Five years ago, Larry Randolph wandered into Rama P. Jama’s Open Mic Night at Juice N’ Java and was blown away by a young woman singing the 4 Non Blondes’ song “What’s Up” on the small stage.

After the performance, Randolph realized that the young woman was Emily Poile, one of his friend’s daughters. Impressed by her vocal range, Randolph approached Poile. “I asked her how long she has been on stage, and she said ‘ten minutes,’” Randolph recalls.

That night, Randolph invited Poile to jam with him. Two years later, she took him up on the offer.

In 2001, joined by bassist Derek Dean, the trio would practice two songs a week and then perform the new material every Friday night at Juice N’ Java.

“The goal wasn’t to do Rama’s, but it was to find her [Poile’s] voice,” Randolph says.

Three years later at Chippers, it is obvious that the duo accomplished their mission. Joined by local musicians Stu Pilkenton and Garth Hattan, the trio is now a five-piece rock ’n’ roll outfit called The Remedy. After a noisy, experimental original sung by Pilkenton, Poile gets up on the stage.

With Poile behind the microphone, the atmosphere at Chippers quickly changes. After a version of Scandal’s “Goodbye to You,” the men shooting pool hold their pool sticks and stare at the stage. Somehow, the band also seems reinvigorated by Poile’s presence. While Poile stands on one leg and raises a hand above her head during Heart’s “Barracuda,” Pilkenton takes the song into new territory with his drawn-out guitar solos. By the time the group ends the song, there is one man videotaping the band while another walks back and forth in front of the stage snapping photographs.

In addition to songs by Heart and Scandal, The Remedy plays a handful of originals along with songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alanis Morisette and Joan Osborne. Randolph says The Remedy likes to play songs like “On the Hunt,” a Skynyrd song from 1975’s Nuthin’ Fancy, instead of overplayed classics like “Free Bird.” “You are not going to hear the same old shit from The Remedy,” he says.

The Remedy plays Ocean Thunder, 214 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey, at 9pm on Friday. No cover. 643-9169.