Accidental Sisters’ frontmen Sam Miller and Leon Harrison have had plenty of time to collaborate their musical ideas. The duo, whose acoustic act gave birth to the Accidental Sisters, have been playing together since the age of 15.

“We started out as an acoustic act, playing coffee houses in Iowa City,” Miller said. “We had the intention of becoming a full band. When I moved back to Des Moines and we held tryouts, we ended up keeping the first people who auditioned.”

Miller and Harrison handle guitars and vocals for the Des Moines-based quintet, while Lloyd Miller adds tenor sax. Drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Deb Daniels finish off the line-up.

“We are an all-original rock ‘n roll band,” Miller said. “We have been labeled blues, and we play a little jazz. We don’t go for the alternative scene.”

In support of their first release, Corruptive Heroin, the Sisters’ most recent sets include a live act on public TV and a headlining slot at the Ticketmaster Showcase. The People’s show featured four other local bands. “All the bands there were totally different, and that was really cool,” Miller added. “It wasn’t a competition, which was good.”

Miller brings his fellow musicians to the Memorial Union’s M-Shop on Saturday night with opening band The Bone People. “Ames is really good to us,” he said. “We played a lot at Dugan’s before they closed down, and this is our fourth or fifth show at the M-Shop. I know we’ve sold out a few times, and we always have a packed house.”

“We did some shows in Omaha, but we’re hoping to expand into the bigger Midwestern cities of Minneapolis, Chicago and Kansas City. Our future is depending on the record industry. We are hoping to record in November and be out by early ’96.”

According to Miller, Accidental Sisters is just a name that puts them on the shelves between fellow rock ‘n rollers, Abba and AC/DC.

Saturday’s show will be the first parting of the local acts. The Bone People are based in Ames and feature Iowa State English professor Debra Marquart. “We play a lot of benefits in Ames, but not a lot at the M-Shop,” she said. “We play Java Joe’s in Des Moines and some other coffee houses.”

The band melded three years ago in Ames. Marquart handles lead vocals with Iowa State alum Pete Manesis playing guitars. Anthony Stevens, a Ph.D. student in psychology, takes care of percussion for the trio.

“We are an odd configuration,” Marquart said. “We get parceled into an acoustic act, but we’re not like that. When I think of an acoustic show, I picture a few guys sitting around, playing on their guitars. Our shows are different. We like to rock.”

The Bone People are playing what they call a warm-up act. Rather than their entire show, they plan on playing just one set of originals. “We are getting ready for a recording,” Marquart added. “We have 18 originals among our list of tunes. We take apart covers and rewrite them. We don’t really know what to label ourselves, but right now we are working with acoustic fusion.”

The Bone People are scheduled to take the stage at 9 p.m. followed by the Accidental Sisters. All tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door or at any Ticketmaster box office.