Tuba. Trombone. Trumpet. Drums. Guitar. Keyboard. Accordion.

You name it — the band members of SNMNMNM have probably played it.

The members of SNMNMNM, from Chapel Hill, have been playing together for nine years. The four guys joined together after Seamus Kenney, lead vocalist, met Matt Vooris, drummer and Mark Daumen, tuba and vocalist, at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.

“We [Seamus and his brother Matt Kenney] wanted to get a band together but we never found the right group of people that clicked,” Seamus said.

According to Seamus, an open mic and a “naked band party” is what finally formed the group now known as SNMNMNM — which stands for Seamus and Mark and Matt and Matt.

The group played its first show Dec. 17 at Java’s Coffee Shop in Rochester, N.Y., a place where it continued to play while living in Rochester.

The band members lived in Rochester for three years before moving to L.A. for three years. This year is their third year living in Chapel Hill.

“We spent about two years homeless and traveling the world … sleeping on our friends’ couches,” Daumen said.

The group has been a part of “a handful” of regional and national tours, according to Seamus.

“We’ve been to every state except Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska and South Dakota,” Matt said.

The band moved to Chapel Hill after a tour with the B-Sides, who were renamed The Never.

“The B-sides brought us through here [Chapel Hill] … there’s a great local music scene,” Daumen said.

The four men said they are very close and used to be roommates until the drummer, Matt Vooris, got married.

Vooris and his wife added a roommate of their own, a long-legged Chihuahua mix that weighs nine pounds. They call the dog “Fonzi.”

“One time I had him [Fonzi] on stage … I tied him to the drum set. He hung out for a little while and then curled up,” Vooris said.

The other men pick on Vooris. According to Matt Kenney, the dog is not the band’s mascot but Vooris’ “marriage mascot.”

All the members of the band have been playing instruments since elementary school.

“I started playing the trumpet in the band in fourth grade but my teacher said I have Ôtuba lips,'” Daumen said.

Daumen said he then decided to play the tuba and still plays it today. SNMNMNM uses the amplified tuba as its bass.

Matt Vooris is, according to Seamus, a “drummer percussionist extraordinaire.”

Matt Kenney plays the lead electric guitar and the trumpet and Seamus Keeney, lead vocalist, also plays the trombone, rhythm guitar, keyboard and accordion.

But Seamus is not the only one in the group who sings. Every once in a while, the band will sing four-part a cappella.

“One time we went to an open mic at Java’s coffee shop in April and sang a four-part Christmas song with no explanation,” Daumen said.

The members don’t plan some of the things they play. When the members of SNMNMNM are performing, they do not make a set list or decide what songs they are going to play until right before the show.

“Sometimes we decide while we’re on stage,” Daumen said.

The group has a new album coming out in February that it started on in April 2005 and finished in June 2005.

“Three weeks of recording and 17 songs,” Seamus said.

The band has released three full-length CDs and three EPs including Exploderama, As Best As We Can and Have a Cup of Cheer.

Through all the traveling and tours and shows, the members of SNMNMNM tell a lot of jokes and laugh with each other on stage and off.

“We love music; that’s why we do it. We all have our own musical tastes so we can bring different flavors to the table,” Seamus said.