Brothers Connor and Brandon Anthony had been best friends with Eric O’Mara long before they decided to make music together — they were in the same third grade class in Cicero.

Brandon started playing guitar because a friend got him into it, while O’Mara began playing percussion in fourth grade but hated the structure of band class. By middle school, he decided to continue learning percussion at his own speed. A few years later, O’Mara and a friend wanted to learn to play Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” With a piano as the main element of the song, O’Mara convinced Connor to learn to play.

“He was so against it,” O’Mara laughed.

“I was so against it,” Connor agreed.

He added that he used to sit cross-legged at his tiny piano at home, staring at his computer in an attempt to try and figure out how to play, practicing for hours. Eventually, he got the hang of it.

But none of them know how to read music. To this day, Connor, Brandon and O’Mara are all self-taught and play from memory.

When Connor and O’Mara went to The State University of New York at Oswego for their freshman year, they began taking their music more seriously. This would lead to them attending open mic nights with Brandon at Funk ‘n Waffles on the Hill, where they would eventually meet their vocalist, Shay O’Ryan.

“Shay was up on stage doing his thing, and immediately we were all like, ‘Yo, he’s good,’” Brandon said.

O’Ryan began writing poems when he was 11, knowing he would one day turn them into actual songs. He only began singing last year, but always knew that he had a knack for it. While his main focus used to be hip-hop and rap, he decided to focus on singing when someone suggested he would be good if he worked towards it.

O’Ryan was open to the idea of performing with the group, and the band became The Easy.

Kali Bowden | Staff Photographer

The Easy then began performing in the alley between popular Syracuse University bars Hungry Chuck’s and DJ’s on the Hill every Thursday night. These performances began to generate attention and got the group a decent following. One of those early fans was SU senior Jake Bartalo, also an employee at the Westcott Theater. He now manages the band.

“Jake was standing outside rocking with us for like 20 minutes and he came up and was like, ‘You guys want to play at the Westcott?’ And we were like ‘Sure!’” Connor said.

Since playing in the alleyway, The Easy has now upgraded to concerts at other venue: a house party last Friday on Euclid Avenue, Funk ‘n Waffles downtown Wednesday, and warming up for headliner The Hip Abduction at the Westcott Theater last Thursday.

On Thursday, the group performed a mix of both original songs and covers including Mac Miller’s “Knock Knock” and Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” Besides their original “Deja Vu,” which can be found on SoundCloud, the band is known to just get onstage and jam.

The Easy’s members like to consider themselves artists who produce “jazz-hop,” which they define as a mix between jazz music and hip-hop, although they also have a flare of R&B. O’Ryan’s voice has been compared to Chance the Rapper’s, although he’s fed up with hearing it.

Bowing his head down in amused frustration, O’Ryan said, “No comment. New people will come up to me and I’m like waiting for it, waiting for it, waiting for it, ‘You sound like Chance.’ F**k.”

Although The Easy’s biggest goals for the year are to headline a Westcott show, book bigger venues and grow their fan base, the group is also working on generating an EP.

Kali Bowden | Staff Photographer

“For a while people were like, ‘Where can we hear you?’ and it was frustrating because they couldn’t. So we’re just trying to get everything that we have, just out, however that may be,” said Connor.

The band gets together often, just to jam and come up with different ideas, but they admit it’s more serious than it is fun. The group has about 15 ideas for songs, but their biggest downfall is not having a place to record professionally.

“We try to make a lot of personal strides towards that,” Brandon said, including that although they record in their house, they still use decent equipment.

But above all, The Easy is about chemistry. During their jam sessions, they just sit down and play. Because they have all learned to work well together, their music ends up sounding cohesive as well.

“Shay fit right in with that,” said Connor. “With all the people I knew growing up here, it’s like he grew up with us too.”

Published on November 15, 2016 at 8:11 pm

Contact: lmeyers@syr.edu