Traditionally, tribute bands tend to be the sole domain of working musicians trying to make an easy buck and midlife crisis males desperate to relive their salad days.

Lately, however, that doesn’t seem to be the case. A handful of tribute acts have found success beyond the usual state fair, chili cookoff, and dive bar circuit. By slightly altering the formula, tempering nostalgia with a pinch of irony or putting a clever spin on the material, these resourceful (and often young) acts have achieved the dream of the tribute circuit: they’ve achieved loyal, far-reaching followings of their own.

Perhaps the gold standard of this is Sheezer. The group began with nothing but a witty name and an interesting premise—a group of female musicians, all otherwise active in the Toronto indie scene, playing the dude-centric nerd-rock of Weezer. Sticking to the first two albums, the self-titled “Blue Album” and Pinkerton, a.k.a. the good ones, Sheezer manages to subvert the band’s lyrics, while simultaneously celebrating their tunes as the ideal party music for a generation of indie rock fans.

That’s kind of a one-joke premise, but Sheezer have managed to keep up the act for over two years, even taking it on the road throughout Canada, without updating the formula. That they’ve been able to do so probably speaks less to their inventiveness—their peak came before they even played a show, when Rivers Cuomo tweeted his approval—but to the surprising new audience for a new crop of tribute acts.

In sticking to the first two Weezer albums, Sheezer aren’t just making a value judgment about latter day Weezer (that pretty much speaks for itself) they’re also playing to their fans’ built-in nostalgia, a reverence for a pair of albums intertwined with the adolescence of a whole generation. Insecurity, rejection, identity-formation, power chords—it’s basically the soundtrack to being a teenager in the ‘90s. And since the ‘90s have inherited the nostalgia throne from earlier eras of pop culture, that’s a large niche ready to be mined.

Audiences at Sheezer shows are encouraged to sing along. And they do, often making as much noise as the band up onstage. Belting along to “Undone (The Sweater Song)” or “El Scorcho” with a room full of people is an undeniable catharsis, and everyone in that room knows it. It’s as much a tribute to Weezer as it is to the era they come from, and the state the listeners were in at the time.

And after two years of perseverance, Sheezer have found company on the same circuit. On Saturday, March 3, a new group called Wannabe: The Spice Girls Tribute, played at Lee’s Palace in Toronto. Though it was only their second show, the venue sold out, leaving an estimated 200 people stuck in line outside. Made up of graduates of the Ryerson Theatre and Humber Music programs, the group of 20-somethings emulates the girl-power pop icons with choreography, costumes and fake British accents. Like Sheezer, they pull from only two albums, Spice and Spiceworld.

All the better to awake that primal nostalgia receptor in now-adults who once gave themselves full force to their girl-group heroes, glamming up, assigning themselves Spice identities, and propping themselves up on ridiculously high platform shoes. By playing as closely to the original phenomenon as possible, the group basically fulfills the same function as a time machine.

But playing it close to the originals isn’t the only way to gain a following. In fact, it can be a bad idea. Take Toronto’s Daft Punk Tribute. If they were to follow Daft Punk’s costumed, masked, electronic stage show, they’d basically look like actors. Instead, the nine-piece ensemble put their Humber Jazz degrees to good use by adapting the source material for live instruments, including full horn and rhythm sections, plus vocals, electronics, and a stage presence that recalls vintage soul and funk acts. It’s a show that’s distinctly and idiosyncratically their own, and it’s propelled them from small venues to crowds sometimes nearing 1,000.

It’s cheating to call them a tribute act, but I’d be remiss not to include another group of Humber Jazz alumni (apparently a popular program for cover bands): BADBADNOTGOOD. By reinterpreting modern hip hop songs as a jazz trio, the young buzz magnets are part of a horde of new musicians pushing instrumental hip hop to interesting new places. Their first video, “The Odd Future Sessions,” earned them an eventual jam session with Tyler, The Creator himself, while their all-J Dilla set at Wrongbar garnered rave reviews (and probably one of the strangest mosh pits to ever break out).

So say what you will about tribute bands, but they don’t have to be the lowest of the low. Keep at it and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be rewarded.