Varsity is a group of best friends, and their comfortable atmosphere is reflected in their music.

“I had this salon night at my house, this was like the beginning, beginning, where everyone, my friends, could like come and play music or perform or do art, whatever they wanted to do,” Stephanie Smith said, remarking on how the band was formed.

The band, classified as Alternative Rock, is composed of Smith as vocalist, lyricist and keyboardist; Dylan Weschler and Pat Stanton as guitarists; Paul Stolz as bassist and Jake Stolz as drummer. Before the show, the band members sat around a table outside of Cafe Berlin in downtown Columbia, where they would be performing later that night on Saturday Aug. 27.

“Pat and Dylan came and they played together, I think with two guitars and then [they played] some spoon songs,” Smith said. “I asked if I could join the band, which wasn’t a band at that point.”

At soundcheck, the band performed their most popular song, “Hairpool,” and one of their most recent songs, “Still Apart.” The catchy and energetic songs were played as if Cafe Berlin was filled with listeners and not the few personnel watching intently and unconsciously bobbing their heads along with the beat. “Hairpool” is about Indiana University, where Smith and Stanton attended college.

The band formed two years ago. Jake originally played bass, and his brother Paul was not yet a member. When the original drummer left, Jake took over as drummer and Paul assumed the role of bassist. This has been the lineup for the past year.

Now, it was Saturday afternoon and the band was set to perform later that night alongside Tina Sparkle and Columbia native Ray Wild.

The band members were light-hearted, comical and obviously close, trading inside jokes and anecdotes.

Hailing from Illinois, Varsity has toured around much of the continent, hitting destinations such as Brooklyn and Toronto.

“We want to go to the West Coast and tour,” Weschler said, receiving nods of agreement from his bandmates.

Varsity has released a series of digital singles over the past year; the first release came out in August 2015. The most recent of these releases, “Smash/Still Apart,” along with the rest of the recently released songs are only available through streaming or through the purchase of a cassette tape.

The band is constantly working on new music, giving fans new songs to look forward to and hopefully working on a new album in the near future. Though the band neither has a concrete release date nor recorded any songs for the new album, it is definitely currently in the works.

Varsity might sound familiar because they played at Cafe Berlin almost exactly a year ago, alongside Ne-Hi, Sneaky Creeps and The Fog.

“We are just so used to what each other does, and we play to each other’s strengths, I think, so it makes [the band] a well-oiled machine,” Weschler said.

As the band grows closer, the music gets better, too.

“We play together all the time, which really helps,” Stanton said.

Similar to the attitude of the band, the atmosphere of Cafe Berlin at showtime was relaxed. Attendees lounged either inside the restaurant or outside on the patio while the band hung out and socialized with friends.

_If you missed the show, check out Varsity’s music at their Bandcamp website._