LAPEER- Seven years ago, Rick Samano ended a successful career in construction to return to his first love, music.

Today he is the guitarist for local instrumental group, One Neo Eon. The band is a musical journey he has embarked upon in addition to, and perhaps as a result of, opening his downtown store, Lapeer Music. Having grown up around music, performing is something Samano always felt he'd eventually come back to.

"That musical side of me was really lying dormant for a long time, and I wanted to get back into it,'he said. "I liked building, but I missed the music".

One Neo Eon has been playing in and around the Lapeer area since the late '90s, the most recent performances being Lapeer Days and Summer Fest. Bringing together the combined musical genius of Samano, keyboardist john Ingersoll, drummer Brian Lemons and bassist Tim Baum, the band mixes bits and pieces of rock, jazz, blues and classical to form its own uniquely beautiful sound. Samano loosely describes the band's sound as progressive jazz rock, but said it isn't really.

"It's hard to classify us," he said. "That's the whole idea. We kind of transcend labeling, because there's nothing you can really say to describe us."

But for as many genres as One Neo Eon's music may fall under, Samano added they will never be billed as a vocal band.

"We figured everyone else sings, so why don't we not," he explained. "We'll have people come up to us and say 'Dude, I've got words going through my head to your music,' but we decided when we first started jamming together that no one could sing. We just wanted to do our own music."

Now that summer festival season is over, the members of One Neo Eon plan to take a much- deserved break before heading back into the studio to work on their second album, for which they already have about 30 songs written. Typically for the writing process, everyone brings their ideas to the table.

"Although John is kind of our catalyst," Samano said. Ingersoll confessed there is no formal method to his madness. "I'll just be noodling around;' he said. "And the rest of us join in and things just happen," Lemons finished.

On a recent stormy evening, when lightning forked dangerously against the prematurely dark sky and rain came down in blinding sheets, soon giving way to marble-sized hail, the members of One Neo Eon waited for the worst part of the storm to subside so they could plug back in and resume their practice session. Sipping cold brews from amber- colored bottles, the band relaxed in Samano's dimly- lit living room and discussed a gig they were scheduled to play that weekend.

"Milo," the Samano family's large black and white cat, nosed its way curiously over to where the band was seated. Meowing, the cat seemed to inquire when the music would start. Although Milo usually shows up for practice, Samano joked that there was never any intention to make his feline friend a member of the band.

"Milo is interested, but he's not sure," Samano said, scooping up the cat who had wound itself around his legs.

"Yeah," Ingersoll added. "It's hard to play piano with no claws."

The band members have collectively been playing music for, as they put it, 'One Neo Eon' (or roughly 100 years), but the band itself has only been around for about four years. The seeds for the band were planted when Ingersoll, who has been playing piano 41 years, started jamming with Samano and former members Stu Svoboda and Cary Touchette.

The talents, personalities and influences everyone brought to the table meshed perfectly, producing something even greater than the plentiful talents the band members individually offered to the world of music.

"I was instantly blown away by the four of us playing together," Samano said. "We had all this music inside us waiting to come out. It just kind of clicked."

One Neo Eon did a few gigs of cover tunes, but soon began experimenting with writing their own music. And this is where they found their niche. The band soon released a CD of original songs so their fans wouldn't have to wait until the band's next performance to listen to their favorite tunes.

Soon afterward, Svoboda and Touchette left the band. Thus, the search began for a new drummer and bass player who could match Samano's and Ingersoll's skill level and fit the unique vibe of the band.

Lemons was the first to come on board. The son of jazz musicians Barb and Ken Lemons, he acquired a taste for music early on.

About the same time Samano and Ingersoll began their quest, Lemons' son had started taking piano lessons at Lapeer Music. Lemons would often wander around the store until his son was released from the charge of his instructor. One day, One Neo Eon's CD was playing over the store's speakers. Lemons inquired about the band and jokingly asked if they were looking for a drummer. Before he knew it, the job was his.

Finding a bass player proved to be more difficult. After having other musicians fill in, including Matthew "Chops" Douglas from Glowb, the members of One Neo Eon finally resorted to putting a want ad in The Metro Times.

"We were getting all kinds of responses that were exactly not what we were looking for," Samano said. "Then Tim (Baum) showed up and just fit right in. It was like we'd been playing together for years."

Baum began his musical journey playing the trumpet in his fifth-grade school band. In high school he switched to tuba. After that, he said, it was a natural progression into bass guitar.

When it came to telling the story of how the band's name came to be, Samano, Lemons and Baum turned their heads to look at Ingersoll. He looked surprised for a moment. Then, taking the nonverbal prompt from his friends, explained how the name was inspired, in part, by the first Matrix movie and the main character, Neo. From there, the three letters were transposed different ways to form the name: One Neo Eon.

"It just came to me like BING! Hey, that's a good one," Ingersoll said, sitting straighter on his stool and waving his hands to illustrate how the idea struck him out of the blue. "And then I told Rick and he went BING!"

Grinning at Ingersoll's enthusiasm, Samano calmly sat back against the couch and sipped his beer.

"Actually, I said 'Whatever,'" Samano said, "'Cause I didn't care so much about the name, but I like it. I'm just happy to be playing."

"It makes a nice cube too;' Lemons said, pointing to the sleeve of his black T- shirt, where the band's logo was silk screened.

An hour later, the worst of the electrical storm passed, leaving behind only a drenching downpour and distant rumblings of thunder. The practice session resumed, signaled by an intricate scattering of piano notes introducing, "Carousel." The song built on itself, with Baum and Lemons picking up the tempo and Samano adding a flowing counter-melody that complemented Ingersoll's keywork.

Feeling they have already achieved something great, the band members like to imagine what the future might hold.

For more information about One Neo Eon, visit the band online at www.oneneoeon.org.