Government Cheese members, from left, are Scott Willis, Tommy Womack, Joe Elvis King, Billy Mack Hill and Viva McQueen.

Government Cheese will return to its roots Saturday with a performance at the Duncan Hines Days Eats & Beats festival, marking four decades since the band first took the stage in Bowling Green.

“There will be a surprise guest” at the festival, Scott Willis, Government Cheese band member said. “There’s a couple songs I think we haven’t played in quite awhile, so maybe a new one.”

The group played its first gig in 1985 behind the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at Western Kentucky University.

The group’s name came from a glance into the fridge shortly before the show by band member Tommy Womack.

“Tommy goes, ‘Hey, you guys want to be Government Cheese tonight?’ – looking in the fridge,” Willis said. “We’re like, sure, sounds good, thinking we would change it.”

“We wore coats and you could see your breath,” Willis said. “The next day people were saying, ‘Hey, I like the band Government Cheese,’ and we were like, oh my, guess the name is sticking.’ ”

Within weeks, the band went from the Sig Ep house to playing the Alibi on Quarter Beer Night. Band members kept learning new songs and improving with every show.

“We played again. And again, we were better than the gig before,” Willis said.

By July 1985, they were packing out Picasso’s on Monday nights. Then came regular sets at Michael’s Pub, where they played Thursday through Saturday and earned enough to buy a van.

“That really got us our chops,” Willis said. “It gave us enough money to save up for a van and actually get the heck out of town.”

With the van, the band hit the road, building followings from Louisville to Carbondale, Illinois. Eventually, it earned airtime on MTV and played iconic venues like CBGB in Manhattan.

“I was in Louisville when we first got on MTV and watched it at my parents’ house,” Willis said. “I was like, wow, we’re right there with all these other cool bands.”

In 1992, after seven years of nonstop touring, the band broke up. Three years later, members reunited to open for the Allman Brothers in Nashville.

“That was the first time we got back together,” Willis said. “We just started doing reunions after that.”

The band released new albums in 2014 and 2020 and continue to perform. Most of the original members remain in the band.

”We feel like we did make it,” Willis said. “We made it 40 years.”

Bowling Green’s music scene played a pivotal role in shaping the band. Local venues like Michael’s Pub and Patio gave it a place to sharpen the act and build a following.

The connection between the band and its hometown remains strong.

”To me, it’s a homecoming,” Willis said. “It’s a good thing we broke up in ‘92 for a couple years so that we could get back together and be around each other.”

The camaraderie between members has stayed intact, even after years apart.

”We feel like we’re all brothers,” Willis said. “Now that there’s no real pressure on us to make it, we feel like we did make it.”

After four decades, the thrill of performing together still drives them.

”When the band actually clicks, it is a rush that is kind of an adrenaline rush and euphoric,” Willis said. “When you have the song going and it is going really good, it is a fantastic feeling.