This interview series is a summer-long series spotlighting the bands performing at Asbury Jams every Thursday at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Produced by ElmThree – Asbury Jams brings rising local, regional and national touring bands from the jam scene to the City that Bruce Built.
The old saying goes if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
If that’s true, then Sneezy, a Chicago born and bred seven-piece funk band, is on permanent vacation.
The band’s love for each other radiates through their music as their songs are big harmonious, joyful jams that enrapture their audiences. Their music and presence have such a welcoming vibe that, despite the band being based in Chicago, they feel like longtime friends who you can’t wait to catch playing their hometown show…in your hometown
And pardon the hyperbole, but this band has it. Sneezy is destined for big things in the near future. Their music is so undeniably fun and performed with such infectious energy, you’d have to be the most miserable miser not to totally dig them. Sneezy is going to become a major festival staple in the near future and a major name in music, so now would be a great time to jump on the Sneezy bandwagon.
Recently, we caught up with Brett O’Connor (lead singer) and Danny Bauer (keys, background vocals) as they hung poolside with the entire band on an off day. In our conversation we discussed the origin story of the band’s name, their love for Chicago, employing humor in their music, their brand new album Feed the Funk and why they love being in the band.
The band name is so catchy — can you talk about the origin story?
Brett O’Connor: If you ask Jack [Holland – vocal, acoustic guitar] it’s a different answer. We grew up together, So I’ve been singing with Jack since first grade. There’s seven people in the band, two of them, Danny and Destiny [Pivonka – sax, vocals] we found along the way. But everyone else we grew up with.
So my story is my name is Brett O’Connor, so people used to call me BOC. Whenever I would enter a room people would go, “BOC!” One time I entered the room, and I sneezed and people went “BO…Sneezy!” Then for the rest of however long everyone called me B-O-Sneezy. Then we were jamming one day, and someone was like “Whoa! What’s the name of your band?” And Jack just coined it. Sneezy. That’s how I remember it. Jack remembers it from a basketball game at recess or something.
Chicago is mentioned in everything you do — talk about why you wear Chicago on your sleeve?
BOC: For me, you don’t realize it till you leave. Culture is like water to a fish — you don’t really realize you’re in it. Chicago culture to me is acceptance of all cultures, of all races and all genres. Even within our band, everyone is so vastly different. I’m a hip hop head. Danny’s a jazz nerd. Austin [Koziol – electric guitar, vocals] is into heavy metal. Jack’s into old soul. Tom [Hannum, bass] loves P. Funk. Destiny, she’s from Tulsa, so she likes the red dirt country. The way we write and the way we play together, we let everyone be themselves. [There’s] a round table energy [where] everybody gets a say, and we believe every idea should be given a try before it’s written off as a bad idea especially musically. I don’t [want anyone to] have any preconceived notions of what you want to sound like. Just be yourself and we’re all there.
Danny Bauer: I joined the band about a year ago. I’m one of the people they found along the way. I moved to Chicago in 2019 and one thing about Chicago that I’ve seen in this band is like Brett said, when you’re in you’re like a fish in water. You don’t realize it’s the water. But we go to these other places with the music we’re playing … we’re able to play all these different styles and all these different sounds and reach into all these different feelings and emotions. We go somewhere like a smaller town and they have three bluegrass bands, and that’s all they really know there. We are just immersed in like a lot of amazing stuff by being in the cultural center that is Chicago.
Humor is a huge part of your sound — what was the decision to incorporate it into your music because so many bands try to be funny, but just are not.
DB: We are just doing it for ourselves. The way we are on stage is the way we are in the van, the way we are at sound check, is the way we are at dinner. It really is like a family and a brotherhood and sisterhood. We just love each other. When I’m on stage I’m just trying to make Brett laugh or make Austin laugh, and we just find moments to connect with my other band members by showing love through laughter. I think where bands fail is when it’s like, “Oh, look at how clever I am. Look at how funny I am! Hey, audience, don’t you think I’m funny? Don’t you think I’m clever?” We’re just enjoying being homies.
BOC: It’s just about being true and being yourself at the end of the day. That’s whether it’s a sad song, a funny song, a funky song, whatever it is, it’s gotta be real.
Your bio says that your turn every show into your living room — how do you achieve this?
I’ve only been in one band my whole life, Sneezy. We grew up together, and we grew up in a living room, playing together. Everything about music to us is just friendship and being in the living room. So whenever we play a show, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re back in the living room just like when we were getting out after school and getting our crazy energy out.’ So that’s what it feels like. That’s how we approach every show. It’s just like, ‘Hey, everyone feel comfortable, take a seat, kick back, relax like you’re amongst family. This is a safe space. Just be yourself.’
Feed the Funk is your new album — can you talk about how it stands out from your previous albums?
BOC: Honestly, it was the first time we’ve been able to focus on an album. [Previously] we had to record after work. This time we were like — let’s spend time writing an album. The way we wrote [this album was] we took a week, and we all got a day to basically be the leader of the band and it produced 11 different songs. Destiny’s day [produced] “F.U.n.K.Y.” My day was “Something from Nothing.” Jack’s day [produced] “Crazy Amazing Good Things.” Jack was the one who put that together but it came from Tom’s baseline and [Danny’s] lyrics. It was just a collaboration of all of our ideas together. We gave each other a chance to be the musical director for a day and whatever [that person said] goes. We’re all collaborative in the process, but then we spent a year [on this album]. We wrote those songs, and then we spent a year performing them at festivals. Then we just went to the studio and cut it live.
DB: I showed up August 7, so almost exactly a year ago. We recorded the album in September. I showed up, and they had done this whole process. Then it’s kind of cool, because I had fresh ears, fresh perspective, and fresh takes on things. It’s kind of crazy joining a band, and six weeks later doing a week in the studio with them.
BOC: I think the album has something special to it because it’s weird for somebody [Dan] to jump on board and bring something new so late in the process. Danny’s arrival to the band was destiny, and we have a person in the band called Destiny, too … so it’s confusing. But day one … actually 30 seconds into it, we were like, “Oh, my God! Is this magic?” Then I told Danny because he was playing weddings and making a lot more money, “Dude. you’re too good to be playing ‘Brown-Eyed Girl.'”
What do you love about being in this band?
BOC: It’s just life to me. I don’t know how else to put it. That’s testament to how cool this band is. I’ve made money in the corporate world, and I was a lot less happier. It’s about them [the band] and the music to me. It’s not about how many notes you can play or how you know how good you are. It’s about how much you love the people you’re playing with. It’s a spiritual thing. I’ve found my tribe through music, and these are my people. We’re just gonna do it till we die. We’re doing it for us. I just feel like there’s a million more songs to write, a million more songs to play, and one million more shows. I don’t care if no one’s there or a million people are there. It’s what I’m born to do, because I chose it and just stick with it, and it feels good.
All right, Dan. You’re the newcomer — what do you love about being in Sneezy?
DB: My parents are musicians and I’ve played music since I was a very little kid. I’ve always been on stage, but ended up in a lot of musical settings where I couldn’t really be myself — playing at a wedding or playing at church. Then I found this group of people that push each other to be more themselves every day. They always encourage the best parts of each other and love each other. There’s just a lot of love. We know at the end of the day if we can find a place to sleep, if we can find some food, then we can make music, and we can be happy, and that’s all we need. We just keep getting people who see that and love that and come along the way. Right now [the other band members] are roasting bread right now so I can barely answer the question, because I want to be in on the roast. That’s how much I love these people.
