NICK@NITE

Everyone loves the ’90s.

And when you’re the featured band on an offbeat Nickelodeon comedy, you love the ’90s even more. Then, when two decades pass and the TV show’s cult following is rooting for you to get back on your feet, you realize the ’90s love you back. For alt-rock trio Polaris of The Adventures of Pete & Pete fame, that’s exactly what happened.

“Everything on TV gets magnified. When you see the weatherman at Starbucks, you freak out. You don’t know what to say to him,” singer Mark Mulcahy explains. “We didn’t drive around the country, playing gigs to small crowds and working our way up. The TV kept us alive for all these years, and, for some reason, now is the time for us to play. It’s nostalgia for a band you’ve never seen.”

If you’re wondering what brought them back, Mulcahy isn’t one to lie. “To be honest, a guy offered us a lot of money to play one gig at Comic Con,” he admits, but it didn’t take long for Polaris to be surprised by the reaction. It sold out immediately. “They knew all the words,” he says, a bit baffled.

“You wish the rest of the world was this way, like this world [the show’s creators] invented, because it draws out these beautiful, inventive, positive fans.”

The fictional band may be real now, but don’t expect any acting soon. “I would get so nervous [on camera]. Then Pete, who was a little kid at the time, would come over and say ‘Hey, man! Relax, man!’ It was so strange to be coached by a child,” he laughs, “but it was also really nice.” Instead, their one-and-only record comes out on vinyl this Record Store Day, because Polaris is far better at playing music from your youth than acting. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

POLARIS W/ HALLELUJAH THE HILLS. THU 4.16. BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL, 158 BRIGHTON AVE., ALLSTON. 617.779.0140. 8PM/18+/$16. CROSSROADSPRESENTS.COM/BRIGHTON-MUSIC-HALL. FACEBOOK.COM/THEBANDPOLARIS