Attending a concert headlined by The Anteeks lets you hear a little bit of everything.
The Anteeks, a Baton Rouge cover band, will be performing their collection of rock, country, blues and pop tunes this Wednesday at The Roux House. Hana Hart and Joey Holaway, the two central members of the group, will be performing an acoustic set on Wednesday. The Anteeks refer to this pair as “Bonnie & Clyde.”
“We do everything from Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks and George Strait — prime country stuff — to Alicia Keys and Adele,” Holaway said.
Holaway, originally from Plaquemine, started The Anteeks roughly 11 years ago with his co-workers at a warehouse in Baton Rouge. He’s the only founding member left in the band.
Holaway came up with the band’s name while driving in Port Allen when he passed a series of billboards for antique shops.
Hart used to play in the band Same Difference, who The Anteeks used to open for occasionally. Band members came and went for both bands over the years. The current members of the band came together when the remaining members of Same Difference joined forces with the remaining members of The Anteeks.
“A lot of the time, we’ll perform songs that the crowd forgot they liked because they never hear bands play them,” Holaway said. “Let’s be honest, Baton Rouge is a cover band town. We like to stand out from that crowd.”
Holaway said that they won’t play “Jessie’s Girl” and they’ve never learned “Brown Eyed Girl.” Recently, The Anteeks have had wedding bookings steadily flowing in even though they consider themselves far from a wedding band.
The Anteeks prefer to perform songs that resonate with them over the handful of generic ‘80s dance hits that a typical cover band might perform.
“It’s contagious with the crowd,” Hart said. “They see that we’re having a good time playing these songs and that they mean something to us and, in turn, the songs start to mean something to them.”
While The Anteeks haven’t released any original projects yet, they are currently working on a full-length debut album. They plan to release that project within a few months under the name “A Wayward Heart.”
Holaway described their original work as ‘90s country with an old-school twinge. He said the inspiration for their original work came naturally after spending 10 years playing in a different bar every weekend.
“It’s almost like our original project is coming out of necessity,” Hart said. “We’ve been playing the cover scene for so long and there’s so much that happens to you when you live that life. It literally came out of necessity to get it all out.”
The Anteeks
When: Wednesday, January 27 at 6 p.m.
Where: The Roux House, 143 3rd St.
Tickets: Free