East End Rockers 'The Realm' Ready to Light Up GrillHampton 2023

Long-time East End rockers “The Realm” are bringing their crowd-pleasing vibes to GrillHampton 2023, hosted by celebrity chef Alex Guarnaschelli at the Clubhouse Hamptons this Saturday, August 5.

The Realm’s lead singer and founding member John “Woody” Kneeland is the heart and soul of the five-piece band known for their playful mix of ska- and reggae-influenced rock and classic covers.

“It’s been a crazy summer for us in that every show we play has had hundreds of people turning up,” said Kneeland. “I’ve been playing out here forever, but we’re in our best shape with this current edition of the band, playing two to three times a week. It’s been insanity.”

The Realm Origins

The band was originally formed at the university of West Virginia before migrating to Long Island in the late ’90s. The original members lived together at first in a motel on Shelter Island and, since then, Kneeland has grown a steady following on the East End into a bona fide audience that knows the names and lyrics of his original songs by heart. 

The current iteration of The Realm, meanwhile, has opened for major acts like Sublime and Citizen Cope, while also headlining for monster crowds this summer at local venues like The Stephen Talkhouse, The Montauket, Lynn’s Hula Hut, Port in Greenport, and Salt on Shelter Island.

The latter is where the band recently played a benefit for the Shelter Island Fireworks foundation that Kneeland said set a new attendance record for the venue. “The owners of Salt said they’d never seen anything like that crowd,” he said. 

“I always give Shelter Island a lot of credit because people coming out to our shows there really allowed us to play our own music and original songs, and we kind of gained steam that way,” said Kneeland, who now lives in Sag Harbor and is the band’s lead singer and rhythm guitar player.

While the lineup has gone through some changes over the years, The Realm has remained a known commodity on the local summer concert circuit, and consistently draws audiences filled with diehards and newbies alike drawn to their upbeat, surf-side vibes. They’ve written five original albums and numerous original songs over the years, own their own studio, and have a couple of thousand followers on their Instagram page, @therealm631. 

While they’re likely to mix in some of their hit originals, the bigger the audience, the more likely they are to mix in some crowd-pleasing covers of bands like Sublime, The Police, or The Rolling Stones, with Sublime covers like “What I Got” and “Santeria” known to bring the house down. 

According to Kneeland, the band’s success has always come down to the “fun, upbeat music” the band specializes in and the adjustments they’ve made in bringing on some younger band members. “And we keep the crowd into it the whole time,” he said.

And the band has a “gimmick” that’s caught on lately, according to Kneeland. Instead of guitar picks or drum sticks, band members throw beer cozies emblazoned with the band’s website and Instagram handle from the stage into the crowd.

The beer cozy ritual has taken on a life of its own, Kneeland said, with Instagram followers photographing their beer-cozy being used in far-flung destinations and then tagging them on the band’s social media. 

“We’re honored to play an event like GrillHampton for Dan’s,” said Kneeland. “We love to eat, we love to play, we love the crowds. We’re gonna put on a great show for your guests.”

The Connecticut native Kneeland is more involved in the East End scene than ever. When he’s not busy playing multiple gigs per week for his band and operating a successful local landscaping and property management business, you might also know him as the Head Coach of the Pierson girl’s varsity basketball team. 

The band’s current iteration includes Matt Stedman on bass and vocals; Ed Drohan on drums; Jim Terry on lead guitar and vocals; and Will Fujita on sax and electric violin. This will be the first time for the band playing a Dan’s Taste event, but not the first time they’ve played at The Clubhouse. 

“We’re a true band. We write together, we pretty much share everything, and there’s not really an ego in our band,” said Kneeland. “I always tell the crowds, ‘We’re just a bunch of local guys that love to play music,’ and that’s what’s we’re doing.”

Visit DansTaste.com for more information and tickets to GrillHampton.

Learn more about The Realm at therealmband.com.