At the close of the fall semester, the members of the student band Sneaky Lynx sat down with The Cavalier Daily in a cozy apartment off Jefferson Park Avenue to describe the band’s trajectory since its inception and where they plan to go next.
Sneaky Lynx originated through University music classes and mutual friends. Cameron Meredith, bassist and second-year College student, met Elliott Monfredo, drummer and fourth-year College student, in a technosonics class. Ethan Green, rhythm guitarist and third-year Engineering student, has also been jamming with the band since its early days. In the fall, after an arduous search for a new lead guitarist, second-year College student Eli Beaubien became the newest member of the band.
“[Ethan] just called me, and then I returned the call,” Beaubien said simply. “The rest is history.”
After finding Beaubien, the band started to focus on creating more original songs, with Green as the main songwriter.
“It was a slow process,” Green said. “The first one I wrote for the band took place over a couple months.”
Recently, Green and Meredith have begun working on songs together before bringing them to the rest of the band to refine.
“One of us will get the song most of the way through, and have a bunch of ideas for it,” Green said. “We’ll probably bring in another person to flesh it out a little more and then we’ll bring it to the band, and that’s when the form of it starts to take place.”
In the band’s early days, they found inspiration in Dominic Fike, often covering his songs at house shows. The band singles out Monfredo as the source of much of their familiarity with indie rock — he cites The Backseat Lovers and Surf Curse as his main sources of inspiration.
For these covers, members of Sneaky Lynx often like to put an R&B or alternative rock twist on the pieces they’re covering.
“Why would you stress out or try really hard to get the cover exactly how it is when we can flex our creative muscles and do something that we really like the sound of,” Beaubien said.
Members of Sneaky Lynx feel energized when they are able to interpret a song in a new way, but they also gain a lot of confidence when their audience is as engaged as they are.
“If you’re at a house show or with people that are in general more there for the music itself, rather than just the party environment, you get more active listeners,” Beaubien said. “And that’s a more intimate experience for the band and the audience, it makes you want to play more and better.”
Sneaky Lynx have found the Charlottesville music scene — most notably Charlottesville-based musicians — to be incredibly supportive throughout their time together. From providing them with a practice space to complimenting them after shows, Sneaky Lynx members feel they are truly a part of something special. The band also touts University music organizations like University Records and Indieheads as important contributors to their success.
Currently, the band’s main focus is perfecting enough original songs to be able to release an album on streaming services.
“The album is definitely what I'm most excited for — just immortalizing something we’ve been working on for a while,” Green said, “it just makes it real.”
The band also certainly looks forward to playing more live shows this semester — particularly when the weather improves.
“For me — because I haven’t been able to do any live performances — my personal U.Va. dream is to just perform at Crozet,” said Beaubien. “I want that to be in my legacy.”
The members of Sneaky Lynx are indeed excited to return to the Charlottesville music scene armed with their new lead guitarist and fresh original songs. They will be performing at a University Records show Feb. 24, and an Indieheads show Feb. 25. They hope live music enjoyers will brave the cold to enjoy their revamped setlist and to witness their mesmerizing chemistry on stage.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the Indieheads show will be held Feb. 24 and the University Records show will be held Feb. 25. The University Records show is Feb. 24 and the Indieheads show is Feb. 25, which the article has been updated to reflect.
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