An uprising pop rock band from Michigan will perform in Ames next week on its national tour around the United States

What Happened in Vegas, an indie pop rock band hailing from Detroit, will be performing at Zeke’s, 3329 Lincoln Way, next week. Ames will be the fourth stop on its 20-show tour. The band is currently ranked as Michigan’s No. 1 unsigned band by MySpace and has already had more than two million plays on its MySpace page.

What Happened in Vegas was established a short time ago and has quite a résumé for its time in existence. So far, the band has been on multiple tours and played nearly 800 shows, including a venue in Michigan that held 3,000 people. Aaron Vegas, lead singer, said it’s a lot different now that they’re a well-known band, compared to when they were just getting started.

“When we were a smaller band, it was just so hard to like do anything, because nobody is really feeling you, and nobody really cares at that point, but now that we’re starting to make something out of ourselves, it feels so amazing to be up on stage at night and have all these people dying to hear us. It’s just so fulfilling to know they came there to see you, even in states like you’ve never been in,” Vegas said.

What Happened in Vegas was originally started by Aaron Vegas and Nick Macklem, the band’s drummer. The two used to jam for fun until they thought they could do something serious, Vegas said.

After a little while, they ran into guitarist Steve Ervinck and bassist Ron Robinson. The band has been together for a year-and-a-half.

In addition to finishing this tour, the band has completed its first full-length album. So far, it has put out a self-recorded album titled “WHIV 2008 DEMO,” which was released on I-Tunes. It also released two other tracks on I-Tunes: “All I Need” and “We’d Look Stunning.”

The full-length album is slotted for some time around October, but there isn’t a definite release date yet. Vegas said this album will be the best thing they have done musically and that there will be a lot of new material going into it.

As far as the distant future, others feel they have a lot to look forward to.

“What Happened in Vegas is going to be one of those bands next year that everyone’s going to be talking about,” said Steve Amos, publicist for the band. “Right now they’re ranked on MySpace for having the most plays. In five years, they should be over the radio and hopefully some television things.”

What happened in Vegas will be performing in Ames at Zeke’s, a fairly new establishment owned and operated by the Stonebrook Community Church. Matt Heerema, an employee at Zeke’s, said Zeke’s has events and activities for all ages that are an alternative to the bar scene. He encourages everyone to come out and have a good time. “It’s pretty sweet,” Heerema said. “We’re excited and pretty stoked to have them come through.