When people think of a tribute or cover band, they think of bands covering songs by ABBA, Bon Jovi or Queen while wearing outrageous costumes in the local casino's theatre. To see a cover band sell out a show at a venue would be anything but expected. Luckily for us, Sheezer has broken away from the norm. With a constant flow of sold-out shows across Canada, Sheezer proves that there's more to the art of a cover band and that girls can rock just as hard as boys.

The Toronto-based all-girl group takes their name from the American surf rock band Weezer, but I'm sure you already noticed the similarity. Basing their stage shows around hits tracks from the band's first two albums The Blue Album and Pinkerton, Sheezer claimed that the idea for the project wasn't their decision but Weezer's. "Weezer chose us!" explained drummer Dana Snell. "Laura (Barrett) and I were driving home from a show and decided to listen to the entire Blue Album because it's such a great long drive, sing-along album. We were musing on how fun it must be to play that kind of music, and that led to the idea of starting a cover band, which led to Sheezer."

The Canadian supergroup formed of Snell (The Bicycles, Gentlemen Reg), Barrett (The Hidden Cameras, Gentleman Reg and her own self-titled project), Magali Meagher (The Phonemes), Robin Hatch (Sports: The Band, Young Govenor) and Alysha Haugen (By Divine Right) joined forces to make the project come to life.

Before they even had a chance to even get started, the women were shocked and excited by a shout-out on Twitter by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. "We were super excited," said Snell. "And then our Facebook page blew up with people checking us out and we felt a bit under the microscope. The pressure was on, but in a good way (mostly)."

The band's decision to base their performances around Weezer's first two albums was not a hard one for them to make. "We, and many others, see those first two albums as the pinnacle of Weezer's writing and feel they stand alone as a certain era of Weezer that is worthy of nostalgia and reverence," Snell explained. "They got a bit more 'safe' after Pinkerton, and kept getting safer, in my opinion." The ladies in the group try to keep their sounds and performances as close to the original Weezer tracks but have played around with the idea of adding their own take on the songs. "There has been talk of doing our own spin. Reggae versions? Psych versions? But we feel like reproducing the parts is challenge enough, and the fact that we're ladies is different enough."

With all the various bands and projects being taken on by the members of Sheezer, it comes as a surprise they have time for the band at all. "It's doable. We find time for Sheezer because the shows are so fun, and we love playing the music and hanging out together," said Snell. "We save time because we're not getting together writing and figuring out songs, we can practice on our own with the albums and then get together for an hour or two the week of the show."

Despite all the positive reviews and sold-out venues, Sheezer does not plan to record — they want to keep one thing in common with other cover or tribute bands and stick to a stage show. "Recording covers of Weezer songs seems redundant. Also, recording isn't cheap," said Snell. "If we're just a live entity, the experience is more exclusive, more people will come out to shows and hopefully a band that just plays the same 15 songs can last for a few extra years!"