The granddaddy of tribute band concerts this Saturday

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Don Groover (pictured) and Kent Riley will cover Bachman-Turner Overdrive. — File photo by Ralph Stewart

A rockstar-studded lineup will take concert-goers on a trip through three decades of rock ‘n roll at a unique evening of live music this Saturday at The Lampost.

A fundraiser for the Vineyard’s under-13 soccer team, “Transperformance” will feature five local bands, each covering songs by one of their favorite bands. Each group was asked to select the definitive album by one band and perform five songs.

This is the second year in a row that The Lampost has hosted a tribute band extravaganza. Last year the participating groups selected one band. This year they are limited to one classic album.

The lineup will include Kahoots, performing music by The Velvet Underground; All Electric, capturing the synth heavy sounds of Rush; a group made up of Don Groover and Kent Riley presenting a Bachman-Turner Overdrive experience; the Hammerheads, as the 60s surfband The Ventures; and a new four-piece band covering tunes from The Rolling Stones

The latter is made up of Heather Goodwin, the organizer of the the event, and members of her family. They have named themselves Moonlight Mile after a Rolling Stones song from the 1971 album Sticky Fingers. However, for Saturday’s event they selected another classic album, Exile on Main Street, which only produced a couple of hit singles (“Tumbling Dice” and “Happy”) but is found on the top 100 albums lists of a number of critics.

The Moonlight Mile members were torn between Sticky Fingers and Exile but keeping to the band’s mission, they selected the latter. “We’re trying to do covers that other bands don’t always do,” says Ms. Goodwin. “It seems like the cover bands play the same stuff year after year.”

The band came together officially just last fall. Ms. Goodwin has sung and played bass and drums for a number of bands here, in Western Massachusetts, and in New Orleans. She and her brothers, guitarists John and Todd, have been jamming together for a few years, but it wasn’t until they were reunited with a second cousin that they were able to put a band together.

“I ran into a cousin of mine who I hadn’t seen for a really long time and he told me that his son was living here and that he played guitar,” says Ms. Goodwin. “A while later I walked into Cumby’s [Cumberland Farms] and I saw this guy who looked exactly like a younger version of my cousin.” The Michigan transplant Myles Goodwin played drums, and the other Goodwins needed a drummer.

They added Don Groover on bass and started rehearsing regularly. Saturday’s show will be the first gig for the band, whose members hope to be playing at bars and parties this summer.

Although four of the band members are related, Ms. Goodwin stresses that, “We’re not the Partridge Family.” To anyone who knows her, that should be obvious. More rocker mom than soccer mom, Ms. Goodwin is covered in tattoos, sports artificially red hair, favors leopard print clothing, and drives a car decorated with zombie figures and fake blood.

Still, she’s very proud of her son’s athletic talents and a big supporter of his soccer team. “I am one of the loudest screamers on the sidelines at games,” she says.

The team is made up of 13-year-olds from Vineyard schools. Each age group has a team that travels to off Island games and tournaments. Fundraising helps defray travel expenses.

Last year, Ms. Goodwin borrowed the tribute band idea from a popular event in Northampton where she used to live and managed to raise $3,000. “I had to come up with something I could do because I can’t do the bake sale thing.

“My son [Lohen] thinks I am completely crazy and doesn’t like to be seen with me in public, so I try to embarrass him as much as I can.”

Good thing he’s too young to go to the show at The Lampost. Last year she dressed up as Freddie Mercury to perform songs from Queen. This year she’ll have another appropriate outfit and says, “I’ll be definitely working on my Jagger moves.”

Ms. Goodwin encourages audience members to dress up as well. Last year the theme was 70s and lots of people dressed accordingly. This year the band eras range from the 50s to the 70s, so there’s a little more leeway in choice of looks for the evening.

In between sets, DJ KOS (Keith Bassett) will spin era-spanning tunes and Gimili will do a visual digital show.

Benefit concert: Transperformance, 9:30 pm, Saturday, May 11, The Lampost, Oak Bluffs. 21+. $10, benefits under-13 Island soccer teams.