You probably haven't heard of these guys. They never got famous, never sold any records and the biggest place they ever played was a not-quite-full coffeehouse in Vienna.

They have no friends in the industry, and they have never shared in any kind of conventional critical acclaim. What these three young men do share, however, might be more precious than any kind of award or payout they could ever receive in a career in music: a common love for the music they join together to create.

Eponymous came together sometime in the summer of 2001. It was by all accounts, your typical high school band: high on ambition, but short on a bass player.

Still, the band soldiered on, writing songs and picking up fan support from the community around them.

"We had a small, but loyal, fan base," said Anthony Schneck, lead singer, guitar player and founding member of Eponymous. "They were really great. There weren't many of them, but they were fiercely loyal and really supported us when we needed it."

The band, founded by Schneck and drummer Sean Dalby while they were in high school in 2001, prides itself on the working chemistry its members share -- a chemistry that sometimes has been hard to extend to other potential members.

"Anthony and I … we play together really well, I feel, and it's really easy to do a myriad of things," Dalby said. "Like sometimes we can just guess each other. You might think that's really easy, but we've run through a lot of bass players throughout our career, and mainly it's been because of the chemistry."

Schneck and Dalby pull no punches as they refer to the band's less-than-glamorous beginnings, as they toiled through three years of playing with people who were either undedicated or just not on the same page musically.

"We had a rhythm guitarist for a while, too," Schneck said. "He was really into the whole Dave Matthews, Dispatch, Jack Johnson thing. That didn't really gel with Sean and I, you know, since we think those bands suck."

The position of bass player has been an ever-present thorn in the side of the band. "Our bass player situation just goes to show how difficult it is to make a band work," Schneck said.  "I feel like that's why so many bands fail … It's really hard to keep that many people together, creating something that works for more than just a short period of time."

After running through three bass players in as many years, Schneck and Dalby finally found their musical compliment in Paul Iazzetti, a friend and classmate of theirs, in the fall of 2004. "Paul had always been a friend of ours," Dalby said. "He had actually been the guitar player in another band, the precursor to Eponymous, which was ironic."

"He was a diamond in the rough," Schneck said. "All that time, we couldn't see what was right there in front of us."

With a new bass player and a renewed passion, the band took to composing and performing at a level they had never experienced before. "That lineup, with me on guitar and vocals, Sean on drums, and Paul playing bass, those were some of the best shows that we've had," Schneck said. "When we play with that lineup, I think we have the potential to be the best ever. I'm not going to say The Beatles or Rolling Stones, but since I did just mention those bands, I'll go ahead and say both of them combined."

Schneck is evidently very confident, even for a rock 'n' roll front man. It's something that I can hear in his voice as it crackles out of the phone, a kind of brash invincibility that he exudes when he speaks.

For Anthony Schneck, overconfidence is a tool rather than a detriment.

"I would say that there are absolutely zero instances from history of someone failing or being hurt by being overconfident," Schneck said. "I intend to add my long and valuable chapter to history books everywhere."

However confident its leader may be, Eponymous has fallen on harsh times recently. Financial troubles for Schneck, not to mention the departure of bassist Paul Iazzetti, have fractured the band whose members are now sufficiently scattered, even as far away as France.

"Well, it's kind of hard to speak of any kind of coherent formation," said Dalby. "Anthony and I still play when we go home, but it's more of a jam thing, and not very structured. Paul doesn't play with us much anymore. Basically, we play as we can."

Schneck, who is living in Lyon, France, until June, chalks up the recent schism to the band members' entrance into the world of higher education.

"Being in college has hurt this band in the same way that education hurts everyone," Schneck said. "People think they know better, and can, therefore, do better, leading to a general flakiness and selfishness."

Dalby, a junior at William & Mary majoring in philosophy and mathematics, understands Iazzetti's decision to leave the band. "I don't think that Paul ever had any serious ideas about playing through college, or afterwards even," Dalby said. "That's his choice, and that's fine. You know, he's very focused on work and school right now."

Iazzetti, a junior biomedical engineering major at the University of Virginia, could not be reached for comment.

Despite their recent rash of poor fortune, Schneck and Dalby remain enthusiastic about the pursuit of their dream.

"I love playing music, and it is an option in my mind," Dalby said. The future is not shut, by any means, on Eponymous."

True to form, Schneck oozes confidence and energy when speaking about his passion, even while addressing the morose topic of the demise of his dream.

"We've fallen from grace, but only in the Napoleonic sense," said Schneck. "After we rise like the phoenix and return from exile to the roaring delight of our followers and the chagrin of our enemies, we will enjoy a few years of greatness as we await our Waterloo."

No matter how famous they get, or even if they never play together again, one thing is certain:  The members of Eponymous will continue to create music, no matter where life takes them in the future.