Although it is not overwhelmingly familiar with the mainstream music scene yet, rock band Bottle of Justus has made significant strides just five years after its frontmen, Joe and Chris Quinlan, packed their knapsacks and guitars to pursue a degree at Illinois State University.

Joe and Chris, Charleston natives who have been faithfully playing guitar since the eighth grade, met up with three other talented musicians at ISU and formed Bottle of Justus — named after Justus Woolever, a friend of the group.

The band, comprised of Chris on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Joe on lead guitar and vocals, Erik Bogdonas on drums and percussion, Jeff Johnson on bass and Mark Kinderman on saxophone, has been influenced by a slew of mainstream rock acts including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Guns N’ Roses, R.E.M. and Radiohead.

Bottle of Justus will be headlining Champaign’s Canopy Club Saturday at 9 p.m.

When the band initially formed, it attempted to build a solid fan base by playing various venues and parties in Bloomington. In 1999, Bottle recorded its first album, “Sunday Midwestern Afternoon,” after garnering interest from its current manager Jeff Becicka.

Becicka personally knew the bass player, but really didn’t know how talented the group was until he saw them perform for himself.

“I saw them and was totally blown away by them and it went from there,” he said. “I saw them for the first time at the ISU Lacrosse House. I knew (Johnson) and wanted to check out the band and I was like ‘You guys are great.'”

Bottle of Justus continued to make progress and saw themselves take another proverbial step into the limelight after issuing its latest album America Cries in 2001 (no correlation to Sept. 11).

“We started getting press and radio play after our second record,” Chris Quinlan said. “Basically, now we are (playing) more bars and clubs, theater gigs.”

Growing up obscured in the rural Charleston setting has not prevented Chris and Joe from playing the more coveted places in Chicago with their group.

Bottle of Justus has already performed twice at Chicago’s House of Blues and is planning to play once again in Jan. 3, where it will unveil its new album after the show, Becicka and Chris Quinlan said.

Bottle has just wrapped up the recording of the EP, titled “On Air,” which they mastered and mixed in Birmingham, Ala. with producer Jason Elgin, who has produced albums for mainstream rockers Creed and Collective Soul.

Initially, the band was a bit intimidated at the thought of working with such an accomplished producer.

“Absolutely at first,” Chris Quinlan said. “He was unbelievable to work with though. It was the first time we worked with a real producer, one with credentials. We worked a month straight of 10-hour days for six songs.”

The set of songs on the band’s new album is an extraordinary departure from what the band has ever constructed.

“(The new album) is absolutely different,” Chris Quinlan said. “It is a lot more uplifting music, more situational songs. You can tell what the person is going through who wrote the song.”

He said the group has generated much label interest and is ultimately deciding which one it will work with depending on “who will screw us the least.”

“We are thinking about going on tour,” Chris Quinlan said. “We really want to go out there and start playing now that we’ve all finished school. We’ve always said when we are done with school we want to go on tour. We are relatively young (all in mid 20s) and just thought we’d give it a shot. We are really looking to see what label we want to sign with.”

He said the group’s live show is energetic and unique.

“Our live show is definitely 100 percent our band, ” Chris Quinlan said. “It is an exciting show. We don’t stand still. We go a little crazy. We figure if people are going to pay to get into the door, we want to give people their money’s worth.”

As far as playing his hometown, where the band has played at places like Stix and Top of the Roc a few years back, Chris Quinlan said “I would like to come play a show down there sometime.”