Back in the mid-'80s, you could barely leave the house without stumbling upon a band that sounded like R.E.M.

The Athens, Ga., band's cryptic and jangly edgy guitar rock -- the Byrds with a post-punk aesthetic -- had a pervasive influence, as it flew in the face of the synthetic music of the era and became part of the foundation of the college rock movement.

Chad Sipes was around 8 when his older sister brought home her first R.E.M. album and turned him onto the band. The singer-songwriter-bassist has gone on to play in SodaJerk and now leads Chad Sipes Stereo, which pays tribute to R.E.M. at the Brillobox Friday, on the eve of R.E.M.'s much-hyped comeback album.

Asked why he wanted to do an R.E.M. tribute, Sipes says, "The short answer is they're my favorite band of all time. My bandmates and I, our tastes differ, but R.E.M. is common ground for us."

The tribute will feature R.E.M. covers by Life in Bed, Dave Bernabo + Assembly, Emily Rodgers Band and Kevin Finn, with a finale of Chad Sipes Stereo playing "Fables of the Reconstruction," arguably the best R.E.M. album, in its entirety.

"We're working on our third record and thought, 'Why not learn a band's third record and really get inside their head?' We became a better band doing it," Sipes says.

With Chad Sipes Stereo being a trio, Sipes finds himself in the position of having to be Michael Stipe and underrated bassist Mike Mills at the same time. The biggest challenge, he says, is "Life and How and Live It."

"It's weird. It doesn't have this solid beat. Something about it kind of floats and the lyrics don't relate from sentence to sentence."

The tribute will be geared toward the hardcore R.E.M. fan, meaning you're not likely to hear "Shiny Happy People" or "Losing My Religion." Life in Bed is going all the way back to the first EP, "Chronic Town," Bernabo will cover "Harbor Coat" and Rodgers takes on "Swan Swan," among others.

Like a lot of R.E.M. fans, Sipes says he hasn't paid much attention to the last three, Bill Berry-less albums. But he looks forward to the new one, "Accelerate," due April 1, which is more of a return to old form.

As for the legacy of R.E.M., Sipes says, "I don't know if bands are still directly influenced by them, but any band that had an independent spirit is. They were the original college rock band and they nurtured so many. They showed that a band of friends could work from the college scene and become the biggest band in America."