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Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
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Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia Hills senior and Riverbend drummer Sims Ruffino performs during Sloss Music and Arts Festival in July. Ruffino joined the band in February 2016.
Behind every band, there’s a story. Local band Riverbend, named for the street in Mountain Brook they practice on, started theirs in 2013.
“Max and I met in elementary school,” said Stanton Langley, lead singer, song writer and guitarist. Max Simon is also a guitarist in the band, plays the keyboard and helps write songs. Both are juniors at Mountain Brook High School. The band’s drummer is Vestavia Hills’ Sims Ruffino.
“When we were really young, we kinda hated each other,” Langley said, because they both played guitar.
“As a fellow musician, Stanton has been my greatest enemy and greatest friend,” added Simon.
But eventually they came together and reigned in Price Pewitt, also a junior at MBHS, who plays bass and provides backup vocals for the band. “We were friends [at the time], but we weren’t that tight,” he said.
Fast forward a few years to February 2016, and Ruffino, currently a senior at Vestavia Hills, auditioned as the band’s new drummer; he was welcomed into the band that night.
“Once Sims came in, that’s when it locked in together. That’s when we really got it,” Pewitt said.
“It’s been a moving train ever since,” Ruffino said.
Together, they take their inspiration from the music grew up listening to and still listen to make their self-proclaimed genre: southern alternative power pop.
“It’s a blend of a lot of things that we like and a lot of things we’ve come to love all in just this big pot,” Simon said.
From their inspiration, Langley works on the lyrics while Simon works on the music itself.
“Really, it’s Max starting the process, and me kinda finishing it up with the lyrics,” Langley said.
He said he pulls inspiration from older music he knows, such as Tom Petty, Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin, while Simon tries to convey images and emotions through the chords and melodies of the music.
“Since I don’t sing, I want to force myself into the music as much as possible,” Simon said. He described each song as a different investment of expression.
“It’s like we build a new building every time,” said Ruffino, but instead of houses, they’re working to make music that people can relate to.
Nearly a year and a half later and still practicing every day, they said they have the opportunity to pause for a breath.
“We’re at a point now where we’re like, ‘Alright, let’s sit down for a second,’” Pewitt said.
They aren’t just trying to grab on to opportunities — they’ve got recognition in Birmingham and beyond.
“We play anything we can downtown [Birmingham],” Pewitt said. Recently, they’ve played at Mountain Brook’s 75th Anniversary kick-off party, Trim Tab Brewery, Saturn and WorkPlay.
Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Mobile, Huntsville, Atlanta and Nashville have also heard their music, and their first big show, where they were the headline act, was at the Syndicate Lounge in downtown Birmingham in September 2016.
Whether or not the crowd is local and familiar with their music can make a difference, too. “The energy changes, at least for me … it’s scary, but also really exciting,” Ruffino said.
“One thing I’ve found interesting is sometimes, I feel like we perform better in front of crowds we don’t know,” Simon said. “It’s like we’re playing for ourselves.”
And this year, they got to play for both familiar and unknown crowds at their biggest venue yet: the 2017 Sloss Music and Arts Festival.
“This is definitely the biggest step we’ve taken as a band,” Ruffino said before the festival.
Riverbend was first thrust into the Sloss scene when tagged in a post that read, “Comment who you want to see at Sloss,” and through local Birmingham recognition, they received an email confirming they would perform at the festival.
Ruffino received the email and said even he kept it a little bit of a secret from his fellow band members since the lineup hadn’t been released yet.
“When we heard we were in, we’re kinda like, ‘Thank God’ … and I just kinda re-realized the weight of it when the lineup came out [later],” Pewitt said, and Langley said he only learned they were in after seeing their name on the lineup from a Sloss Fest Instagram post.
“I got more texts for recognition of Sloss Fest than I did my birthday,” said Simon.
Sloss Fest was especially significant because it’s in their hometown, too.
“It’s great to be playing on a stage that we were watching people play on [in 2016],” said Langley.
While the weekend of the Sloss Fest saw some storms, Riverbend’s experience was great. “I really had no idea what to expect,” Simon said. “This was the first time we’ve played a festival of this size, and I couldn’t be happier with the response we got.” The crowd enjoyed their performance, fans sang along and everyone enjoyed their new music, too.
“Playing in front of a crowd that big brought a new energy to the set. It kind of makes you feel like you’re doing something right,” Langley said.
And even though Sloss 2017 is over and they’re all moving through high school, they’re still planning on staying true to their course.
“We’re all best friends, we’re all brothers. But I think we want to make music people can relate to,” Langley said.
“There’s no blueprint from where to go from here,” Pewitt said. “We’ve all kinda decided that wherever this goes, we’re just gonna keep on keeping on.”
