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Alan and Jarrett Steil are professional musicians who grew up in their family-owned bakery in a fishing town. But their story is less about local boys who made good than about brothers who stayed true to their humble musical roots, ultimately finding success on their own terms.
The Steil brothers, who hit it big across the pond in Ireland with their now Montauk-based band Suddyn—releasing a string of popular hit singles that helped develop a strong fan following with extensive radio and TV play—are back on home soil this summer, looking to build on their international success.
Billing themselves as a cross between U2, Radiohead and Queen—among others—Suddyn will perform at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Wednesday, August 12. Tickets are $10, which might be a record low for a band currently blanketing the United States in radio play. This week the band played a three-song set at the Ladles of Love benefit concert in Amagansett on Monday, receiving one of the biggest ovations of the night.
The band, which includes Alan and Jarrett on vocals and guitar, respectively, and Irish natives Colin O’Dwyer on bass and Brendan Connolly on drums, gained popularity in Ireland by breaking the mold of what generally defines an up-and-coming rock-and-roll band from Ireland or the United Kingdom. The band’s sound was louder and more intense, both musically and vocally.
“We always wanted a bigger sound than what everyone else in Ireland had, which is generally very stripped down,” Jarrett said during in an interview last week behind his parents’ bakery, the Montauk Bake Shoppe. “That’s just not what we were.”
Suddyn first hit the shores of Ireland as a completely different band, with Americans Chris Marino on drums and Guy Wilson on bass. Before Mr. O’Dwyer and Mr. Connolly joined the band, Suddyn struck gold with a single, “Drowning Souls,” a top-10 hit for two weeks on the Irish charts. Seemingly overnight, the band was one of Ireland’s best selling unsigned acts.
“It was very convenient while we were living in the city to come out here,” to Montauk, Jarrett said when asked what prompted the initial move to Dublin. “It was too easy not to accomplish anything and, growing up in Montauk, the only place where we knew people was in Ireland.”
Alan pointed out that Mr. O’Dwyer and Mr. Connolly grew up in a town where all their friends were singer-songwriters or musicians. “Growing up in Montauk there was nobody who was really into playing music,” Alan said. “I mean I played in the high school band, but that was it.”
Suddyn continued to record and perform across Ireland between 2005 and 2008, playing to crowds large and small, and from one coast to the other. This year the band released its first EP, titled “Dark Lights,” which was recorded in Grouse Lodge, a well-known studio in the Dublin countryside where bands like Muse, Snow Patrol and REM, as well as huge stars like Michael Jackson, also spent time recording.
Suddyn composed a professional music video from their hit single, “Gravity,” which also climbed the Irish charts during Suddyn’s stay abroad. The video was filmed inside Dublin’s famed Guinness factory, something that had never been done before.
“It brought our sound from demo quality to professional,” Alan said of the video and the recordings made at Grouse Lodge. ‘It just took things to the next level.”
“We toured a lot and recorded some demos,” Jarrett said, jumping in on his brother’s point.
It takes less than an hour with the Steil brothers to realize that they often finish each other’s thoughts. They do not interrupt each other, but expound and elaborate on individual points—brothers and band mates who seem always to be in sync.
“We played in every bar in every town, and at lots of colleges,” Jarrett continued. “And then after Colly [O’Dwyer] was in the band we started to lock down more of what we were. Through Colly we met our producer, Les Stapleton. And then it was more focused. We found what we were trying to accomplish.”
Mr. Stapleton produced “Dark Lights,” which showcases Suddyn’s big “rock anthem” sound on the first track, titled “Holding Up The Backdrop,” as well as a softer side on “Side Arm,” a song that features Alan’s quiet voice and impressive skill on the keyboard, a talent cultivated in classical training that dates back to the early Montauk days.
“Alan writes most of the lyrics, brings in all the basic formations of the songs and how they’re structured,” Jarrett said. “Then the band gets together and we all put our own little stamp on the songs.”
What has pleased the Steil brothers most is that they have not changed their lives or their music to fit into any specific box that might sell more records, or attract more fans, despite recent offers from record companies asking them to play a certain style. They left Ireland earlier this year in need of a new direction, determined to make a go of it in the States, where they plan on playing with the same verve that made them a success in Ireland.
“There was this Rolling Stone writer in the ’70s who went to see a band play in Poughkeepsie, New York, and it was just him in the bar with two other guys. He said the band played like they were in a stadium,” Alan recalled. “And it was The Police before they hit it big. So I always say it doesn’t matter if there’s three people there or three thousand, you always have to play the same way.”
Perhaps reluctant to let his brother have the last word, Jarrett chimed in.
“We want to be the biggest band in the world,” he said with a laugh before turning more serious. “The period that we’re in, we’ve been relatively successful, but we’re on the cusp of something. It’s that waiting game and a lot of bands can’t take it. You can’t sit around and wait for something to happen, you have to figure it out and go ahead on your own.”
“It’s funny, when we started off there was such a wide variety in our music,” Jarrett continued. “We knew what we wanted to sound like…”
“But we didn’t know how to get there,” Alan said, finishing his brother’s thought once again.
Then the brothers disappeared into their parents’ bakery, headed for band practice, and still searching for just the right path.
Suddyn will play at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Wednesday, August 12, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10; for information, call 267-3117.
on Aug 4, 2009