If you happened to go Jesuit High School in New Orleans, the name “Neutral Snap” might ring a bell, but chances are if you saw them on stage, you probably wouldn’t recognize them.
Friends for over a decade, they are just now beginning to live out their passion for music.
Neutral Snap consists of five members and their manager: Walker LeGrand (guitar), Joshua Latham (singer), George Neyrey V (drums), JP Brown (guitar), and Dominick “Dan” Conforte (bass), who have played together as Neutral Snap for around two years now. Their manager, Chuck Nasty, was a more recent addition to the team, having worked with them for about six months now.
Having had the opportunity to be friends with a few of the members, you would see that they are a bunch of guys goofing off, having fun, and playing music together.
JP Brown and George Neyrey both cite their fathers, musicians in their own right, as their inspiration for playing music. While lead singer Josh Latham always knew he wanted to be a musician, it wasn’t until Dan noticed that “Walker was always playing neat sh** on the guitar,” that he wanted to join in.
The band says their first show in Baton Rouge is still, to this day, their favorite memory. It was the day of the LSU – Mississippi State game in 2014, and Neutral Snap had just landed their first gig at the iconic Fred’s in Tigerland. Since Dan was still a junior at Jesuit at the time, he had to skip school in order to make the gig, and the whole thing was supposed to be very low key, so he wouldn’t get in trouble.
Then Shaquille O’Neal walks in, proceeds to join the band on stage, and told them to follow his lead as he began to sing “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi. A video of the LSU Basketball legend jumping around with singer Josh Latham later surfaced on TMZ.
To quote the band, “Holy frick, stands out as one of the best show memories and set such a tone.” They described the experience as an explosion of energy and unexpectedness, which is exactly the kind of experience you expect at a Neutral Snap show.
Hearing them play, you can't help but zone in and get lost in the music. The atmosphere they create is one that would prompt you and your friends to get up and start singing and dancing along with them in. They cover crowd favorites that are easy to dance and sing along with, such as "Sugar, We're Going Down", "Sail", and "Erase Me", but they find more and more people singing along to originals such as “Choices” and “Out of Formality” at each show.
Outside of band life, the guys are still friends, living their ordinary lives like the rest of us. All of them have or are currently attending Louisiana State University. Something they find unique about themselves is that they not only play for their friends and fans, but also themselves. "Whether playing for three or three hundred people, it is still amazing," Josh, the band's singer added. They hangout with their friends, and have a good time before and after performing at the venue. Being friends has helped them face obstacles throughout their journey by learning when to separate the business and the personal as well as their ability to "mesh" well together.
The group credits the Greek community with helping them get this far.
“Being a member of Greek life and also a musician isn’t that common, so no matter where we are, the Greek communities are always very welcoming, and we couldn’t do this without them,” said singer Josh Latham.
