Neil Kevin Hennessy (born December 12, 1978) is a

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and engineer from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Hennessy currently plays in

The Lawrence Arms The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. They have released seven full-length albums and toured extensively. Band history Pre-history Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active ...

, Colossal, The Falcon, The Smoking Popes, The Treasure Fleet,

Strategies Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...

, and Demon Beach. He has also been a member of Noise By Numbers, Sundowner, Baxter, The Killing Tree, Quattro and played multiple shows with

Teenage Bottlerocket Teenage Bottlerocket is an American rock band formed in Laramie, Wyoming in 2000. The rock band was formed by twin brothers Ray and Brandon Carlisle, following the dissolution of their previous band, Homeless Wonders. The band's music is he ...

. In late 2015, Hennessy took over rhythm guitar duties in fellow Chicago punk band

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rise Against's mu ...

during their European tour. Rise Against frontman and vocalist guitarist

Tim McIlrath Timothy James McIlrath (born November 3, 1978) is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is vegetarian and straight edge. Early and personal life Mc ...

had broken his hand and was unable to play guitar, forcing him to singing exclusively.Hennessy also played drums for

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

on their 2025 US tour. Hennessy works at Atlas Studios in Chicago with Matt Allison. He co-wrote the Rise Against song "

Swing Life Away "Swing Life Away" is a song by American punk rock band Rise Against. It is an acoustic ballad, with a sharp guitar sound and optimistic lyrics about daily life and the working class. The song was first included in the 2003 compilation album ''Pu ...

" with McIlrath, and also played percussion on the

Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...

album, ''

GNV FLA ''GNV FLA'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Less Than Jake, released on June 24, 2008, on their own label Sleep It Off Records. Following the poor reception to their sixth studio album '' In with the Out Crowd'' (2006), the band ...

''. Hennessy usually uses a

Slingerland Slingerland is a United States manufacturer of drums. The company was founded in 1912 and enjoyed several decades of prominence in the industry before the 1980s. After ceasing operation in the early 1980s, Slingerland was acquired by Gibson, ...

(1970s) drum kit,

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

cymbals, and

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

heads.

References

1978 births Living people Musicians from Chicago American punk rock musicians Smoking Popes members The Lawrence Arms members The Falcon (band) members Noise by Numbers members Sundowner (band) members {{US-music-bio-stub