Rock trio Touche will provide Friends & Co. with a local music vibe Saturday night.

Bandmates Josh Jones (guitar and vocals) and Bill Houseworth (bass) have been friends since childhood. Although both were raised in Charleston, Touche wasn’t formed until both members relocated to Charleston after living in Chicago and Bloomington, respectively.

While in Chicago, Jones garnered quite a bit of experience playing weekly gigs at Dirty Nellies with a Phish cover band. Jones said it was a challenge to play tight Phish music on a weekly basis since Phish is such a closely scrutinized band.

Houseworth, on the other hand, originally played guitar but switched to bass while he was a student at Illinois State University. Meeting Victor and Reggie Wooten after a show at the Canopy Club in Urbana was also a substantial event in Houseworth’s musical journey.

“(Victor) taught me how to play slap bass and Reggie let me play his guitar,” Houseworth said.

Touche recorded its first release as a quintet. The five-song EP “Moonbeams” didn’t exactly sport the sound the band was after though, and when they went back into Time Studio in Mattoon as a scaled-down three-piece experienced a lineup change.

“Our current drummer wasn’t up to par for the studio recording,” Houseworth said. That’s when Mike Wake, Time Studio producer and Eleven Days drummer, sat in on the session and laid down a drum track. Jones and Houseworth invited him to join the band and he finished their new three-song demo.

“Mike’s really been a mentor to us,” Jones said.

“Our songs are expressed more clearly as a three-piece, but we’re interested in adding a keyboardist or horn players,” Houseworth said,

Describing the band’s sound as “modern rock meets jammish-pop”, Touche strives to play all original material. When the band does play covers, they use them more as filler in a set. Although the band used to play popular covers, it has concentrated more on less-popular songs they were personally fans of from acts such as Sublime, The Police and late Beatles, circa “Abbey Road.” “We try to concentrate on (covers) that make people move,” Jones said.

“We want to be a totally original band, so we mix it up 60-40 or 70-30 in favor of originals to covers,” Houseworth said.

Although the band has played at likes of the Uptowner, Stix and Marty’s during its time together, Jones said they like playing at Friends best.

“Friends’ crowd is really receptive to music more so than other places in town, ” Jones said.

Doors at 10 p.m. with a $2 cover.