Jerry Garcia may have died in 1995, but his immortal music keeps the older Dead Heads breathing and provides inspiration for the emergence of a new “Grateful” generation – or at least some spot on cover bands.

“We just thought it would be a fun thing to do,” said Michael Wegner, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist of Athens-based Cosmic Charlie. “[We] never expected to still be playing eight years later with more than 300 shows under our belt.”

The band formed in the summer of 1999 after a handful of musicians played together for the legendary Garcia’s birthday at the Georgia Theatre.

Cosmic Charlie has grown in both size and notoriety and is now composed of Wegner, Dave Domizi (bass, vocals), Nathan Hale (drums), John Miley (guitar, vocals), Dave Spivey (keyboards, vocals) and Kane Stanley (drums, vocals).

Wegner said he had been to somewhere between 60 and 70 Dead shows “back in the day” and feels fortunate to have been able to see the band with Jerry Garcia so many times.

Wegner said several members of the band have a history playing with punk-influenced bands and thinks that comes through in Cosmic Charlie.

“We still play very much in the Dead style and format, but we are less likely to noodle around lazily like the Dead were sometimes known to do,” he said. “We like to rock.”

Cosmic Charlie works hard to set itself apart from other Grateful Dead cover bands. According to Drew Popis, the band’s merchandise manager, Cosmic Charlie doesn’t play specific Dead shows like Dark Star often is known to do.

“Nothing is etched in stone,” he said. “They take requests from the audience and may have an idea of what they’re going to play – but no arranged set-list.”

Wegner and Dave Domizi have been playing with the mock-Beatles of Fuzzy Sprouts (now Abbey Road LIVE!) for many years.

“[Fuzzy Sprouts] had a relentless habit of covering epic classic rock albums in their entirety,” Wegner said.

Tonight at the Georgia Theatre, Cosmic Charlie will be performing its “Dark Side of The Dead” show. One set will be Pink Floyd covers while the second will cover all things Grateful Dead.

The band has done the “Dark Side of the Dead” show at Georgia Theatre before, and Wegner said he considers it “a nice diversion.”

“We all share a lot of different musical tastes. Somehow, Pink Floyd also fits this configuration of musicians,” he said. “I can’t say we like it more or less than Grateful Dead, but it is nice to be a part of bringing to life one of the best loved albums of all time.”

Wegner said tonight’s audience can look forward to experiencing the “lights, sounds and smells,” while getting “a healthy dose of Grateful Dead with Pink Floyd sandwiched in the middle.”

“We will have backup singers, two drummers, saxophone, keyboard madness — it will be a spectacle,” he said.