If the new semester’s already got you down, drop your books, head to People’s tonight and check out Hello Dave’s unique brand of feel-good rock.

The Chicago quartet has been touring throughout the country for the last three years defining their own style, a combination of roots rock with a Southern twist and big vocal harmonies.

In that time, the band has drawn comparisons to everyone from Dave Matthews Band to the Grateful Dead to Hootie and the Blowfish.

Lead singer and guitarist Mike Himebaugh says he is amused by the wide variety of bands to which Hello Dave has been compared.

“It means that we’re not exactly comparable to anybody,” Himebaugh says. “You can’t just say ‘They’re a lot like this band,’ because we’re kind of like all of them. There’s some Dead, some Hootie and the Blowfish and some Lawrence Welk. … Okay, maybe not any Lawrence Welk.”

Himebaugh says Hello Dave’s music grew out of a love for such a variety of styles, it’s hard to put a finger on where exactly it began.

There is, however, one influence he has been unable to suppress.

“My folks were really into barbershop quartets,” Himebaugh says. “Barbershop is just such a damn good time, and I think that bled through. Everyone calls us a feel-good band; that might be the reason for that.

“I definitely love the harmonies in [Hello Dave],” Himebaugh adds. “But the harmonies we use are nothing like barbershop.”

Hello Dave’s style has changed a little over the years, but if anything they’ve just gotten better.

“We’ve gotten more, not country-fied, [but] more roots, more down to earth,” Himebaugh says. “It’s just good, old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. We’re just saying ‘Let’s have fun and make the people coming to see us have fun.'”

One person who is certainly having fun with Hello Dave is bass player Allen Wetzel, who joined the band just over a year ago.

“I’m having the time of my life,” Wetzel says. “I was in about 13 or 14 bands before this, but this is right where I want to be.”

Wetzel, who played one of his first shows with the band at People’s, says one of his favorite things about playing with Hello Dave is the three-part harmonies from Himebaugh, guitar player Mike Hall, and himself, which “really puts it on another level.”

With combined album sales for their self titled debut, “West,” and 1998’s “16tons” over 28,000, in addition to drawing crowds of up to 3,500 in Chicago, Hello Dave is primed to move on to the next level.

The band believes that by remaining patient and building a strong fan base, they have insured that when they do sign with a major label it will be on their own terms.

“Now we don’t have to just take any record deal that might come up,” Himebaugh says. “When we go to a major label we can say ‘This is how we want it.’ There will still be give and take, but hopefully now we’ll have a little more pull.”

Wetzel agrees that the band has done the right thing by proving they could go it alone before signing with a big record label but looks forward to more commercial success in the future.

“In terms of commercial success, I want to go as far as we possibly could,” Wetzel says. “But I’m really happy it’s being done this way. When we do move on, we’ll be in control of the wind in our sails.”

For now, though, Hello Dave is having a blast playing clubs across country.

“When we come to town, that’s where the party is,” Himebaugh says.