From Sonoma's Stages to European Collaborations

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The story of the Heard Eye begins with the long-standing friendship and creative partnership between trumpeter/vocalist/guitarist Paul Schneider and renowned drummer/producer Atma Anur.  Their partnership was interrupted when Atma moved to Europe several years ago, but was destined to re-start. Like many people, their personal lives and creative endeavors were disrupted by the global pandemic in 2020. Amidst the turmoil, Paul reconnected on-line with his close friend and creative collaborator, the one and only Atma Anur. This rekindled connection led to a musical revelation.    

Atma asked Paul if he’d been writing any songs, and said he’d love to do some drum tracks. And Paul did, in fact, have a batch of new songs, and the collaboration began. He enlisted Hannes De Kassian on guitar, a guitarist he'd worked with since 2018, exploring the realms of jazz and funk, lighting up clubs, bars, and wineries across Sonoma and Marin Counties in California's North Bay Area. The trio began crafting tracks, enlisting talented musicians remotely, and shaping what would become an extraordinary album. As the world emerged from the shutdown, Paul and Hannes kept recording, collaborating with Atma in Europe for drums and mixing. Their collective efforts gave birth to "Funkalypse," released in Summer 2023 to much acclaim.  Paul and Hannes put together a live band with keyboardist Chris Studer and various rhythm sections and played clubs hard for 2 years. During this time, they recorded and released 2 singles, "All Love" and "Only One Earth", again with drums and production by Atma Anur.  Unfortunately, Hannes De Kassian and Chris Studer both decided to leave the band in the late Summer of 2025, for personal reasons, and shortly after that, Paul was hit with severe COVID and had to cancel all remaining gigs.  Fortunately, one track "Plenty Love", had been recorded before the two left the band, and Paul and Atma got back to working remotely on mixing it, and it was released to college and independent radio across the U.S. as well as globally on streaming platforms in November of 2025. Undaunted by the challenge facing him, Paul continued working in the studio. He had already recorded his vocals and rhythm guitar tracks for a new song, "Point of You" and Atma had recorded his drums. Paul continued working with bassist Greg Dunn on the track. He found new guitarist Nick Bunand via Craig's List, and Nick contributed a fabulous wah-wah guitar track. Paul also reached out to keyboardist Justis Jones, who had played on the Funkalypse album, and Justis contributed tracks remotely as he had before.  Not long after, Paul met keyboardist/vocalist Kevin Gerzevitz, the two hit it off, and Kevin came on board. The Heard Eye marks an exciting chapter as they are getting ready to release a new single, "Point of You" in early 2026.  Soon, they will continue to build momentum with their electrifying performances with this new line-up.  Get ready to groove with The Heard Eye as they feed the funk to a hungry world!

Where did the name come from? Paul was getting ready to move into a new place just before the Covid lockdown in March 2020, one where he could actually set up a little home studio to record some songs he’d been working on. Going through boxes, as one does when moving, he found a box with scraps of lyrics and other ideas he’d written down in the past, one of which read “the Heard Eye….BAND NAME!” He thought about that, liked the fact that it sounded like the mystical “third eye” when spoken aloud, and seemed to suggest a merging of two sensory perceptions into a radical new awareness, and thought “yeah.. band name…”