‘80s cover band Blue Monday.   Blue Monday

Don’t let Lizette Totillo’s glittering, bedazzled microphone fool you – the frontwoman for ’80s cover band Blue Monday can belt out some serious hair metal.

Backed by bandmate (and husband) Matthew Totillo on keyboards, plus Dan Fournier on guitar, Scott Miller on bass and Brian Asbell on drums, Totillo’s intense take on ’80s pop has been making the rounds at Lake Norman nightspots for four years since she and Matthew moved to the area from New York in 2005.

The band regularly plays the Rusty Rudder, Midtown Sundries and the Double Door at the Lake, but with its huge sound, Blue Monday might be better-suited for a high-capacity arena. Soaring guitar chords and backing keyboards overwhelm the smaller spaces, leaving ears ringing after one song. But the band’s enthusiastic fans don’t seem to mind, whether it’s Totillo taking the lead on a slow tempo U2 cover or the whole band jumping around to Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer.”

That crowd interaction is what inspired the Totillos to start Blue Monday in the early ’90s. They wanted to create a band that played all the feel-good, fun songs of the ’80s. Their song list has grown from a handful of predictable favorites (Journey, anyone?) to a mix of more than 75 pop, rock and metal classics ranging from AC/DC, Def Leppard and Motley Crue to Phil Collins and Cyndi Lauper. The band’s motto: “If it came from the ’80s or sounds like the ’80s, we’ll play it.” Adding to that groovy theme is the cheese factor of a fog machine and small-scale light show that punctuates Totillo’s raw vocals – it all feels appropriately reminiscent of “The Wedding Singer.”

Their first gig in the Lake Norman area – at the Northcross Lanes Bowling Alley – drew about 30 people, mostly friends of the Totillos. (“We were so excited,” Lizette Totillo laughingly recalls.) Shortly after, they got their first big break in Charlotte: Food Lion Speed Street. Now Blue Monday regularly attracts between 300 and 600 fans to its shows.

“(Our) fans are very warm and receptive,” Lizette Totillo says. “They make us feel wonderful every time we see them. It’s wonderful to have a great connection with them.”

For now, the band is content with sticking with ’80s covers and giving fans what they want, but Lizette wants to add some more female-friendly songs to their male-heavy repertoire.

“Creatively, we’re always trying to stay fresh and add new material,” she says. “We’re going to be adding some Pat Benatar next.”

Another good chance to show off that glittery microphone.

Upcoming shows

Catch the ’80s flavor of Blue Monday at one
of the cover band’s next shows:

• Dec. 5: Wild Wing Café at the EpiCentre (uptown).
• Dec. 10: Whisky River at the EpiCentre (uptown).
• Dec. 31: Midtown Sundries on the Lake.
• Jan. 16: Rusty Rudder.

For more information, visit www.bluemonday.net.