The Spooky Qs are performing at Al’s Bar on Saturday with The Shondes to raise funds for travel expenses to Austin, Texas for the music portion of the 2012 South By South West festival.

SXSW is a music conference and festival that’s annually held in Austin. It was created as a way for musicians to reach out and bring people together to do business, according to the SXSW website. The Spooky Qs are performing at SXSW for the first time.

Members in the band are Ondine Quinn on violin, keyboards, bass and vocals; Jack Cofer on guitar, bass and vocals; Chris Oaks on drums, percussion, electronics and backing vocals; and Seith Miller on guitar, bass and vocals.

Cofer is a returning student in his junior year at UK studying fine arts/arts administration. Oaks is a May 2011 UK graduate in the Library Science masters program. He also did his undergraduate in Library Science at UK.

Ondine: We had a drummer at one point, but he left the band and we used the gameboy to make sounds.

Jack: Seith is very techy and he specifically wrote out music and programmed the music onto a cartridge that goes into the back of a gameboy that would then make drum sounds.

Chris:  The gameboy is still used, but we don’t rely on it.

Jack: You’ll never meet people with such different music backgrounds as us.

Ondine: We sound good playing together. We have a more distinct sound that is Spooky Qs, now that we’ve been playing longer together. Adding another member always adds a different sound to the band, but it blends different musical tastes.

Jack: We played at MondoHomo in Atlanta, Georgia in May 2010 … And the Radical Queer Convergence in November 2010, which was organized by Ohio University Students. We went on our 10 day tour in May 2010 and actually the last stop of the tour was at MondoHomo.

Ondine: We played the Lexington Pride Festival in 2010.

Jack: We toured with 8 Inch Betsy who has toured with Amy Ray from the Indigo Girls.

Chris: 8 Inch Betsy saw that we were a younger band and they were more of a seasoned band, so being an older band they showed us the ropes.

Jack: Our very first show ever was in September 2008 and we were opening up for The Shondes. We kept in touch with The Shondes. They came back into Lexington this past September 2011 to do a show and they wanted us to play with them here in Lexington. They were trying to get us to go to SXSW.

Chris: We had tried before filling out the $30 application to play a showcase at SXSW, but it’s really all about who you know.

Jack: The Shondes were doing a showcase and one of the showcase organizers asked The Shondes if they knew of another band to be put on the bill for the showcase. The Shondes suggested the Spooky Qs. The showcase organizers checked out our music on our website because all our music is for free download and they liked it, so they contacted us about being on the showcase bill at SXSW.

Jack: One. The showcase is called, Fancy As F**k on Friday, March 16 at 6 p.m. at Bernadettes.

Jack: We are going to travel by a van. It should be magical.

Ondine: Don’t know all who’s playing. We are just still in awe that we are playing there.

Chris: I plan to aimlessly stumble upon some good music. Hopefully serendipity will come into play. I’m more interested in seeing smaller bands.

Jack: Exposure. If one new person hears me that’s good enough for me. Looking forward to building relationships with other bands that are on the bill at the showcase we are playing with.

Ondine: We have a new full-length album, “To The Barricades.” Its cover songs that are all from before the 1930s.

Chris: It’s full of pre-copy righted protest music … The songs are blues and folk type songs.

Ondine: We are going to play some stuff off of the “Rid of You” EP and not much off of the “Winterband” EP.

Chris: It’s hard to go back to your first songs. Only the strong survive. But there are a couple of gems that I would like to bring back.

Jack: All of the cover charge is going towards us. Al’s Bar contacted us and asked us to play a show there and is helping us get money for our trip to Austin.

Ondine: We appreciate the people who come out and support us and our show. We really appreciate Al’s and we have a great relationship with them.

Jack: No, set goal. Whatever happens is nice.

Ondine: Loud. Energetic. Lots of folks dancing. It will be a very diverse show … We have been told we are very fun to watch.

Jack: It sounds very cheesy, but there’s something for everyone.

Chris: It will be dance, weird, psychedelic and punk type of music.

For more information about the Spooky Qs visit spookyqs.com. The show is at 10 p.m. at Al’s Bar. Admission is $5.