About Varsity
Hometown
Chicago, IL, United States
Formed
January 2013
Genre
Alternative
Varsity's sweet-natured indie pop about the everyday seamlessly balances bright and wistful guitar hooks. They presented their self-titled debut album in 2015. Still residing at the sweeter end of bittersweet, their crisper third full-length, Fine Forever, saw release in 2020.
The founding members of Varsity -- singer/keyboardist Stef Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Patrick Stanton, and drummer Spencer Smith -- started the group in Chicago in 2013, issuing the two-track single "Turns Out"/"Downtown" on Jurassic Pop Records that August. They added bass player Paul Stolz to the lineup in time to record their debut EP, Thanks for Nothing, which arrived the following year. Varsity's eponymous full-length debut was recorded, mixed, and produced by Dave Vettraino (OK Go, Lala Lala) at Public House Sound Recordings in Chicago and released on Jurassic Pop in March 2015.
Drummer Jake Stolz replaced Spencer Smith in late 2015, and the band eventually signed with Babe City Records for their second album, April 2018's Parallel Person. Run for Cover Records took notice and issued their 7" "The Dogs Only Listen to Him"/"UFO" later the same year. It was engineered and produced by Ben Lumsdaine (Amy O, Kevin Krauter) at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana.
Varsity next compiled a set of demos for the Vettraino-mixed The Basement Tapes (2015-2016), released by Run for Cover in late 2019. In the meantime, Lumsdaine returned to produce the band's third studio album, Fine Forever. It came out on Run for Cover in mid-2020. ~ Marcy Donelson
Members of Varsity include, or have included, Spencer Smith.
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