I first learned about the music scene roulette known as the Rock Lottery when some industrious creative types in Columbus started throwing their own annual holiday spinoff, the Rock Potluck, about a decade ago. But Rock Lottery, which returns to Brooklyn for the fifth time this December with a star-studded lineup, actually had its roots in Denton, Texas. Since then it’s spread to Seattle too, per Facebook. As long as you’ve got a diverse, thriving local music scene, the concept works no matter how big the city or how famous the participants. Here’s how it functions as explained on the event’s official site:

The Rock Lottery premise is simple, but effective. Twenty-five hand picked musicians meet at 10:00AM at the evenings performance venue. These volunteers are organized into five groups through a lottery-based chance selection. The five separate groups are then released to practice at different locations. The musicians have twelve hours to create a band name and three to five songs (with a one cover-song limit). The groups will then perform what they have created that evening in front of a waiting audience.

Pretty awesome, right? The Rock Potluck in Columbus is always good for some wild, spontaneous fun, and sometimes the bands end up sticking together for further collaboration. In fact, the Rock Potluck was responsible for the formation of Psandwich, the triumphant latter-day project of Great Plains/Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments frontman Ron House. (You should definitely pick up their Northren Psych LP if you come across it; here’s some background.) Anyway, just imagine how awesome it will be when members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Parquet Courts, Sebadoh, the Dismemberment Plan, Beverly, Antony & The Johnsons and more get shuffled into new bands for a day. The first 15 of 25 names were announced today. Here’s who’s committed so far:

Annie Hart (Au Revoir Simone)
Bob D’Amico (Sebadoh / Fiery Furnaces)
Brandon Welchez (Crocodiles)
Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Drums & Drones / NYC Improv)
Carter Yatsutake (Midnight Magic / Bad Credit No Credit / Played with Macklemore & St. Vincent)
Drew Citron (Beverly)
Jesse Kristin (Jukebox the Ghost)
Julia Kent (Antony & the Johnsons)
Matt Schulz (Holy F*ck)
Mauro Refosco (Forro In the Dark / David Byrne’s Band)
Olly Peacock (Gomez)
Rick Froberg (Drive Like Jehu / Hot Snakes / Obits)
Sean Yeaton (Parquet Courts)
Teeny Lieberson (TEEN)
Travis Morrison (Dismemberment Plan)

Brooklyn Rock Lottery 5 is going down 12/6 at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased here.