Liam O'Neil (born September 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

musician who was the

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

and

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

for

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

-based band

the Stills The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2011. History The band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Fletcher, guitarist Gregory Paquet, bassist Olivier Corbeil and dru ...

. He met the group's primary songwriter,

Dave Hamelin Dave Hamelin (born October 3, 1980) is a Canadian musician, songwriter and producer known for his work with indie rock band the Stills. Originally the band's drummer, he moved to guitar and co-lead vocalist in 2005 when guitarist Greg Paquet lef ...

, at school through a mutual friend. In 1996, the pair formed a

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band, in which O'Neil played saxophone. He later spent 18 months away from Montreal while he played in a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

trio on a cruise ship, but he stayed in contact with the members of the Stills. After initially touring with the band, he became a full-time member when his bandmates heard him play a half-hour piano solo in a hotel bar. His first album with the band was ''

Without Feathers ''Without Feathers'' (1975, ) is one of Woody Allen's best-known books, spending four months on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List. It is a collection of essays and two one-act plays, ''Death'' and ''God''. Title meaning The title ''Without ...

''. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he played

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

and

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

on the record, as well as providing

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on a number of tracks. O'Neil contributed synth, piano, organ, and baritone and tenor sax to various tracks on

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...

's 2010 album ''

Come Around Sundown ''Come Around Sundown'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Kings of Leon, released in Ireland, Australia and Germany on October 15, 2010, followed by releases in the United Kingdom on October 18 and North America on October 19. The of ...

''. He also collaborated with the band on their 2016 album W.A.L.L.S. He is also involved with hip hop act

Da Gryptions Da Gryptions is a Canadian hip hop band from Montreal, formed in 2009. The band consists of Future Shark (a.k.a. Trevor Barnes) (vocals), Dark Science (a.k.a. Patrick Guay) (vocals), Apsobibi (a.k.a. Evan Cranley of Stars) (R&B vocals), and Rip ...

, featuring members of

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

and

Young Galaxy Young Galaxy is a Canadian indie pop/dream pop band formed in 2005 in Vancouver, whose members are husband and wife, Stephen Ramsay and Catherine McCandless. History Young Galaxy formed in Vancouver as a duo including Stephen Ramsay and Catherine ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, Liam 1980 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Canadian indie rock musicians Musicians from Montreal Tambourine players 21st-century drummers