You may not be able to rewind an 8 track, but 8 Track Rewind's performance on this weekend was about as close as you can get.
8 Track Rewind, a trio made up of Phillip Rowton, Michael K. Dean and Jay Knorr, is a classic rock cover band from the Opelika area.
The band played at Eighth & Rail, a restaurant in Opelika's historic downtown district, on Friday night.
"I thought they did a really good job," said Stephen Striepe, senior in finance. "They played a whole bunch of different genres and I thought they lived up to the band name and my expectations."
Eighth & Rail, which is part bar, part cafe, part music lounge, was full of people ordering drinks and sushi and singing along with the band.
"The place was packed," Striepe said. "There weren't a lot of places to sit and the sitting room that had tables was full."
The crowd at Eighth & Rail was older and the atmosphere was less chaotic than the downtown Auburn scene, but there were quite a few college students in attendance.
"We were there for the sushi - which is excellent," said Tim Mattheson, senior in marketing. "But I really enjoyed the band and I was really surprised at how good they were."
The band played three sets and covered songs by artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, Rod Steward, The Rolling Stones, and Steve Miller.
"The first set starts out slow, a little boring," said Phillip Rowton, singer and guitarist for 8 Track Rewind. "We do that on purpose. By the time we get to the third set, people have some liquid courage and start to get up and dance more."
Each member of the band has a different style and era that influences their musical tastes, so they play a wide variety of classic rock songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Rowton said his favorite artists include Eric Clapton, The Who, Led Zepplin, and Pink Floyd, while Michael Dean, bassist, said he likes music from the 80s era, such as Duran Duran, Rick Springfield and 3 Days Grace.
The band, who has played at Eighth & Rail before, also tried a few new things for their performance on Friday night.
"A lot of bands take a lot of time between songs," said Michael K. Dean, bassist for 8 Track Rewind. "We wanted to keep it going, play one after another."
When the band got together on Thursday night to go over the set list, they looked at the songs they wanted to play and found songs that had similar beginnings and endings that would segue well.
They created groups of three or four songs in each set to play one after another and included other songs to break between and take time to interact with the audience.
"My favorite part is the interaction with the crowd," Dean said. "People getting up and dancing, moving around. I'd probably be a little sad if people were just sitting around tapping their feet."
The band also played three songs - Shake Your Ground, Play that Funky Music White Boy and Shout - that they hadn't rehearsed together before.
"We're just gonna throw it out there and do it," Rowton said.
Rowton and Dean said the band doesn't focus on rehearsing and practicing too much, but aim to have a good time and enjoy performing.
The band usually only performs once a month, and all the members have families and other things that keep them busy.
Rowton and Dean said playing in the band and performing is a fun hobby for them, like playing golf is for other people.
"We're not a crowd-pleasing type group and we're too old to worry about images," Rowton said. "Our whole idea is all about being low maintenance and trying to have a good time. If we're not, we've done something terribly wrong."
The band's next performance will be at Eighth & Rail's St. Patty's Day Bash on Saturday, March 16.
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