Coming Home for Music Festival

Playing in the in August is a huge honor for Suddyn, not just because they are one of the few unsigned artists performing during the two-day event, but because they are playing for their hometown.

The Steil brothers, Alan, 28, and Jarrett, 26, grew up in Montauk, taking piano lessons from Kathryn Wilkinson, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson's mother. Their parents Celeste and Alan Steil have owned the Montauk Bake Shoppe since 1995 and the brothers, who worked in their parents bakery, graduated from .

Suddyn will play the festival on Saturday, Aug. 13. "The bands playing are huge, great indie-acts -- Vampire Weekend, Cold War Kids," said Alan Steil by phone from Los Angeles. "It's really cool to be included in that."

He and his brother are excited to be a part of the much anticipated festival. Alan said he's looking forward to bringing a different music scene to where he got his start . "Paul Simon is great -- Billy Joel -- but, we've never had something like this before. We never really get that really hipster crowd," he said. He said he hopes it inspires other local kids.

The band is a trio. Alan sings and plays the piano, Jarrett sings and plays guitar and bandmate Brendan Connolly, who hails from Ireland, plays the drums. "Alan writes, Jarrett arranges with him. Everybody has input, even me sometimes," said their mother Celeste. She said she's proud of her sons. "We told them to go for their dreams."

Influenced by the likes of Radiohead, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, U2, Muse and Remy Zero, the band has a piano-driven rock anthem sound.

This won't be their first performance near home. They played at three times last year and performed at the Laddles of Love Concert in Amagansett. Last summer, the group opened for Citizen Cope at , which is owned by Chris Jones, one of the organizers of MTK festival.

"He's always been a believer and a support of the band," said Suddyn's manager Linda O'Connor of OpalStar Music Management. "He wants to help up-and-coming artists." 

O'Connor, who is also from Ireland, met the Steil brothers in Montauk years ago and kept in touch. When they decided they wanted to travel to Ireland, they called O'Connor, who booked them to play at her student union.

"Montauk has a huge Irish community; they have big love for the whole Irish-music scene and have had a huge influence from British and Irish bands," she said.

Formed in 2006, the group had three hit singles in Ireland and gained popularity from mainstream commercial radio. They moved back to the states to further their career. David Kahn, who has produced for the Bengles, Sublime and Paul McCartney, "fell in love with their music," O'Connor said, and produced a track for them. They've played more than 400 shows in the past two years.

Alan said playing before 9,500 concert-goers in August is something they are used to. It won't be nearly as nerve wracking as it was when he and his brother performed live for the first time as teenagers on the stage at the Talkhouse. "Every show, we give 110 percent, but of course when it's more of your family and friends in the audience, you want it to be even better."