Photos By: Lindsay Nardini
Brett O’Connor is the lead singer of the local band, Sneezy, as well as one of its founding members. In fact, all of the members are founding members. O’Connor and his fellow bandmates, Jack Holland, Austin Lutter, Colton Lutter, Ben Paulson and Thomas ‘Chops’ Hannum, who O’Connor says is “the funkiest bass player around who just knows the funk,” began playing together in first grade. Now, two decades later the guys are still playing music together. The band grew up playing together in Libertyville, Ill. and are preparing to graduate this spring.
HerCampus got the opportunity to meet with O’Connor and get the scoop on all things music, and more importantly, all things Sneezy. The band will perform this Saturday, Feb. 15 at Daddios in Bloomington. Cover is only $2 and they are set to begin playing at 10:30 p.m.
Her Campus Illinois State: Tell me about the band you’re involved with.
Brett O’Connor: The name of the band is Sneezy, it got started when we all started playing together in the first grade. We started playing in first grade, we were laying in kindergarten and we had our first show then. We’ve been playing together ever since. Recently, over the last two-three years we’ve been taking it more seriously. Now that we’re all graduating school we’re trying to focus more on it. But we’ve grown up playing music together which I think it pretty special.
HC ISU: How did you decide on the name Sneezy?
BO: Well my nickname is B-O-C and I sneeze alot. So one day my friend was like, B-O-C SNEEZY! And then, I don’t know, it just kind of took off from there.
HC ISU: What kind of music do you play?
BO: Everyone always asks us this, and it’s really hard to explain. It’s really original i’d say. It’s like funky, soul, hip-hop, rock. I don’t know it’s got a good feeling to it. It’s not like grunge or anything, but we do rock out. It’s got a lot of soul and people seem to like it.
HC ISU: Do you write your own songs or play covers?
BO: When we play shows we usually do 50/50, our own originals and some covers. Since we’re playing at Daddios we’re probably going to play more covers. All of our covers are original, if that makes sense
HC ISU: Where does inspiration come from when writing music?
BO: We’ve been playing together for so long that we all know each other inside and out musically. like when were playing a song and we all have the same feeling we build off of each other and people just add things. And eventually a new song will come out, because we know what everyone’s trying to do.
HC ISU: Do you have a favorite song the band plays?
BO: We all have favorite songs but they change every week. We’re always finding new songs that we like to play.
HC ISU: Tell me about a typical performance night.
BO: We’re all about the energy of the crowd. We don’t get up there and force the energy. We let it happen and so we just try to live in the moment and let things happen with everything and have a good time. So that’s what we usually do, we feel out the vibe and then make it awesome.
HC ISU: Personally, what kind of music do you listen to?
BO: I listen to everything, it all depends on the mood I’m in. If I’m in my car I’m listening to hip-hop, if I’m waking up in the morning I’m listening to funk-soul. It all depends, I love music in general, I’ll listen to anything.
As of late, the most recent show has been the best because we’re gaining some ground. The last show we played in Libertyville had almost 400 people come out, and everybody came out ready to rage. So I’m expecting the next show to be the best show.
HC ISU: What can listeners expect from Sneezy in the future?
BO: True music. Everything we make comes from our heart and soul. So all of our music, I like to describe it, is fun, live-in-the-moment times. We’re going to try to keep playing music after graduation, so look out for us.
HC ISU: Tell me about the show this weekend.
BO: Our show on Saturday is at Daddios, we’re gonna be onstage at 1030. It’s $2 to get in and is going to be a real good time. Everyone should come out and help support some local musicians. I really want to keep things going because I think the most fun you can have is alcohol and music, live music. There isn’t a lot of music around here so come out and experience a great night.
Check out some of the band’s music on sneezymusic.com