One singer, one drummer and two bassists later, all male cover band Neutral Snap storms Baton Rouge with the sounds of “Dad Rock.”
Neutral Snap began in New Orleans when University human resources junior Joshua Latham met computer engineering junior Walker Legrand their freshman year of high school.
“I shared a class with Walker and I went up to [him], and said, ‘Who’s a better guitar player, you or J.P.,’” Latham said, referring to Neutral Snap’s second guitarist, J.P. Brown.
“Josh was the main one who was really proactive about it,” Latham said. Latham started the band as a drummer and eventually self-promoted to vocals.
Drummer George Neyrey, a digital advertising junior, and bassist Dominic “Donald” Conforte, a chemical engineering freshman, joined the band in 2012 to play its first official performance together at St. Mary’s Dominican High School’s annual fair, Dominifest, in September 2013.
When four of the five band members headed off to LSU for their freshman year of college, the band received an invitation to play its first ever Baton Rouge performance at Fred’s last September and were joined by LSU basketball legend, Shaquille O’Neal.
“We didn’t just see Shaq at Fred’s, Shaq saw us,” Latham said.
O’Neal was in town for LSU’s SEC opener against Mississippi State that Saturday where the Tigers lost 34-29 to the Bulldogs.
The band just finished wrapping up Buck Cherry’s “Crazy B—-” when Latham called O’Neal on stage.
“He got on stage. He grabbed the mic, and he said ‘Follow my lead.’ He could have sung one of 50 billion songs in the entire world. I thought he was going to rap or something, and he ended up singing the chorus to ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ by Bon Jovi,” Latham said.
Luckily for O’Neal, the cover band already knew the chords.
“We do a lot of dad rock,” Brown said. Most of the songs they cover are family friendly classics that “anyone really who has kind of a brief grasp on music” would enjoy.
Most of Neutral Snap’s venues include parish fairs and local college bars, but Latham said the band doesn’t like to limit itself.
“That’s just not our scene,” Latham said. “I don’t want to take [music venues] away from those guys because I know [originals bands] rely on those venues to get their name out. And we rely on more mainstream venues. Family oriented venues.”
Neutral Snap certainly caters to a family crowd, covering songs like “Surrender” by Cheap Trick, “When You Were Young” by The Killers and “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World; however, when they do hit college bars, they play different songs in order to accommodate the crowd.
As of now, Neutral Snap isn’t looking for expansion. The band has released a couple of originals that can be found on YouTube, such as “Out of Formality” and “Song #7,” but as busy, broke college students Latham said “covering and performing is the group’s main priority.”
If you’re looking to experience some authentic “dad rock” classics, Neutral Snap can be contacted at [email protected] and facebook.com/neutralsnap, where they keep fans updated on future shows.

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Emily Brauner

Classic rock cover band, Neutral Snap, shares experiences and plans for the future.