Event
The Connells on the Liquid Aloha Beach Stage
Tickets $25
Doors 6:00 Show 7:00ish
Ages 21UP or with Parent
https://www.theconnells.com
Beyond the fact that “Steadman’s Wake” is the group’s first new release in over 20 years, it is the first Connells’ album to feature their two newest members, guitarist Mike Ayers and drummer Rob Ladd (who have been in the lineup since 2002 and 2012, respectively), and the band’s first record made up of songs contributed solely by Mike Connell, who happens to take on a more prominent role as vocalist. Additionally, the title track, “Steadman’s Wake,” represents the first time The Connells have ventured into overt politics. Previously, the group tended to let actions and implications do the talking when it came to current events. But taking a more concrete and literal stand was something the times seemed to demand. With references to war, the opioid crisis and the white-supremacist rioting that roiled Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 (and were reprised in the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.), there is no mistaking the message of “Steadman’s Wake.” “We’ve had some oblique socio-political bits here and there over the years,” says Mike Connell. “But never as direct as this. It seems like it’s time. It’s scary, where we still stand in this country with issues of race. Of the 11 songs on the record, the clear consensus within the band was that ‘Steadman’s Wake’ best reflected the band’s take on the temper of the times and best represented the “spirit” of the record.”