On Feb. 11, I sat down with South Pleasant Revival (SPR), a local rock band at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since their debut on a plywood stage at a “Parent’s Weekend” show on Oct. 14, 2023, the band has graced numerous stages across Massachusetts and has even released multiple songs on streaming platforms.

The members of SPR consist of senior communications major Grace Kerlin on lead vocals, senior hospitality and tourism management major Henry Eustis on guitar, junior journalism and communications major Flynn Duffy on drums, senior biology and psychology major James Goldbach on keys, senior biology major Philip Adams also on guitar and senior building and construction technology (BCT) major Brenden Mullaney on bass.

The bandmates all met each other through mutual friends, UMass songwriting club meetings and even on the Southwest basketball court.

“I met Flynn when he was a sophomore and he was outside the Southwest basketball courts with his drums set up and playing drums. I’m in [Berkshire dining commons]. I’m eating food. I’m like, ‘What the f**k is this kid doing out there? That takes balls,” Eustis said. “So I went out and we talked for about five minutes. I think I just got his information and that was in the spring.”

During the fall 2023 semester, Kerlin and Eustis attended a “darty”(day party) where another band was playing. They thought to themselves, “All right, you know, we can do better than that.”

With Kerlin, Eustis, Duffy, Adams and Mullaney all familiar with one another already, they were still missing one musical element: the keys.

“And that’s when James came along,” Kerlin said humorously.

“You guys advertised, I believe, through Local Mojo; that is how I first saw it, that SPR wanted a keyboard player. So I just sent a couple videos of me playing keyboard to Grace. And then she said, ‘Cool.’ And that was pretty much it,” Goldbach said.

Before the band was even formed, Kerlin had already been quite familiar with songwriting and performing, including back at home in New Jersey, where SPR recorded their first single, “Restlessness,” in Kerlin’s studio basement.

“I wrote ‘Restlessness’ while I was studying abroad with my friend Grace, we wrote it in Barcelona, and so then I had sent it to the guys and they were like, ‘Let’s go record,’” Kerlin said.

With a chorus that goes, “Time moves faster when you wake up and you feel like nothing matters/Chardonnay, Passe, burning cigarettes until the dawn breaks/Lost my mind, is this a test/sheer curtains can’t hide this mess/Feel the hum, my station’s next, on the fast track to restlessness,” SPR’s first single is undeniably catchy and any audience member can find themselves singing along instantly.

The energy and charisma that SPR brings to any one of their shows are contagious, making audiences party along with the band while they rock out on stage, and that’s exactly what the six-piece wants to see at their performances.

“We’re not just there for the performance, but we’re, you know, we’re six people, so around here and anywhere we go to play, you know, we want to be involved with your whole night, so come up to us. Party with us,” Duffy said. “Just have a blast … We’re not trying to get anything out of our audience but a good time. The only thing we want is for you to go crazy and we’ll go just as crazy right back.”

When looking at the range of bands in the western Massachusetts area, it becomes pretty obvious that there are less than a handful of woman-led bands, something that is extremely important to Kerlin.

“I like having kind of a leadership role, especially being the singer. I like the energy. I have guys that back me up no matter what. There is a sense of … what’s the word, ‘intimidation?’ I guess when I am surrounded in sound check and there’s no other girls to talk to, I have to figure out how to be like a boy,” Kerlin said. “But still, I like it. I think it brings a different sound that people are looking for because there aren’t a lot of girl singers.”

Some of SPR’s favorite songs that they cover at shows include “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton, “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin and “Voodoo Woman” by Koko Taylor.

Most of the songs in SPR’s setlists do include covers, but unreleased and released originals make their way through the cracks. One of these songs includes their second single, “Leaving Again,” which was released on Dec. 30, 2024.

All of the members, except for Duffy, are seniors, but that fact doesn’t seem to worry the band even the slightest bit.

“I mean, we’ll just keep playing music and then kind of cross those bridges when we come to it and just have fun,” Duffy said. “And one thing about our band is that everything’s happening all at once for us; we’ve been together for a year now and our recording has never been the same. Each show has never been the same. They all get better than the last.”

“We’re trying to keep up with ourselves, because we’ve only been around a year, and we already booked all these shows,” Duffy said. “We have such an amazing audience, and that’s such a privilege because we have so many of our friends that pop out to see us, and who just clamor for more and more, which is just such a privilege. So, yeah, just everything’s happening all at once. So look out for us because we’re coming.”

South Pleasant Revival’s upcoming shows are on Feb. 22 at The Iron Horse in Northampton with Stock Goblin and Grand View Point at 7 p.m. and Apr. 26 at Mojofest in Hadley at 11 a.m.

Paige Hanson can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on X/Twitter @Paige_Hanson1.