The cover band business is a tough one. Changing musical trends, format shifting nightclubs and fickle audiences make longevity in the competitive club scene a difficult prospect. Now entering its 10th year, local cover band Y3K has proven to be an exception to the rule, adapting and thriving on the local circuit. Though the band’s name, does have connotations of the 1999 computer melt down scare, Y3K percussionist Preacher Patterson said the band’s name variation has staying power built into it. “Meltdown? Nothing like that,” Patterson said. “Keyboardist John Weber and guitarist Ed Been founded the band and they wanted a name to last the millennia.” He admits that club goers sometimes get the name a little wrong. “People will come up with variations. We get a kick out of that. But once you get it, it sticks,” he said. The band, who perform at RT’s Longboard Grill on Friday, Oct. 17, also includes vocalist Andi Judge and drummer Rocko. They have seen many changes in the local club scene since their inception. Indeed, Patterson considers this show to be a return to the beach area after the shuttering of several of their regular venues. They last performed in the area in 2004 at the Catamaran Hotel’s now defunct Cannibal Bar. The former nightspot is now a spa. “Venues come and go or the management flips for something different,” Patterson said. “That’s why we favor clubs with a track record. They seem to survive when the pendulum changes.” With most group’s having a life span of three years or three albums, which ever comes first, a decade is also long time to hang on to a fan base, but Y3K has been able to keep theirs through a constantly changing song list and high-energy performances. “We joke that the crowd keeps getting younger and we’re heading in the opposite direction,” guitarist Been said. “Lots of people have been with us since the beginning, but we’ve also picked up folks along the way.” For Patterson, the reasons for the band’s longevity are obvious. “I think it’s because we really love each other,” he said. “You’ve gotta have that kind of enjoyment to make it all good. You can tell it in our smiles.” The band’s “all for one” attitude is also helpful. “No one is featured in this group,” he pointed out. “Rather, each can be the focus, to deliver their thing.” He notes the band’s versatility as musicians to be an untapped resource for the band. “We all can play other instruments also but haven’t explored that area yet. We’re waiting on John to pull out his accordion first,” he joked. While cover bands are sometimes seen as being less worthy of popularity than groups playing original music, Been isn’t bothered by that perception. “People are free to perceive,” he said. “We play covers because we like them, and an awful lot of people like to sing along to songs that they know.” Y3K has close to 300 songs in their set list. “The properties that we look for are is it recognizable, can you dance to it and can we do it justice. The biggest crowd-pleasers in their repertoire are tunes from the ’80s, especially the one-hit wonder variety,” Been said. “You’d be surprised how many people can do the dance moves from the ‘Safety Dance’ video.” The band does take requests. “We recently had to play ‘Hava Nagila’ for a wedding, probably the most rocking version of that tune ever,” he said. There are tunes they would rather not play, though purely on principle. “To date, we’ve never played ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ or ‘Brickhouse,’ and hopefully we never will. For the right amount of money though, anything is possible,” he said. Y3K performs at RT’s Longboard Grille, 1466 Garnet Ave. Friday, Oct. 17. For more information visit www.Y3Kband.com