Sleepwalker

Sat 30th Oct, 2010 in Features

Hailing from Perth, five-piece band Sleepwalker prove difficult to classify. And they like that. Opening for American hot to trot Melbourne rockers Closure In Moscow earlier this year- their first live show, they’ll be the ones in the spotlight next Friday, November 5, when they launch their debut EP Living Dead at The Rosemount. FasterLouder’s Annabel Mac chats with guitarist James Croy about making music concerning America’s influence on the world, ‘throwing’ kids off stage, cleaning up their act for a possible tour to Singapore and the amount of dollars drowned in the toilet at Amplifier Bar over the years.

Sitting at Reds, funnily opposite Greens in Leederville, James is quite relaxed, given the band’s sudden decision to remix their EP and re-master it before the upcoming launch. Despite a few interrupting text messages from George Green (frontman) telling James that there wouldn’t be enough time to change his (George’s) vocal levels, James remained calm. He said that the band felt their existing recording didn’t quite reflect the sound they were aiming for, so James offered to have a go at mixing it himself.

“I’ve done a bit of mixing… you know, I’m not a professional, I don’t work in the studio but I know what I’m doing so…I’ve been doing that for about three weeks now. Think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew and it’s really taken its toll on my life…Yerrr, I haven’t been out.” (laughs)

With ‘good gear’ being the reasoning James offers regarding the band’s decision to re-mix the EP, they have also re-thought the mastering process.

“We’re getting it mastered with a guy called Lee Buddle at Crank in East Perth….so we’re going to sit in on the master rather than send it away. Mastering takes a few hours but we spend sort of a day or two in there just making sure that all of my stuff is cool because I don’t want to be apprehensive…yeah I don’t want it to sound too polished, like when you get that sort of overly polished thing where the drums, you can tell are not real.”

With ex-drummer Steve leaving to play for Karnivool and the splitting up of several local bands all the boys from Sleepwalker were previously involved in, it’s no surprise that James thinks that they are still in the “teething stages,” despite planning for a full-length release next year.

“Me and Drew (guitarist) in particular listen to lots and lots of different music, weird sort of, you know, arty-electronica and a lot of sort of tech-metal in addition to your hardcore and all that sort of stuff. I mean, one of my favourite bands is Converge, you know, as hardcore as it gets…so there’s different facets to the band; this arty/indie vibe that sounds like Battles in a way and then there’s a rocky side and then there’s the more sort of traditional ‘punky-er’ side- tracks you haven’t heard yet. We’re trying to sort of figure out which way we want to go with the album…like some of our songs sound like Dillinger Escape Plan, ...we’re trying to head down that angle, almost like, Every Time I Die style.”

And with these various facets to the band, James seems happy that Sleepwalker could well be placed in the ‘difficult to classify’ box, in fact, adamant in continuing to produce work that is difficult to classify.
“All of my favourite bands are hard to classify. I listen to a lot of music from the 70s up until now and in my mind all of those sort of classic bands, you know, Zeppelin…I really like Deftones…and I think as soon as you choose a genre then you go, ‘Ok cool, me and my friends are starting a metal-core band,’ you’re pretty much destined to not garner any interest because you’ve chosen a sound like everyone else and you know, no-one wants to hear something that they’d heard a dozen other bands do way better than them…like why would I listen to your band when I can go and listen to any of the Swedish stuff?”

With shorter attention spans of Gen Y and technology ever evolving, James believes it’s even more important in today’s digital world to be producing a unique sound unlike any other.

“I’ll get psyched on a band for a couple of months and then completely forget about them, you know? There’s so much…with the internet, you know, this band, that band, you go into the record shop to buy their CD and you sort of buy their CD and have a look at the artwork and then you listen to it in your car and you sort of spend some time with it for a few months. It’s not like that anymore. We just download the mp3s and if your thumb happens to scroll over it in your iPod then you might listen to it again. It’s a shame.”

But the Gen Y kids aren’t all bad. They were there in good form sweating it out at Closure In Moscow’s national tour gig supported by Sleepwalker earlier this year. And being their first live gig, there were no complaints.

“It was good fun. They (Closure In Moscow) have a big following. There’s a lot of those sort of gigs here, you know, I don’t want to say ‘emos’ but you know, lots of kids with coloured hair, like fringes and stuff …”

Having worked on their EP since April and with support from local indie-rockers Wolves and electro-rock hipsters I Said The Sparrow, Sleepwalker are “pumped” James says, although he’d personally rather no unforeseen drama.

“I seem to have a lot of bad luck with our shows. This guy jumped up on stage last show so I sorta grabbed him by the neck and threw him off …jumped up and started dancing and just wouldn’t get off, it was like he was taking the piss and then tech dramas. And then when we played at Oh Snap! with In League recently; this bouncer was standing on my stuff and he stepped on my cable and pulled out all my peddles.”

“When you get those younger bands they get their crew which are young and still just wanting to go out as much as possible. All their fans were pretty keen to get down there, you know, I’m 28 and trying to convince some of my friends to come out on a Thursday night, they’re like ‘nah man, I’m just watching Foxtel.’
“I actually posted on Facebook a while ago: ‘Where did all the years go’ because I’d turned 28 and one of my mates goes: ‘In the beer-garden at amps,’ and I was like, ‘so true.’”

With big plans for 2011, including a possible tour to Singapore, James says he may have to clean up his act for the fans.

“Yeah the thing with the Singapore kids is that they love the pretty bands so I’m gonna have to shave my beard and straighten my hair or something like that.”

As with the Singapore tour, the idea of releasing a debut full length next February/March is pretty optimistic according to James.
“I think that’s a bit too soon because two months ago felt like just yesterday…but we’ve got a date booked and everything…I’d like to release something around April/May just to tide any fans that we might have? (laughs) over until we release the album.”

But it’s a bit of a catch-22 as any band familiar with the local Perth scene would tell you, locking in a decent live music venue is difficult to do.

“In Perth you can’t get a date at a good venue without it being for a particular reason…like you can’t get a gig at The Rosemount or Amplifier Bar without saying, ‘Ahh it’s our new merch launch’, ‘It’s our new single launch,’ it’s gotta be for something. You see a lot of these gigs around town and they’re launching something and it’s almost a joke, they’ve just put it together so they could have the gig.”

But ideas are already on the cards.

“We all do a lot of reading about world issues and that sort of stuff. I’d like to do a few more songs about…the state of the world and the economy and right-wing stuff, particularly about America and how they affect the world and their economy and their culture. Like we’re living in Australia geographically but people are living in this like, American culture, you know, by proxy, through their televisions …I find that a bit sad.”

So maybe go as a good old Australian and join in the raucous evening that will unravel next Friday at The Rosemount, just make sure you don’t drown all your money in the toilets.