Who Are Sleep Eaters?
Interview by: Sarah Morrison
Just a week before the release of their debut EP, we sat down to chat with Sleep Eaters; a ‘cowpunk’ band from surrounding areas of London, UK.
Rough Trade East was packed to the rim, with fans beaming to see what the band had in store for their debut release. Although still fairly new to the subculture scene, Sleep Eaters have managed to create quite an impression. Landing label support from PNKSLM and major support slots with L.A. Witch, Froth, Drahla, and more, the band have only risen in popularity.
Where are you all originally from?
Danny: We’re all from nearby London; Declan is from Essex, Will’s from Tunbridge Wells, and Shaun and Glenn [brothers] who are both from Reading. We all collectively met in a Hackney, London, warehouse where Shaun, Glenn, and Declan, were all living for a period of time.
Declan: Glenn and I met there a year before I moved into the warehouse.
Danny: Glenn and I met when we both played a festival together in Portugal with our old bands. My guitarist couldn’t make it out as he had an exam, and so we asked Glenn to fill in. After that, I always wanted to be in a band with him. We met again two years later in Dalston and decided to start a new project.
Will: I met Glenn just randomly when Warmduscher played at the warehouse. Then I met the other guys.
Danny: And it all worked out!
Would you classify yourself as a South-London band now?
Danny: I do; in a way that’s where we write, it’s where we play shows, it’s where most of our friends are, it’s where most of us live. It’s the home of Sleep Eaters but not the home of us all.
What do you think makes South-London so influential within subculture?
Danny: I feel it’s one of the only places in London where you can actually afford to live. We’re all skint, we’re all trying to do artistic stuff, so it’s full of great people. It used to be East-London, but it’s become quite gentrified.
Declan: It’s kind of eating itself alive. It’s just getting completely washed out.
Will: There’s still a sense of community in South that was there or still kind of is in East.
Why is South-London not changing then?
William: It’s going to change, but just within this moment, it is the place. It’s always had its thing. In all honesty, we don’t know. It just seems there’s a lot of good stuff going on at the minute.
Danny: There’s a venue called The Windmill, and they put on a lot of good bands. It opens up the floor for a lot of new bands to create. Tim Perry is amazing; he kind of just lets you do what you want. There aren’t many other venues in London in which you can do that. He lets you put on your own shows, create your own line-ups, and I feel like that’s how the South-London bubble/scene started.
Declan: East has venues with promotion companies behind them, and people know them through those venues. The Windmill is of a more stand-alone in a respect that it sources more people to promote and put on shows.
Would you say you share a lot of the same influences as one another or is there an underlying layer where you all collectively enjoy making rockabilly music but separately enjoy other genres?
William: I think we all have a similar group of interests, in terms of music. There are also things that each of us individually that we are inspired from.
Declan: We take fascination with each other’s interests. If we play music for each other, there’s always something there. It doesn’t necessarily put us into having the same taste.
William: Music is such a big spectrum; we may fit into a specific group of hashtags, so to speak.
Sleep Eaters: (laughs)
Danny: We all have collective influences on things. Obviously, when the band started, we had a country/garage style of music, so we got into groups like The Byrds, and Scientists. We all listen to our own thing and sort of mesh it together.
Originally the band line-up was only four of you, why add in the slide guitarist (Declan)? Was this a group idea, an idea that came up in conversation, or did Declan approach the band?
William: Not at all; we knew we needed that sound as a band. It was crucial. It's that kind of sound that only one person can do. We got out mate Jimmy, but his main passion is tattooing. But he's a really fucking great blues guitarist. We still needed someone to take that role and Declan, for me, was a beacon of shining light that came out of nowhere.
Declan: I had never played slide-guitar prior to being in the band, I've probably been playing for around nine months. I've always been into finding an instrument that I've never played, especially string instruments. There's more than just learning how to play it; since I had never played it before, there's more to playing it conventionally. But I'm still learning.
Within a short period, having limited music, you we're booking gigs with Sugar Candy Mountain, Sweaty Palms, Crows, just to name a few. Did it shock you, the size of the impact and traction, that Sleep Eaters was receiving?
Danny: I played a show with Ash from Sugar Canady Mountain, in my old band, and we became quite good friends. As soon as we started making music, she told me they were playing London.
William: We hosted them at the warehouse, and it was really fun!
Danny: It feels like we get a really good response from American bands; we've played with L.A. Witch, Froth; it's humbling. But we're not done yet!
William: It's nice to see bands that you've heard of and have respect for, like us.
I know Sleep Eaters have become fairly close with Drahla, can you tell me where that relationship formed?
Danny: Ah, man, they're the sweetest. When my old band finished, I started putting on shows at The Montague Arms [R.I.P.]. I heard their first track online, and I asked them to come headline the venue; from there, we became friends. When Sleep Eaters started, I sent them our music, and they ended up asking us to come play with them in Leeds! We thought, "Oh fuck Leeds! We've barely played in London."
William: Drahla have been absolute angels to us. They were really sweet to invite us on tour with them. They will always have a special place in our heart; collective and individual.
Your first EP was meant to be released through Strong Island, can you talk a little bit about your relationship with the band behind the label? Why the switch if you from label to label?
Danny: We release one song called 'The Ghost of Fire' with Brad from Strong Island. He's a lovely guy and super DIY. After he agreed to put the single out, he asked us to play his festival in Portsmouth [Dials Fest] which was fucking fun. Portsmouth is really sweet, I'm not sure if there's much to do there apart from the music, but it's lovely.
You're now with PNKSLM, what felt right about moving forward with that label?
William: To be honest with you, we knew PNKSLM was a label we wanted to sign with; they've released Claw Marks and other bands that we like! As any band does, we wanted that EP to get signed.
Danny: I've been following PNKSLM for about five years; I always loved the garage bands that they put out. They stayed with mutual friends out at SXSW, and I thought, "Ha, this is my way in! Can you send them our stuff?" In the end, they ended up writing me back and decided that they couldn't let any other label have us.
Even after the offer was put out, the label still felt like the right choice?
Danny: They're super accommodating. We're not an easy band to do stuff with as we tend to miss a lot of deadlines (laughs), but they're always super relaxed. That's not fair, we always get it on time, just by the minute! The skin of our teeth!
William: I thought we were just sending out the EP because we wanted a label behind it, but then PNKSLM offered us an album deal!
What did they do to make them stand out to you in ways others didn't?
William: Our sound is a bit more American than most Brixton band.
Declan: I think with the lap steel, that in itself is very Americana.
William: I think every person within a band brings a certain personality to that band. I believe we've got something we all kind of bounce off of each other creatively. We don't want to be like anyone else; the sleep eaters will do what the sleep eaters do best.
After having a chance to listen to your debut E.P., I had a sense of nostalgia. There are powerful elements of 70s inspired rock/country; some pure Western vibes. What is it about that era that you feel drawn too?
William: It stood the test of time. It's the kind of music people still listening to and think 'This is great!' People can always go back to it and think 'This song was a banger!' I don't believe there are that many artists within the last decade that have been able to release something that will stand that test of time. That style of music will always be there, I think.
Who is, lyrically, your most significant influence, and why? What song lyrics have truly inspired you?
William: You have to use your head in order to put your heart into coherence. The majority, if not eighty-five percent of our lyrics come from our heart.
Glenn: Currently, the lyrics that inspire me, don't necessarily inspire my music. The song 'Death of a Clown' by The Kinks, is very powerful and potent. It has always been a very potent song for me as it suggests the re-birth of a time and a life where you move forward. The death of a clown is the re-birth of ones-self. I've always loved The Kinks, who couldn't?
