The 7 Deadlies perform at The Light Horse on March 1, 2019. (Photo by Chester Simpson) 

It was a cold rainy night, in Old Town Alexandria, when me and a few friends, heard music coming from a restaurant and decided to get out of the rain. We walked into The Light Horse, which offered exciting food, a fun bar, and with great live music upstairs. On a recent night that great live music came in the form of the 7 Deadliest, a cool DC cover band.

The exposed brick and beam dining room at The Light Horse, which gave a homey, and comfortable feeling, offered a seasonal American menu with a large choice of craft beers and wine selections. The Light Horse was named after Maj. Gen. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee III, a famed horseman and war hero from the American Revolution who was the father of Civil War Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

We ordered a few beers and took a look at the menu. Our bartender handed me a flashlight and said to shine it for a few seconds on the burned wood bar top. We all watched in amazement as the bar lit up.

We followed our bartenders suggestions — and they were super helpful. We ordered the HighCountry Quail, Cast Iron Duck, and the Pork Loin and were not disappointed. After a dinner you don’t get in a music club, we followed people upstairs for some live entertainment and a variety of games including skee ball, shuffleboard, and darts. They also have over 10 televisions to watch any sports that are playing.

I went on March 1 to see the 7 Deadlies band perform. They’re a DC-based cover band that aims to cover more musical ground in three hours than any other band by tapping into songs that trigger nostalgia from the ’90s or high-energy from pop punk of the early ’00s. What separated the 7 Deadlies from other cover bands was their live stage performance.

Their song choices were intentionally set up to draw in the crowd with classics that gets everyone in the audience, from the twentysomethings and up, singing to the song as if they are part of the show with the band. They connected with the crowd in very personal ways. Some cover bands exist because they want to feel like rock stars, but they wanted the crowd to be engaged and singing as if they are the rock stars.

The band was founded in 2012, and throughout the years it has played inside Nationals Park stadium for pregame shows, at the Omni Hotel for the ThingstodoDC.com NYE party, at the Newseum for their Fright Nights Halloween event, and at all local venues in town big and small.

During the day, band members have careers as engineers, software developers, pharmacists, statisticians, and have personal backgrounds that are as varied as our song choices. We have guys with PhDs, Masters degrees, and when not performing live, they are involved in music or living life.

The band has a large catalogue that includes bands such as The Beatles, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fall Out Boys, Guns ‘N Roses, Jimmy Eat World, Garth Brooks, Elvis, Run DMC, Sublime, Weezer, Tom Petty, Franz Ferdinand, and more.

The 7 Deadlies had everyone singing and dancing to all the songs. And my friends and I agree: The Light Horse is a nice place to bring friends to drink or eat and hear good music! A great night was had by all!

The band members are:
Justin Dressler – Lead vocals
Ryan Webb – Lead guitar, keytar and vocals
Eldar Cohen – Bass guitar
Vinnie Freda – Drums and vocals
Harold Doran – Rhythm guitar and cowbell 🙂

Visit the 7 Deadlies website for more information on the band. Or follow them on Instragram.

The Light Horse is located in the center of Old Town Alexandria right on historic King Street. We are halfway between the waterfront and the King Street Metro stop. The Old Town Trolley stop is right in front of our doors!

715 King St
Alexandria, VA 22314
Old Town Alexandria
(703) 549-0533
4pm-2am

Here are some pictures of the 7 Deadlies performing at The Light Horse on March 1, 2019. All photos copyright and courtesy of Chester Simpson.