I Was Totally Destroying It will be going into the studio soon to finish up its second album. But lately, the group has been spending less time working on its own material than boning up on another band's songs -- an unidentified group whose songs IWTDI will perform Saturday night at Raleigh Undercover.

"We've been practicing a whole lot," says guitarist John Booker. "We started in December, twice a week, and it's gone well. The first time we played through it, we were going, 'Wow, that already sounds like it should!' So we've continued playing; not fine-tuning so much as going through it so we don't forget it. We're the exact opposite of most bands -- we sound better on cover songs than some of our own. I have no explanation for this."

Curious? Read more about it here; and head for Tir Na Nog any of the next three nights.

ADDENDA: Valient Thorr covered Funkadelic, and it was definitely worth the wait. I Was Totally Destroying It, meanwhile, did My Bloody Valentine. 

The schedule is coming together for "Raleigh Undercover," which happens Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog nightclub. We won't know which bands will be covered until it actually happens, but here are the bands doing the covering:

Jan. 30 -- Embarrassing Fruits, Bright Young Things, Whalewatchers, Left Outlet, Valient Thorr.

Jan. 31 -- I Was Totally Destroying It, Static Minds, The Nevers, The T's, Hearts and Daggers.

Feb. 1 -- Mike Roy, Gray Young, Skillet Gilmore/Marc Smith/Bartholomew Brothers, one more act TBA.

Lots of cool possibilities there, especially Valient Thorr (for whom the obvious choice would be MC5) and I Was Totally Destroying It (love their version of U2's "New Year's Day").

There's a name change to report for the upcoming "Great Cover-Up"-styled event at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog. At the request of the former management of the late great nightspot Kings (site of the old Cover-Up during its seven-year run), the Tir Na Nog event will now be known as "Raleigh Undercover."

It's still set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1, with five or six bands playing per night in a secret-tribute-band format. And it's for charity, with proceeds earmarked for the Beehive Collective.

Again, if you're interested in playing the event: cbtamplin@hotmail.com.