Alabama “indie-rock boy band” stirs the crowd at Sinclair
Cambridge, Mass – “When they go on, what are we gonna do?” said a girl standing next to her best friend, gently resting their hands on the barricade front and center of the Sinclair in Harvard Square. The other friend responded, “Die.” The girls laughed. I assumed they were late teens, maybe 17? Could this be their first concert, I thought? So I asked…“About to be seniors in high school,” they said excitedly. “It’s the first time we’re seeing the Stews.” “Um, we are going to faint…” The other friend started talking. “We took the train in from outside Massachusetts, and have been waiting for this moment.” They told me how much they loved the band. I said my goodbyes while trying not to bump into them with my bulky camera equipment. I watched from afar, testing lighting while they both stared at the stage for the next hour in anticipation.
The indie-rock boy band, from Auburn, Ala., has four members: Preston Hall, lead singer and guitarist, Wyatt Griffith on drums, Blake Dobbs on guitar and Bennett Baugus on bass. Wyatt, Blake and Bennet all went to high school together in Atlanta, Ga. Then, Wyatt went off to Auburn University in Alabama where he met Preston. They all jammed together in 2019, creating “Slip Away” on their self-titled EP. Then COVID hit … so, the four of them quarantined together, creating the Stews. Ever since their debut album, “What Was” in April 2022, they have been touring ever since. Their latest album, “Chicken Fight” was released July 12. Their performance at the Sinclair was their classics and new songs from their new album, “Chicken Fight.” The Stews performed for 2 hours, rocking everyone’s rocks with their sound.
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This article was produced for HorizonMass, the independent, student-driven, news outlet of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, and is syndicated by BINJ’s MassWire news service.
Charlotte Howard is a HorizonMass photographer and lover of music. She just graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism and religion. She was heavily involved in shaping the writing section of Off the Cuff, a fashion arts magazine, and is currently managing her own freelance photography business @shuttersbychar. She is a board member of an independent student newspaper, the Pelham Examiner, that she co-founded 6 years ago Saving the best for last…if you can’t get ahold of Charlotte, she is with her friends, and/or drinking an iced matcha.
