Five bands will be at the Top of the Roc this Friday for their “Free Music Friday” event beginning at 9 p.m.

The following bands are to take the Top of the Roc’s stage: Pretty & The Useless, Victim to Victor, Bunch of Hunks, Matty White, and Rev. Robert.

Bunch of Hunks is a band famous for its covers.

From this quirky band, viewers can expect to hear a fresh take on the familiar hits many are used to jamming to, from artists like The Wombats, TLC, Maroon 5, Daft Punk, Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons.

Bunch of Hunks have collectively adopted one of the personas of actor John C. Reilly from adult swim, Dr. Steve Brule. Drummer Blake Akers jokingly took on the persona of said character.

“We decided to be the Bunch of Hunks because we love Dr. Steve Brule so much,” Akers said. “Also because the name is so fitting to us, we actually are a bunch of hunks.”

While the band remains faithful to the original song, Akers claims that this playful band cleverly utilizes their talent and good energy to incorporate their own sound into the covers.

“We spice up our covers by adding a jam band kind of feel,” Akers said. “We like to extend songs by letting Korte (Blake Korte, lead vocalist) blow a solo for a while. We will also add different feels to sections of songs to spice them up.”

According to Akers, Bunch of Hunks consists of a rather versatile group of young men. Akers isn’t the only one who can dominate the drums.

Jesse Shelton, guitar/keys player, can also play the drums as well as Jamie Mauck, the bass player.

“We all come from an improvisation background and the other two (Mauck and Korte) are such great musicians that they fit in with our spontaneous style,” he said. “With a lot of improvisation, we’ve never played a song the same twice.”

Akers says the Hunks’ appeal stems directly from their lead singer, Korte, who not only makes the crowd of lady gals swoon, but also plays the very sensual alto sax.

Needless to say, it is curious as to why the Hunks choose particular songs to cover from each band.

Akers said there may not be any certain connection.

“There’s not a connection to our songs,” Akers said. “We just like the Hunky guys and lady gals that write them and we play them. We like to make you dance too.”

Margorie Clemente can be reached at 581-2812 or mclemente@eiu.edu.