Seventy Six and Sunny lights up Columbia stages, prepares for upcoming album
Looking at the members of Seventy Six and Sunny, it is clear the four have drastically different personalities.
But somehow these completely different people mesh together to create a unique relationship and sound in Columbia. Their energetic bond and stage presence has led them to local success.
The acoustic pop-rock band began among childhood friends from Chapin: guitarist and vocalist Austin Lang and drummer David Kesling, who had played together since childhood.
The two fourth-year students connected with keyboard player Tim Byrd to form the early sounds of Seventy Six and Sunny.
Eager to find a fourth member, the trio turned to the Internet to find their New York-native bass player, Jawann Stuckey.
“We actually found him on Craigslist,” Lang said hesitantly. “And oddly enough, we didn’t even find him in the musician’s section. He was in the talent section.”
“It’s not a bad story; it’s just a little different,” Kesling added. “We’re just a little unorthodox.”
Since October 2012, the band has been honing a sound they describe as reminiscent of ’90s jam bands with an organic feel and playing venues around Columbia.
“It’s not very 2013-sounding, all digitized,” Lang said. “It’s just us playing.”
Musical inspirations come from everywhere from Fuel and the Counting Crows to newer bands like The Fray and The Script and, of course, USC legend Hootie and The Blowfish.
“We all kind of look at different stuff,” Kesling said. “It makes us pretty unique, and we all bring something different to the table.”
Aside from the covers they play at venues like New Brookland Tavern, Breaker’s, Jake’s, festivals like Viva la Vista and even tailgates, the four write original music, each contributing to form a final product.
“We all contribute something different to the songs and make it a little different,” Kesling said. “Everyone just piles on different pieces on top of other pieces.”
“One of us may come up with a song, but once David adds in the drums and Jawann puts his bass in it, it can end up as something completely different than it was in the beginning,” Byrd said.
Between video games, cooking competitions and “typical college kid activities,” the band practices at least twice a week and has a nearly full performance schedule until November.
With an album coming out in early November, the group is letting the pieces fall where they may, and they are enjoying time for musical creativity.
“We don’t have any set goals, like we don’t say that we need to have this done by then,” Kesling said. “We just kind of keep going with the flow, living week by week.”
“It’s worked well so far,” Long added.
But with their different personalities come different hopes for the future.
“I want have some degree of fame, but at the same time, I would be content as long as I could just live comfortably (and) do what I want as far as (playing) music as a job, which doesn’t really feel like a job to me anyway” Byrd said.
“I just feel like I want to be appreciated more than famous,” Stuckey said. “I want people to appreciate my music more than me being known for it.”
Despite their differing long-term goals and occasional disagreements, they all agree on the importance of their music and the enjoyment they get from performing.
“There some people who say, ‘Oh you could be famous; you could take this to the road,’” Kesling said. “We just let them talk about it, and we just have fun with it.”
Singles like “Come Home Johnny” can be found on their band site, http://76andsunny.bandcamp.com/