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The tribute bands come together for one night only (regular tribute bands are not permitted to perform), but the bands have to submit demos in advance and prepare 20-25 minute sets, which is no small feat.
“You do this combination of doing your best to sound like them and doing your best to give the stage presence of them,” said Jimmi Davies, who’ll be portraying Alice Cooper. Davies is regularly a member of The Dirty Birds and Resident Kings, the latter of which will be recast as Cooper’s band on Saturday night. “Hopefully, somewhere in the middle, there’s this intersection where people will suspend belief enough to not exactly believe that we’re bringing forth the spirit of the people we’re portraying.”
Davies of Olympia is a frequent participant in the night, having previously portrayed Johnny Rotten, The Doors’ Jim Morrison and Keith Reif of The Yardbirds.
“They’re all such enigmatic, strange characters that it’s hard to relate to any of them,” he said. “The one I felt most connected to, as far as being able to sing close enough to it and carry the stage presence a little more convincingly, was Jim Morrison. The Doors is one of my favorite bands. They are my karaoke go-to guys.”
Ivy Hobbs of Tacoma, who’ll appear as Dolly Parton, is new to performing. “I’ve always been a huge fan of hers, and I just love to sing,” she said. “I’ve done some karaoke before, but nothing to this extent. I’m really excited.”
She’ll sing some of her favorite Parton songs, including “Nine to Five” and “I Will Always Love You.”
“Most everyone thinks that’s Whitney Houston’s song, but it’s Dolly’s,” she said.
Of her costume plans, she said: “I’m definitely going to have huge hair and huge boobs. Dolly’s idea of glam is anything with rhinestones or shiny. I’ll be dolled up, basically.
“So many people do Dolly impersonations,” she added. “They are really over the top, and sometimes it’s kind of comical. I don’t want to make a joke out of it. I do want it to be my tribute to her.”
The members of her backup band aren’t portraying any particular musicians, said Greg Black of Olympia, who’ll be one of Parton’s guitarists. “We’re going to be part of the background — nothing flamboyant,” he said. “We might look a little countrified.”
Parton will be the odd woman out in this year’s lineup, which otherwise consists of heavy metal, hard rock and all-male bands. AC/DC, Bauhaus and Kiss round out the lineup. This year, even the show’s host will pay tribute to a famous performer. Comedian Morgan Picton will be in character as Dangerfield’s Monster.
“I’d already been thinking it would be fun to do a Frankenstein costume,” said Picton of Olympia, who hosts a stand-up comedy night Tuesdays at the Royal Lounge. “And Rodney Dangerfield was the first comic to really slay me back when I was a kid. The man didn’t waste a syllable.”
However, those who are less fond of the late comedian, known for his belligerent stage persona, need not worry.
“I figure most comedians start off as a stitched-together version of all their influences and find their own voice if they put in the time to work out their act,” Picton said. “After a while, they are more than the sum of their parts. So Dangerfield’s Monster isn’t about doing a Rodney impression all night.”
For the musicians, doing an impression is an added challenge compared to playing in their own bands, Davies said.
“It’s more acting,” he said. “You’re trying to be someone else. It’s not as loose. You are not as freed up to ad lib and do the things that you might normally do in your regular band.”
While the Resident Kings are sticking together for Saturday’s show, most tribute groups are a combination of musicians who normally work in different bands and play in different styles. The Parton musicians are all from different bands, said Black of Planetary People. “It’s fun to be able to play with some other folks and meet some other musicians and work on a project.”
It also is fun to see what the results of those collaborations can be, said Davies, who is married to Capitol Theater manager Audrey Henley and got started playing in the show after seeing it a number of times.
“It’s always a surprise,” Davies said. “Sometimes it’s like a train wreck — it’s hard to look away — and sometimes it’s so great that it’s hard to look away. You never know what you’re in for.”
