Just as Sean Connery, the very first James Bond is universally peoples’ favorite “Bond”, The Sean Conneries material includes some of peoples’ favorite pop music from the Spy vs Spy ’60s.
The Sean Conneries play loving renditions of classic and not often played songs by ’60s pop divas Dusty Springfield, Lu Lu, Petula Clark, Leslie Gore and singer/guitarist extraordinaire Glen Campbell. We also have our own unique originals penned by our guitarist, Paul McCue.
The Sean Conneries are
- Geo Kitta – BL/Bass/Backing Vocals
- Paul McCue – Guitar/Composition/Vocals
- Kirstin Hirai – Vocals/Lyrics/Keyboards
- Phil Galante – Drums/Percussion
Previous Bay Area Performances
- Winters’ Tavern/Pacifica
- Thee Parkside/SF
- The Lucky Horseshoe/SF
- The Hotel Utah/SF
- The Makeout Room/SF
- The Baltic Kiss/Richmond
- Sanchez Performance Center/Pacifica
- The Fireside/Alameda
- The Ivy Room/Albany
- Piano Fight/SF
- Ranch Water/San Rafael
The Sean Conneries – A Band History
The TSC Back Story
Paul, Andy, Steve & I were playing in Cherie Lebow’s Bond Girl (a James Bond rock band) when Cherie decided to take a break in late 2016. I asked the guys if they wanted to continue while our leader stepped away for a bit. They agreed and with my 64th B-Day approaching, we booked J1 to do an afternoon B-day show at Winters’ Tavern in Pacifica CA. Both Bond Girl & TSC have played my J1 B-day show every year (minus 2020) since. A chill NYE decompression gig!
We studied and learned “When I’m 64” by the Beatles and included some of our own material. Songs by Link Wray, Henri Mancini and others that we liked all ended up in the mix at the show. We needed a “handle” for the tavern marque and off the top of my head I said – “The Sean Conneries”. And so… it was. I later learned that “Conneries” in French translates to “foolery”… seemed fitting.
After adding and subtracting short-term members, we ended up as a trio (Paul, Steve & I) and I searched for a female singer who played keys. For me, the combination of guitar, bass, drums and keys (w/vocals) is a complete and efficient gigging quartet. There was an SF quartet called “The Incidentals” that BG shared a couple bills with and I loved their format. They did cool versions of classic but seldom covered songs like Kenny Roger’s “What Condition I’m In”, which was a Big Lebowski hit, with a kick-ass female vocalist. We auditioned a couple of female singers but neither played keys. Then, through my expertly crafted craigslist post, we attracted Kirstin.
In 2018, When she first joined our band, I said “this is a good time to change our name”, to which Kirstin said… “I like The Sean Conneries!”… so… it stuck! Kirstin also knew of “The Vanilla Fudge” (!) which immediately cemented my spiritual “bond” with her! The rest is “our” story.
After playing with Paul in TSC I learned that he wrote awesome original songs and I encouraged him to write and introduce more of his songs for us. We started recording with Robert Preston at Get Reel Productions in 2020 and recorded four pieces a year for four years; 16 songs/6 originals total which became our first release – the self-titled “Eponymous”, in 2023.
We currently have eight new recordings including five originals and continue to expand our unique and unpredictable music.
An Older Video of the TSCs at Winters’ w/Audience Shot
Early gig at Winters’ Cafe in Pacifica
An Early Funny Post on Our TSC fb Page
Intelligence sources reveal there is another The Sean Conneries (band) – from Ljubljana, Slovenia (!) As far as we know, earliest posts on their fb page are from 2015. Our “The Sean Conneries” did our first live show in Pacifica CA at Winters Tavern in March of 2015. Coincidence? I think not! We will be keeping the Slovenian TSC’s under close surveillance for the time being.
Facebook page since July 9th 2017 // 1st live show w/Kirstin – December 2018 // original drummer – Steve Hartnett / 2nd drummer – Zach Brenner // current drummer Phil Galante // original TSC line-up; Geo Kitta – bass / Paul McCue – guitar / Steve Hartnett – drums /Andy Lipnick – guitar / Bruce Bennett – keys
About the Band
Geo Kitta – Our bassist, our fearless leader, the mastermind…
The man behind our eclectic mix of tunes, the reason we get anything at all done at all if we’re being honest. Geo started out playing bass in 1966 as a young teen and played/recorded with the Eddie Taylor Blues Band in Chicago in the early ‘80s. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA) and the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA)* and taught at both.
Geo is an artist and a craftsman – he makes, by hand, the basses you see him play. He’s also a badass cyclist/biker. 
*Needless to say, Geo has spent many years at institutions…
Kirstin Hirai – Kirstin got kicked out of a Radio Shack…
When she was five years old for climbing up on their demo stage and belting #roxanne into the mic – seriously! After that she tried on many hats that didn’t fit – failed excel monkey, lonely world traveler, broke comedy actress, burned out tour guide – but eventually found her way back to doing her favorite thing thanks to the Seans.
She loves a good Dusty Springfield jam or a French torch song just as much as she loves making people laugh and dance. And she really wants everyone to stop using plastic bags.
Paul McCue – Our song guy, our solo guy, our resident genius
Paul might be the smartest or the nicest or the funniest guy you’ll ever meet. Or he might not be, we don’t know your life. But we do know that his songs kick ass, and we love to play them! Honestly it’s kind of dangerous to even LISTEN to his songs because they will break your brain and melt your face all in one go. So just watch out!
Paul turned his entire basement into a music wonderland that we get to play in every week. And this is only about the 1,000th reason that we consider ourselves lucky to make music with this righteous dude. Look out for his horn playing on our recordings, too! 🎺
Phil Galante – Phil’s a Leo who likes long walks on the beach at sunset and hates pineapple on pizza
He was drawn to music from an early age but seeing a drum battle between Buddy Rich and Animal on The Muppet Show in the sixth grade inspired him to pick up the sticks despite his parents’ disapproval. Freshman year of high school he managed to save up enough from his weekend job to finally buy himself some drums and has been playing ever since.
He’s a San Francisco native and has played with many local bands including Bröün Jülïüs, Foolz Gold, The Reaction, Luv Bomb, Film at Eleven and many others. 🥁🍗
The Sean Conneries on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/theseanconneries
The Sean Conneries on Instagram
The Sean Conneries on Instagram
You can listen to many of our songs on Soundcloud
The Sean Conneries on SoundCloud
We even have some videos for you to enjoy
The Sean Conneries Video 3 – NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest 2024
And you can Support the Band via BandCamp purchases
Support The Sean Conneries on BandCamp
025b8f – 670p