7 South isn’t a typical Oxford band. When they’re not out jamming at Locals, they can be found studying for tomorrow’s midterms.
Formed by four brothers of the fraternity Sigma Chi, 7 South includes lead singer and guitarist Michael Reddoch, lead guitarist Johny Hallow, bassist Stephen Elgin and drummer Collin Curtin. The band has also recently added keyboardist Grant Reviere to the mix.
When you think of a band practicing for a show, you think of an old garage with a bunch of instruments going 100 miles per hour, but for 7 South, the fraternity house is the ideal practice location.
“We found a set of drums in a closet in our basement, so I started playing,” Curtin said. “We all ended up playing together. After finding the drums, we moved them into an extra room in our basement, so our house mom gave us a lock for the door and gave us our own music room.”
Aside from the love of music, each member of the band is also originally from outside of Oxford. The band came up with the name 7 South because the members all have to take Highway 7 to get to town, and the city of Oxford is what brought them all together.
“Highway 7 is a pretty significant highway in Mississippi,” Hallow said. “It really reflects the Mississippi vibe. It’s a beautiful drive, and the name had that jam band feel, so we kept it.”
“And we couldn’t think of anything else better,” Elgin said.
7 South credits a fellow band associated with the fraternity, Ebenezer Goodman, for hooking it up with its first gig at Rafters. That performance landed the band around 12 more upcoming gigs for the semester. It’s been asked to perform for other fraternity functions, sorority formals and well-known music hotspots in Oxford, like Locals and The Library.
“When we formed the band, we had no idea we would actually be playing gigs,” Curtin said. “The band was just something we did for fun. It was a great study break, but now we get to perform all around Oxford.”
The brothers of Sigma Chi have been incredibly supportive of the band, and they even sit in on practice and listen to the group jam out. The group practices late into the night, but the brothers living in the Sigma Chi house don’t seem to mind the noise because they all enjoy the music and supporting their brothers.
“A lot of guys in the house just sit in and listen to us practice,” Hallow said. “The support from Sigma Chi has been great.”
7 South doesn’t have a set style it plays because it plays just about everything. The members set a goal to learn five new songs before every gig so they can have a variety of different music to perform for their audiences. The band’s current goal is to learn around 60 songs and eventually begin writing its own original music.
“We play everything from ‘Party in the USA’ by Miley Cyrus, all the way to Led Zepplin or ACDC,” Reddoch said.
While 7 South is still new, it’s already experienced a lot of local success. The members of 7 South are extremely excited for their future as a band, as is the rest of Oxford.
