High-Energy Cheese: Velveeta has been spreading Gen X nostalgia for 26 years

It all started as a joke.

The year was 1995, and grunge and hard rock ruled the music scene. Brent Martin was a recent Penn State graduate living in State College, working as an on-air DJ for WQWK, and playing in a local original band. 

When his band folded, Martin started looking for something different to do. 

“I thought it would be really funny if we went and started playing Boy George and British pop covers in bars just for fun,” he says.

He approached some musician friends who played in a band called Broken and asked if they’d be interested in doing such a show. They agreed, and signed on to perform under the name “Velveeta” to reflect the “cheesy ’80s” hits in the setlist they put together for what they all thought would be a one-time gig for laughs at The Brewery.

“And here we are, almost 27 years later,” Martin says with a laugh, in disbelief.  

After more than a quarter of a century, the four-person cover band still includes three of the original members who played that first happy hours show in 1995: Martin (keyboards), Brian Kriley (vocals and guitar), and John Harper (drums). Adam Becker (vocals and bass guitar) recently joined them after long-time bassist John Matthews retired from the group three years ago. 

Although they may have started as a novelty band of sorts, it’s safe to say that the novelty has not worn off. The band is as in-demand as ever, locally and across the state.

They’ve been around long enough to experience changing tastes and the ebb and flow of popularity. In the early years, they were well-received by their young adult audience, which was still made up of Generation X’ers who grew up during the golden age of MTV and music videos. Eventually, though, Martin says they seemed to lose their appeal with college students for a few years – until the Guitar Hero video game was released in 2005. The game features classic rock from the “Velveeta” era, including music from Joan Jett, Guns N’ Roses, and Poison. 

“That kind of kicked up the interest, and then came Spotify and playlists on cell phones, and to this day, students are singing the songs that were written 15 years before they were even born,” he says.

J.R. Mangan, local musician and owner of Café 210 West, says, “They’re one of the few bands that really gets across to both the alumni and the younger kids. Seems like all ages really enjoy them.”

Through the years, the band has expanded its repertoire, sprinkling in some more current hits, but the majority of their setlist – 80 percent, Martin says – is still music from the 1980s, from Cyndi Lauper to Billy Idol to Duran Duran to the B-52s. Some of their most consistently requested and popular covers include one-hit-wonder songs like “Come On Eileen” and “99 Red Balloons,” he says.

‘We’re on our third band van’

After 26 years of repeatedly playing covers of other people’s music, one might think an artist could get restless.

But, Martin says, “We have never claimed we were artists. We are entertainers, and we entertain through music. I can’t speak for the other guys; maybe they get a little bored playing ‘Jessie’s Girl’ for the 4,000^thtime, but I’ve never viewed it that way. I feel like we’ve been very fortunate to be playing this long and that people enjoy it.”

They may not consider themselves to be artists, and with a name like Velveeta, they certainly have never taken themselves too seriously – but all four band members are clearly very talented musicians who play multiple instruments. Becker, Martin, and Kriley all played trumpet as teenagers, while Harper played drums. Becker also studied vocal performance at IUP. 

“We were all what you might call ‘band geeks’ in high school,” Martin says. 

While the guys play together enough that they don’t feel the need to rehearse together regularly, they do work very hard, and are often on the road. Martin estimates they play close to 70 out-of-town shows each year. 

“We’re on our third band van; it has 187,000 miles on it,” he says.

Starting out in a college town has played a huge factor in helping the band to develop a fan base beyond Centre County.

“A lot of students when they graduated went on to Pittsburgh or to Harrisburg or Philly, so we were able to branch out and play clubs there and get an alumni draw, which then brought the locals out. We sort of built it up that way,” Martin explains.

They’ve performed at 175 weddings, including several as far away as Florida, and one in Washington, D.C., overlooking the White House. They regularly play clubs, casinos, and corporate events across the state, and have performed at Steelers games, both inside Heinz Field and outside at Stage AE. They’ve also performed for Mario Lemieux’s charity golf tournament at Nemacolin Resort. 

Closer to home, besides performing at local bars, they play many special events – including some for charity, such as the annual Rock the ’80s show to benefit the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund. They’ve played Penn State’s THON several times, and as recently as October, they did a show to benefit THON at Axemann Brewery in Bellefonte.

They performed outside of Beaver Stadium during Penn State’s official pregame festivities this fall, play at WingFest at Tussey Mountain every summer, and they are hopeful that they will be able to return to the main festival shell at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts this July.

Of course, like just about everyone else in the live entertainment industry, the band’s hectic schedule came to a screeching halt in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. During this time, the band put together a series of “quarantine videos,” dressing up in costume and makeup to pay tribute to some classic 1980s music videos from bands like The Cars, The Buggles, Journey, and The Human League. (The videos are posted on their YouTube channel, Velveeta 80sCheese.) Eventually, they started playing outdoor, socially-distanced shows, and their schedule is now almost back to full-strength.

All of the hard work, late nights, and travel has led to enough success to enable most of them to quit their day jobs. Martin says he, Kriley, and Harper all work part-time jobs on the side now, with Becker being the only member maintaining a full-time job. 

Their unusual hours had at least one distinct advantage when their kids were small. 

“We were all able to be sort of full-time daddies because we worked nights, so we didn’t have to worry about daycare,” Martin says. 

After more than two decades, Velveeta has attained the kind of longevity that very few State College bands have achieved, joining the ranks of the Screaming Ducks, the J.R. Mangan Band, and Ted McCloskey and the Hi-Fi’s. 

“I remember I went and saw the [Screaming] Ducks’ 15th anniversary show in 1999 – year four of Velveeta – and I said, ‘Can you imagine being in a band for 15 years?’ Yet here we are. It’s crazy,” Martin says. “Students have seen us, graduated, got married, and now their kids probably are coming to see us, it’s been that long.” 

But Velveeta is not planning to hang it up any time soon. The band is fully booked through 2022, and Martin says, “As long as we are still having fun, and if people still want to hear us play, than we’ll keep playing.”

Karen Walker is a freelance writer in State College.