Oldies band takes you back to the eighties
The 1985 just wants to bring you nothin’ but a good time.
The 1980s-themed party cover band from South Bend will perform at 9 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary.
The 1985 formed in July 2018, said the band’s singer, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Dan Vukmirovich.
“I have college-age daughters and back in the day we would go to concerts and we went to see a band called The 1975,” he said. “We probably followed them around for seven or eight shows. And I said, ‘If I ever form a band, it’s going to be called The 1985 and it’s going to be an ’80s band.’
“About 95% of the songs we do are all from the ’80s. We do cheat here and there because rock ‘n’ roll is all about breaking the rules. Occasionally we do some ’70s stuff and occasionally we do some modern or newer stuff. And we do a lot of blends or medleys.”
They have a Facebook group of fans called The 1985 Fanatics.
“We’ve got a good fan base that will hopefully join us there,” he said.
He recognizes that there are a lot of cover bands — even ’80s bands — out there all vying for the same jobs and knew they needed to stand out.
“You play everything from the ’60s to current songs and you’re going to be pretty much like everybody else,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, great, you play ‘Sweet Caroline?’ So does that band and so does that band.’ We just wanted to be different. The fun thing we bring to the table is that we have a female vocalist.”
That would be his wife, Lisa Vukmirovich.
“We’ll perform everything from ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ to ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ and everything in between,” he said. “And then rap stuff too (like) ‘Bust a Move’ (and) ‘Ice, Ice Baby.’ We call it sonic variety. It’s keeping the ear fresh all night. Transitions between songs are super-, superfast. We try to keep people on the dance floor.”
They have an extensive list of songs they can whip out. Gary audiences will be treated to songs like “Footloose,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Nothin’ But a Good Time,” “Love Shack,” “Don’t Stop Believing,” “We Got the Beat,” “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” and of course, “1985” by Bowling for Soup.
By day, the members have “normal” jobs in marketing, teaching, insurance, engineering and music production.
“Business in the week, party on the weekends,” he said.
They all make sure to stay in shape because they “jump around a lot onstage,” he said. It’s part of the plan to engage people visually, which includes costume changes throughout the night as well.
“We are keenly aware of the fact that people’s attention spans are very short and we want to engage people as much as we can,” he said. “If they give, we’ll give more.”
The 1985 was set to play at a South Bend Cubs event on the day everything shut down in March 2020 thanks to COVID-19.
After hanging out at home for a while, the Vukmiroviches formed a duo called 80/90 (a play on the interstate as well as music genre) and did a few virtual concerts from their basement, taking donations for local bars and restaurants that were struggling.
“That’s winding down now that we’re so busy with the band again,” he said. “People were going insane. We needed a chance to give them something to think about other than the COVID numbers for that day. The beauty of the ’80s side of things is that it’s pre-COVID. You’re ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and transported back to a time when COVID wasn’t even thought of.”
Their goal is to play the Retro on Roscoe music festival in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago.
“We know we will fit in so well,” he said. “We will provide a different flavor than what the Chicago public has been getting of the main bands that tend to play Retro in the past. We’d love to get a chance to be a part of that party.”
Halloween or not, there will be people dressed in full ’80s regalia at their shows. They just hope Gary audiences will escape to the ’80s and enjoy themselves for a couple of hours.
“Put everything else away. There’s no to-do list, you don’t have to do your mom and dad duties. Put that down and have fun with us. Turn back time and have a little bit of fun.”