this together. They had our guitarist Chris in mind, because they had seen him with other bands, then they put an ad out for singers and I auditioned. I think I was the first or second chick to actually come in and audition and it went really well. It was like an ongoing audition process for about a month. Needless to say, it all worked out and about six months later after we had been together, we finally found the perfect male lead as well.

What makes you guys unique as a pop cover band? 

A lot of fun! There’s a lot of talent and personality. We spend a ridiculous amount of time together so we have a ridiculous amount of jokes and even when it’s not planned, all that comes out on stage. One compliment that we get more than anything at shows when we go out in the crowd afterwards, is “Oh yeah you guys are great, and you look like you’re having so much fun.” It makes them have a great time too, because we’re all laughing and smiling while we’re doing the show. I mean were basically a bunch of clowns on stage, but we’ve got the music to back it up.

What was the inspiration behind Bob’s mask? 

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The Harlem Shake. It all started with the Harlem Shake. Our guitarist Chris has the full-on bunny suit and mask and he would dress up as the Easter bunny for his nieces and nephews. When the Harlem shake was really big a couple years ago, he and his friends decided to dress up crazy and do their own Harlem shake video. He was dressed up in some crazy outfit with like bright yellow pants, suspenders and wore his bunny head with ski-goggles on and when we all got together, he showed us the video and we all died so hard. We had been looking for a logo or something to go with the name. Bob the bunny is our Flavor Flav, that’s how I always describe him. He’s our hype-man.

Does the band have a favorite song or set of songs that you like to play live? 

I think they’re all a little different, but it goes back to knowing what songs kill, so those are actually the ones we like to do because the crowd goes nuts to them. Probably our two favorite songs to do are Rihanna’s “We Found Love” and Macklemore’s “Cant Hold Us.” And in that one [Cant Hold Us] our guitarist actually steps in and raps so there is a lot of unexpected little twists.

What is the future looking like for Hello Weekend? 

Really, really, really great! Double D Booking Agency kind of signed us on to their agency in April and ever since then it has been just one non-stop party train. We’ve been playing three or four shows a weekend, which inevitably is getting us the fan-base that we need and our name out there, so now people are starting to know us and we’re starting to get recognized. It’s putting us in a great spot to be able to do the shows that we’re dreaming about doing.