Formed by brothers Alan and Jarrett Steil, Suddyn is a unique mix of piano-driven rock with a heavy dose of electronica woven into their sound. The band’s founders grew up in New York, where they both studied music and played in school bands. Suddyn is their first collaboration and has taken them across two continents, performing over 400 shows. They have recorded two discs, Dark Lights and Before the City, produced by Grammy winner David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Sublime), and charted three Top 30 hits in the U.K., where they’ve toured and built a solid fan base. Upon their return to the U.S., Suddyn traveled to Los Angeles, where they now reside, for a series of dates that opened doors to radio airplay and television placements, laying the groundwork for a promising new year.
In a recent interview, Alan Steil discussed the band’s unusual start and their steady, successful climb.
In an interesting twist, you “honed your music while touring through Ireland.” Obvious first question: Why Ireland?
Jarrett and I are from a town called Montauk, at the very end of Long Island. Every year, hundreds of Irish students come over to work and drink for the summer, so we made some solid Irish friends over the years. Also, we love rain and we thought if the music did not work out that we would have a good chance of trapping a leprechaun and stealing his pot of gold! We definitely got the rain, but the leprechaun eluded us … for now, anyway.
Ireland has a great music scene and some great craic — that is actually the Irish word for fun — no joke! Musically, we learned a lot playing the streets of Ireland, and along the way we developed a solid appreciation for fireplaces, drinking and sing-alongs. What started as a two-month trip turned into a two-year residency.
You also charted three Top 30 hits there as an unsigned band. How did you accomplish this, and why is this easier to do in the U.K. than in the U.S.?
The music scene in Ireland is much smaller than it is here in the U.S. or in England, so it’s a bit easier to get noticed. We played show after show and kept recording music. It was a real grassroots effort, driving around Ireland in our yellow piece-of-crap van, dropping off CDs in record stores and playing wherever we could while consuming as much Guinness as physically possible. I think after a while we just broke people down with our charming American accents and our penchant for dark sunglasses! Before we knew it, we were riding high in the charts, getting amazing support from Irish radio and still driving our yellow van with a hole in the side. Good times, good times indeed.
How did this help you establish a foundation in the U.S. upon your return?
I think the time we spent in Ireland was a huge learning experience. We toured constantly and still do. The best part of being in a band is getting out on the road and playing live. The results are twofold: our alcohol tolerance is now almost superhuman and we are always ready to play at a moment’s notice. After all, playing for different people day in and day out is still the best way to build a fan base.
In 2011 you performed in Los Angeles, which led to KROQ taking notice. Was this your first time on the West Coast? How much touring and performing have you done in the U.S. so far?
This was our first time in L.A. as a band, although mentally we have been trying to get there for quite some time now. We heard they were changing the world out there in California and we thought, To hell with the leprechauns; we will hit the gold rush here in L.A.!
So far, the Suddyn tour has gone coast to coast, from people’s backyards to Pershing Square and everything in between. Since then, we have relocated to the West Coast. As far as touring goes, we are trying to do more and more. We’ve played about 50 shows in the last six months. Ultimately, we’d love to be doing 300-plus a year all around the world. Baby steps, I guess.
How much of a role has social media played in developing your international fan base?
I think social media has been an incredible tool for bands to help get the message out there. It gives you the ability to interact with people and keep them informed with your journey. But I still believe that nothing beats face-to-face interaction. You have to be careful not to let social media distract your real focus, which should be writing good music and hopefully playing it for people who like what you are doing. In fact, I sent a formal letter to Myspace requesting a refund for the 17,000 man-hours that I put into that thing. Surprisingly, I am still awaiting a response! I think social networking is like a relationship — it’s a good idea to put some quality time in, but do not rely on it to fulfill your every dream. You have to ask yourself as an artist: if Facebook/Twitter ended tomorrow, what would you be left with? How many fans would you still be able to connect with? Which is why we try and keep it personal with good old phone numbers and e-mails.
That said, how far can an independent band go with only social media as a push? Is a label deal still the Holy Grail?
I think that it is very important to establish yourself as an artist long before you even consider a label. I think, as an artist, your focus should always be knowing who you are, where you want to be and doing whatever it takes to make that happen. Playing music that you believe in, and finding people along the way who support your music, is the Holy Grail.
The terms “indie rock,” “pop rock,” “electro,” “alternative,” “piano driven” and “anthemic” are often used to describe your music. Are any of these terms accurate? Why or why not?
Indie rock and alternative are so overused. They aren’t great indicators of any sound or style. We always liked the anthemic label because we want our songs to sound massive, with big hooks and large choruses. The kind of songs that are comfortable in front of 50 or 50,000 people, stadium songs that people want to sing along to. We are always pushing to be bigger and better.
Were you both in many bands prior to Suddyn? How long had you both been playing music before this band started? Let’s talk a bit about how you both discovered music, what motivated you to pursue it as a career, and when you fell into the groove of writing and performing together.
Originally, I wanted to be a baseball player (true story), but after being cut from Little League four years straight, I thought maybe it was time to reconsider my future. I hated homework and sucked at sports, so music seemed like a natural progression.
We played music growing up. I played piano and trumpet, Jarrett played saxophone. School band stuff. We both always loved music — The Beatles, Pink Floyd, U2, Radiohead. We have played with a lot of different people, but for whatever reason, Suddyn has been the only band either of us has been in. The seeds of the band took root the first time I came home from college with a few songs I had written. We messed around a bit and started writing more and more. It just kind of made sense after that.
There is limited background information available online about Suddyn. Could you please give readers a bit more detail about the band’s history and how the sound has developed?
We like to be mysterious. We are the 007’s of the music world, really — without the cars or the money and the English accent! Our sound has been evolving for the last few years. We started off as more of a piano-based band, but a lot of our newer stuff is more on the synth side of things. Our song “Naked Prophecy” gives a good indication of that.
As far as our history, the band truly started in Dublin a few years back, where we released three singles and toured all over the country. We then returned to New York and met David Kahne and recorded our EP, Before The City. After that, we decided to make the move to L.A. I think we needed a fresh start in a new place. It turned out to be a good move. Moving to L.A. has given us a focus we never really had before.
How did the working relationship with David Kahne come about and how did he help take Suddyn to the next level as musicians, songwriters and recording artists?
David actually produced and mixed Before The City. The short version is, he took a listen to some demos and was interested in producing “Brighter Star,” which was an amazing opportunity for us. He works out of Avatar in New York City, which is a legendary building. What he really taught us was pre-production: to get your songs together and know exactly what you want to do before you hit “record.” Especially with “Brighter Star” on that EP, that is where he really worked his magic. He has a great ear for counter-melodies and incidentals that really support the song. I think he really captured what we wanted that song to be: anthemic!
You recently signed a placement deal with MTV Networks. What does that entail?
Basically, it gives you first shot at syncing for any of their programming, which turned out well for us. We had four different placements on MTV shows, Jersey Shore being the biggest of them. I never thought that I would watch re-runs of Snooky drunk and crying (not a pretty sight), but I still get a kick hearing one of our songs setting the mood in that scene. We also got to stop in the MTV building in Santa Monica to play the good people of MTV some tunes, which was a great time.
What should fans who are discovering your music, or hearing about you for the first time, know about Suddyn?
We love playing music and we take it very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. Ultimately, we just want our music to connect with people. I hope people can listen to our songs and relate to the emotion of the music and the meaning of the lyrics. So far, it’s been an awesome journey for us and we hope it continues to build.
For more information, visit www.suddyn.com.
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