By Emma Weidmann | Arts and Life Editor
Sol Y Motion is a fitting name for a band that sounds like a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in California. One of three bands to play at the Eighth Street Common Grounds’ Back to School Bash Friday night, Sol Y Motion is a family band at its core. Made up of brothers Nick and Thomas Klein and their father Chris Klein, Sol Y Motion is a proudly self-described “vacation rock” band, and it has grown to love its family band roots.
“At first, we hated being a family band, and we would always tell people that we weren’t,” Thomas Klein said. “We would tell people, ‘[Chris Klein] is in the meantime our bass player, a stand-in,’ but it’s now something that we embrace and are super fortunate for.”
Whether they like it or not, they’re stuck for life. To Nick Klein, that means smooth sailing and a drama-free band.
“The drama is so much more minimal when it’s your family,” Nick Klein said. “It’s your family and we argue, but at the same time, you know how to diffuse situations. So if it was anyone else, it would be a lot more.”
In true brotherly fashion, Thomas Klein had different thoughts.
“He says we don’t argue, but we do argue a lot,” Thomas Klein said. “It’s a family affair, and we can’t break up.”
Sol Y Motion played an hourlong set on Friday night, including originals off of its debut album and ending with the psychedelic Latin rock classic, “Oye Como Va” by Santana. Sol Y Motion’s self-titled debut album, which came out earlier this summer, has been years in the making. Thomas Klein said the band has been playing for seven years, but musical changes made the album process take three years to complete.
“We were a reggae band for a long time,” Thomas Klein said. “We had to mature out of that.”
The band has gone through many phases, but it has always been inspired by jazz, funk and dreamy styles of music like “bedroom pop” act Boy Pablo, according to Nick Klein.
“Our first music video was inspired by a lot of Boy Pablo’s music videos,” Nick Klein said. “We did stuff with the UT Women in Film, who helped us make a very vibrant video inspired by all of that. We’re inspired by a lot of jazz, a lot of funk.”
Long after night fell in the Common Grounds backyard and the Sol had set beneath the fence line, Cherry Mantis took the stage as the second act of the concert. High-energy indie rock was the order of the night. Cherry Mantis, local to Arlington, has no clear lead singer, as keyboardist Jenna Del Cristo, guitarist Luí Saturn and drummer Justin King all put their vocal talents to good use.
Before their set, members of Cherry Mantis mingled in the crowd and danced energetically to the other bands’ music, bringing a supportive vibe to the Common Grounds backyard that did not go unreciprocated.
Last but certainly not least, fooligan brought new music of its own to the stage. The quirky band led by vocalist Micheal Thornton is no stranger to the Waco scene, having rocked the stage at the Diadeloso concert in March.
Gearing up to release their new single, “Hello Donald,” Thornton said the Back to School Bash was a prime opportunity to play the song.
“It’s very different than our EP that we did, ‘Myself and Love,’ but that one, we did a release party here [at Common Grounds], so I guess it’s not that different,” Thornton said. “We’re doing singles to try to strategize around the algorithm, and singles seem to play well … We have these five songs that are unreleased that we’re going to play … It’s a longer process, but we’re just trying to get them all down and get them all out there.”
This performance was a special one for fooligan. As Thornton said, it was a sort of last push to get their music on the scene before members of the band head their separate ways.
“This is actually going to be the last show with everyone except for me in fooligan, since we’re going in different directions,” Thornton said. “This is sort of our chance to get it out there.”
Music fans can catch these bands and others both at Common Grounds and all across town. The next concert headed to the iconic Waco coffee house will feature John Mark McMillan on Oct. 12.
