The East Bay’s AC/DZ, named after lead singer Steve “Zetro” Souza, adds to the stockpile of tribute bands dedicated to keeping the sound of one of the hardest rocking bands of all time alive. But these guys’ covers of classics like “Highway to Hell” and “Hard as a Rock” take the seminal Australian outfit’s tunes to a new – and weightier – level.


“I’ve been listening to AC/DC since I was a kid,” bassist Elena Luciano Repetto says. “And to do it in a heavier, Bay Area thrash style is a blast.”


They’ll share the bill with Seaside’s Psychos in Love, which takes its name from a cult film about a strip-joint owner and a manicurist who fall in love and find out they’re both serial killers. They mix high-energy punk rock and humor resulting in tongue-and-cheek jaunts like “Danny Bonaduce is the Antichrist.”


San Francisco glam-punk rockers, Bite, round out the evening fronted by sexpot talent Chelsea Rose on lead vocals.


9pm Friday, Nov. 11, at Jose’s Underground Lounge, 638 Wave St., Monterey. $10. 655-4419.


Robert Berry’s December People – featuring Gary Pihl, Dave Medd, Mike Vanderhule and Jack Foster – has been lovingly hailed as “a Christian contemporary Spinal Tap.” Though Christmas is still more than a month away, these guys seem to feel the Yuletide spirit every day of the year, putting their own prog rock takes on traditional classics like “Little Drummer Boy” (in the style of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and “Angels We Have Heard On High” (in the style of Peter Gabriel). Crowds, meanwhile, are feeling that: Last year’s show sold out stat. Those who bring five cans of people or pet food on the day of the performance will receive 50 percent off their ticket.


2pm and 8pm Saturday, Nov. 12, at World Theater at California State University Monterey Bay, 100 Campus Center, Seaside. $29. 582-4580.


Singer-songwriter Nancy Jones has built a career around the strength of her lyrics. Jones brings her highly personal brand of folk – influenced by everybody from Annie Lennox to Kate Bush – from the Washington, D.C. area. On “Stronger Than You Know,” she delivers prose like “Take dominion of popular opinion” in a voice reminiscent of Tori Amos. Meanwhile, opener Dave Turner, out of Asheville, N.C., also places much of his emphasis on lyrics. The songs from his Could Have Talked All Night were inspired by everything from the Blue Ridge Mountains and old dive bars to bourbon and past lovers. And the melodies Turner crafts around his stories give each tune a beating heart.


8pm Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Alternative Cafe, 1230 Fremont Blvd., Seaside. $10. 583-0913.