Four members sit close together, lean on one another with ease, cracking jokes, patting each other’s backs and sharing an immense passion for music. That is what can be gathered from the band Socks Off after just a few moments of sharing a table with them. 

DePaul Junior Zeno Camera provides the lead vocals, Ryan Toomey plays bass and brings backup vocals, Enzo Goodrich handles the guitar and Sebastian Jones plays the drums, whether it be a full kit or a cajon. 

The band originally formed in Sept. 2021. Goodrich knew Toomey from online classes from the year before. 

“It was kind of a funny story,” Goodrich said.. “It was an introduction and we were supposed to take out something we love, and I took out my guitar and Ryan took out his bass. We immediately became friends.” 

Jones joined the band next, in late September. Camera joined more recently, during DePaul’s winter quarter of 2021.

“For me it was really cool,” Camera said. “I already had songs out and I had written songs, mostly pop songs. I was friends with them and I suggested, ‘Hey, can we do a combo,’ like bring Socks Off to play with me in like a house [party] I was going to throw. And we did that, and from there we kept going and then I was formally invited into the band.” 

When describing what genre they’d specify themselves as, they all shared a chuckle and looked around the table at one another. 

“We like to say indie rock, but there are obviously inspirations of funk and pop a little bit,” Jones said. 

“Definitely R&B too,” Toomey added. They agreed that indie rock is a vague term to describe their genre, but they feel somewhat vague themselves. 

When Camera joined, a new element was introduced to the band.

“We usually write individually,” Toomey said. “Enzo wrote his own stuff and that was more indie. We also do more indie rock covers. Then Zeno joined, and he’s prolific on his own, and we’d do his covers, which were a lot more R&B.” 

Each member of Socks Off has a unique history with music that shapes the band’s identity today.

“I heard Billy Joel on the radio — I’m from New Jersey so that was a big deal, so I started taking piano lessons,” Toomey said. “But long story short, I taught myself bass my senior year because I figured everyone plays guitar but no one plays bass. And it worked pretty well.” 

“For me, my dad is a music teacher and my mom sings,” Camera said. “I grew up in a very musical household, it was almost like I didn’t have any choice but to do music. Whether it’s big or small, music is so intertwined with who I am; there is no way I can’t do music.” 

Jones can’t pinpoint a moment that drew him into music, but there are a few bands he remembers hearing very early on in his childhood. 

“My dad would always play me My Bloody Valentine to help me go to sleep,” he said. “Or we’d listen to The Smiths, mostly just cause my parents wanted me to hear this kind of music.”

Jones continued to explain his early days connecting to music.

“I remember in fifth grade, I wanted to play an instrument and there was a talent show, where I actually did a break dance,” he said. “But there was a guy who did a drum cover who did ‘Hall of Fame’ by The Script. So I started playing drums.” 

Goodrich’s passion for music initially stems from his parents, who started him off playing guitar at an early age. 

“My parents met in high school playing classical guitar,” Goodrich said. “And my dad kept up with playing guitar, so growing up, starting at two years old, I had a guitar. In middle school I had bands, as well as in high school. In high school, I started playing jazz guitar and it really transfers over nicely to what we play now.” 

At the moment, the band members are getting together multiple times a week to practice, considering they’ve had a higher volume of shows on a weekly basis. 

“We practice at least twice a week, usually three if a concert is coming up,” Jones said. “And we’ve been having a lot of gigs recently, two to three gigs a week. It’s really taking off.” 

The members of the band agreed on a passion they share, which is purely having fun. 

“In terms of the success of our band, we take it really seriously,” Jones said. “But other than that I feel like we try to have a lot of fun with it. We try to not take it that seriously. Just as part of the music making process, we don’t want to come across as pretentious, we just really want good vibes, you know?” 

Socks Off is on social media as well as its members on Instagram at @socksoffband, where they will continue to post updates on gigs, music releases and more.

Connect with Jonah Weber: [email protected]