Band Blends Rock Favorites and Family in Performances

In the basement of Warren's , the members of Seventh Stage get ready to launch into Oasis' "Wonderwall." Twelve-year-old William Davila, of Harding, strums the opening chords before he's joined by his bandmates, all of whom are over 30 years old.

It may seem an admittedly odd sight to see the teen among the group, which includes John Twill and Frank Caracapa, both from Warren; Todd Cobbs, of Maplewood; Greg Gibson, of South Orange; and William's father, Victor, but when the band start its set Friday night at , in Warren, a second teen, schoolmate of William's—13-year-old Morgan Sanchez—will also join the band, along with another adult, Berkeley Heights resident and singer Candace Eisenberger.

That's a large and varied ensemble, but there's a reason why the band lists so many members—and it's partly because of the song variety the band performs and partly because of how Seventh Stage came to be.

"We were at the (in Chatham) and found we just had just musical connection," lead vocalist Victor Davila said. When he says "at the school," he means he, Twill and Caracapa were there with their kids, waiting through lessons—when the school started an adult program for wanna-be rockers, guys who gave up dreams of rock god status but never gave up playing an instrument.

Soon, the dads were jamming at the school with Cobbs, Eisenberger and Gibson, and the music school helped them land their first gig, about two years ago.

Now, their repertoire is landing them monthly jobs at area clubs including Crossroads in Garwood, Montclair's and now Rolf's. The set list includes classic rock favorites, like AC/DC's "You Shook Me" and "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top, mixed in with some less-commonly heard tunes.

"Those guys like to pick the 'B' sides," Davila said, referring to the songs found on the flip side of a hit 45-rpm single record. "I like to pick the 'C' sides—the stuff I just liked." Songs like John Lee Hokker's "Burning in Hell," or Cheap Trick's "Hello There." 

The band also adds in recent rockers, like Velvet Revolver's "Slither" and Pearl Jam's "Better Man."

And during the performance, there's a musical chairs game going on on the instruments—Cobb on bass, Twill on guitar, William Davila on the keyboard; then Cobb of guitar, William on bass, and Twill sits; Cobb sings, Eisenberger sings...it's dizzying—but adds dimensionality that most bands just can't offer.

"That's one of the things that really got us started," Twill said, the enjoyment and challenge of such a variety. 

When many bands can't stage a night's worth of music, or start to fall into a rut by the second set, Seventh Stage can keep audiences moving by shuffling some of the members, or shuffling the songs—almost as if they're now doing post-graduate work at the "University of Rock."