It was a big night for local music last Friday, January 9th, with Stephen Sol & the 7’s headline show at Union Stage. With support from DMV-based artists Frewt and Hathway, the eight-piece psychedelic folk-rock band brought a fun show with great music to the stage.

One of my favorite parts about going to local DMV bands’ shows is the energy the crowd brings. Friends and family packed in early to greet each act. This truly was a community show; the faces in the crowd weren’t random, but true supporters.

Frewt took to the stage first, performing groovy rock originals "French Café", "Change My Mind", and "Crazy How I Feel About You". The band noted that though they write their music collaboratively, everyone has their own style on their instruments, which makes writing together exciting.

To round out their set, the band gave a shout out “to all the mothers,” and by the opening guitar riff, the crowd knew it was time to sing along to the ever-powerful "Stacy’s Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. 

Hathway’s dreamy indie rock sound changed up the energy for their set. They began by playing two unreleased songs, "Joyburn" and "Start Again", before going into originals "While I Wait" and "Keeper of Time". The band includes siblings Joe, Jude, James, Timmy, and Mary Grace Hathway. Hathway’s music would resonate with fans of Colony House and Blue Rain Boots.

The crowd particularly enjoyed "Keeper of Time," which took on a more edgy sound than the rest of their set and featured Mary Grace as a special guest. Mary Grace has a unique voice that works together with the supporting vocals to maintain their signature dreamy sound. To round out their set, the brothers performed "Money in Her Pocket" and "Altercation," which were quick to win over the crowd and provided an energy spike right before Stephen Sol & the 7 came onstage.

With the energy high from two awesome opening sets, Stephen Sol & the 7 capitalized on it and brought it to an entirely new level with a cover of "Bohemian Like You" by The Dandy Warhols. With Stephen Sol on lead vocals and guitar, Bema Tadey and Yasmin Wamala on backing vocals, Arquel Rivera on drums, Tyler Goldstein on guitar, Leif Christian L. Jomuad on bass, John Rey Tangaran on the keys, Randie Goode on the trumpet, and Jairo Chavez on the saxophone, the band certainly has a robust capacity to bring plenty of variety in their performance and pull off the inter-genre space they live in.  Stephen Sol & the 7 took up the entirety of Union Stage's stage and created a creative wall of song.

The first few minutes of the set was pure chaos in the best way possible. The chaos continued through "Compasión" and "Sacred Energy", especially with the entrance of backup dancers dressed in hot pink and beach balls tossed into the crowd.  

I find the eight pieces’ certainly lean on the rock genre to describe themselves, but their music feels like an indie rock band with a folk problem in the best way possible; balancing high-energy, earworm melodies with the storytelling ability and themes of folk music. The band self describes their music in their Instagram bio as “Bob Dylan backed by Pink Floyd and a gospel choir.” Just behind the energy created in the venue space, the musicians, and the crowd before them is a tendency to package inherent opposites together and explore the unity of these opposites through music, and this begins with their instrumentation.

It was clear throughout the first half of the show just how much fun the band has together, especially when on stage. The band played as Stephen Sol introduced "Fifth Best Singer in the Band", a song which showcases not only their musical but interpersonal chemistry. This song calls out band members by name including their instruments. Sol notes in the introduction that they have added two more members since he wrote the song, and though he currently ranks at number seven, he hopes to make it back to the fifth spot sometime. “I’ve been taking vocal lessons though, we’re getting there,” he assured the crowd.

After an energetic performance of "Short Skirt / Long Jacket" by CAKE, Sol announced a $700 raffle for ticketholders. The raffle was marketed online by Sol’s ‘financial advisor’ Vinny Sorrentino, a man who is said to dabble in the pizza and cannoli industry in New York City and who bears a striking resemblance to guitarist Tyler Goldstein. 

The second half of the set kept up the energy while leaning on the storytelling characteristic of folk tunes. Sol described Toxic as a song about how “life’s not always through rosy glasses,” and Spring as about surviving winter. They brought the warmth back quickly with Sunshine Wine, a bright song that exudes summer. As the band played, Goode and Chavez ran backstage to retrieve hot dogs just in time for Sol to sing the lyric ‘hot dog in the sun.’ Waving them around and dancing a bit, Goode eventually ran to the front of the stage and gave the hot dogs away to two audience members in the front row.

“I wouldn’t eat those,” Goldstein advised the two women. They opted to store them for later in their purses.

At the end of the show, just before the raffle, Sol announced a headline show at the iconic DC venue Black Cat on July 10 (keep an eye on the venue's show page for tickets). Then, Vinny Sorrentino came onto the stage to pull the winning raffle ticket. With much ado, the lucky winner received their prize and concluded a great night.

If you’re wishing you could’ve caught the show, you’re in luck: Stephen Sol & the 7’s latest release is a live album, Live at Manor Time, that includes some selections featured in their set. Check it out on all streaming platforms.

The DC music scene is alive and flourishing, and so are its local homegrown bands.  Don't sleep on Stephen Sol & the 7 and be sure to catch them where they shine brightly - live!  Be sure to keep Hathway on your radar - they continue to release stunning songs, and don't sleep on Frewt, who continue evolve and grow.

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