An advantage of not having a contractual obligation to release an album is that you can take your time. That can also be a disadvantage, having to rely on all sorts of discipline and self-control. Luckily the gap seems to have worked well for Sydney’s sleepmakeswaves and their sophomore album love of cartography, providing space to focus on touring both on home soil and the other side of the world, continuing to find new fans over the three years since their first album …and then we destroyed everything.
The band turned to crowd funding five odd months ago and sought $25,000, prompting a few responses like; “I doubt they'll ever get near this. they may get like 5 or 6 grand.” and “I think this is the most I've seen a small-genre band ask for in one of these. I'm all for crowdfunding but I think it requires a lot of thought to do it effectively.”
I have to admit, it looked a bit brave to me, but everything I’ve seen so far from the band and their manager Mike Solo told me they knew what they were doing, and there was a lot of support:
“I don't understand the negativity. This is a donation. Not an online store. ..you aren't buying them, you are donating so that the band you like can make their new album. Anything you get out of the process is a distant second to the actual purpose of the process. If you don't want to donate, then don't.
As for how much they are asking, I seriously doubt if any of that money is going into their pockets for living expenses or whatever. Studio time with a good producer can be upwards of $35000-40000 dollars. It looks like this is the direction they are planning on going based on what they are asking, but even if they reached their target, they're still going to have to put in a heap of their own money.
I applaud them for attempting something this grand, and I really just want to hear that record. The beauty of donating more than $10 is that you are basically pre-ordering it. I really hope they reach their target.” (u/sinat17)
I think that comment perfectly sums up the communities that thousands of smallish bands like sleepmakeswaves are a part of, and when I last talked to composer, bass player and laptopist Alex Wilson he explained how positive he believed the future is for music. As it happens they raised $30,061, and when I caught up with guitarist Otto Wicks-Green a couple of nights ago it was all hands on deck signing 200+ CDs and LPs. I suspect the last couple of dozen have a slight beer-induced wobble, but I’m willing to bet that Alex had a very efficient system in place.
In animal terms, Otto described the album as; “a robot cheetah. It has the speed and presence of a cheetah in that it is quite eye-catching and energetic and fast paced, but it also has an electronic element.”
Whatever animal it is, it’s a somewhat different beast to their previous recordings, and the change in pace is clear from the first listen. Gone are the violin and the more gradual sweeping crescendocore and although there’s still plenty of lightness and dynamics its energy levels are up a couple of notches. Otto explains what’s behind this new feel:
“I think a couple of things. When a new member joins the band it’s always going to change the dynamic and the songwriting focus because you play to their strengths. Tim (Adderly –drums) joined the band before we started writing this album and made a huge impact in terms of the kind of music we wanted to write, because he’s such a rock drummer – kind of a punk-rock drummer, and we wanted to write a record which - well we grew up listening to At the Drive-In and Rosetta and Isis and Converge and these sort of hardcore bands like that and so making a record with a grunge dude who loved Dave Grohl fan is like fuck yeah, let’s absolutely do this and let’s combine this with what sleepmakeswaves is and make something new.
“And so that’s one big part of it, and I think the second part is having done hundreds of shows around the world since the last album was released we realized just how much we loved playing live and we thought let’s write an album that we’re really going to enjoy playing live over and over again, that’s just kind of fast and upbeat and captures all we love about playing live.”
All this gives love of cartography a very live feel, capturing their performances in a way the debut album, with its very studio feel, doesn’t do.
“Yeah that’s exactly right and that was also because the actual process of recording was so different from anything we’ve done before. This was the first time we really had the intention, and it was part of our selection process and our decision to work with Nick Di Dia, apart from the odd Grammy he had won, was that he had a high focus in terms of recording and when we went to 301, all of the tracks and all of the bass lines and the drums, we were all in the same room for that, rocking out. We overdid some of the guitars but that vibe, all of us being there and just smashing out these songs really carries through.
“And Nick’s expertise, his technical brilliance in knowing exactly where to place that microphone around the drum kit and how to mic everything up, you know that matters and that influences what it sounds like and I think his brilliance is in picking up that energy we tried to create in the room.”
Another aspect that makes it feel more live is the sensation of being at the front of the room near the stage, being able to pinpoint Otto or Kid on guitar one minute then Alex on bass or Tim on drums the next. There’s a real spatial and immersive feel.
“There’s advantages with working with any different producer and I think the thing that was cool about working with Nick, and I remember talking with Alex about this, in terms of the mixing there was a lot that was really different. Previously I think in a lot of our mixes, and this isn’t at all a bad thing – it can be an excellent thing, but they were very balanced. Everything was symmetrical and it was perfectly formed across all of the space, whereas Nick would literally just take one guitar and put it over here and take another one and plant it over there, add drums and bass and electronics around somewhere else. There wasn’t this emphasis on keeping everything pristine. It was king of more kind of improvised and a lot more natural to some extent, and a lot more raw.
“And that’s exactly the way we wanted to create this album. So I’m talking to Alex and saying it’s a real shock to hear guitar panned so far left and right but it actually works because you can hear the whole thing. You can sit back and listen to the whole album before you start to hone in on each part and each channel that’s there, so yeah, it’s exciting to hear yourself and it’s also terrifying because you can hear your own parts so clearly.”
Some of the tracks have been played live a few times over the last year or so, which naturally has some impact on what ends up on the record.
“I think we only got to play four songs live before we recorded them, and those four were kind of finished in a sense. There were a lot of songs on the last album that we didn’t play live and then started playing subsequently, and with each time we played them it’s like evolution – you try subtle changes and one change works so you keep that change then you try something else. So after two years of playing a song live it actually changes a little as we get better as musicians. I don’t know if this is an instrumental rock thing but I think that it’s pronounced in our genre because each of us cares a lot about our craft and you’re not just backing a vocalist.
“So the song itself will change its form in a notable way and I think with the four songs, and you can guess which they were we could step into the studio where we had been really performing them, we did these really intense rehearsals leading up to the recording because we knew we had this intention of recording it live and that means there’s no mistakes and you have to just nail it - you don’t get a huge amount of time to because we didn’t have a massive budget. We were lucky enough to raise enough money to get into the studio but there was enough to make the album and that was it. We didn’t have time to screw around so we really had to nail these songs.
“And then we get this offer to tour with Karnivool and Dead Letter Circus in January which was right before we stepped into the studio, and we couldn’t turn that down because it was such an amazing opportunity. So we had these intense rehearsals with the lead up to recording the album because we had to practice over and over and over again together and had to practice them at home individually.
“So the fact we didn’t get to play a lot of the songs live means there will be a few small changes but I think that’s also part of the fun of going to a sleepmakeswaves show that things are always a kittle bit different live that how they are recorded and we care enough to keep evolving them. I always feel like our records are just this snapshot. They capture something and then we roll on with them.”
Once it was finished, who did Otto play the end result to first?
“I played it to my housemates, in particular Ryan and Kym, who had been my mates since the very beginning wit this band, and Ryan’s always been a big fan of prog music – he showed me King Crimson and Disillusion and Isis and I showed it to them when I got the massively enormous files from the mastering desk and we sat on the floor in my room in Newtown and they listened to the whole record and they loved it, which was nice, but of course they would say that wouldn’t they?!”
So after all that, what bar or couple of bars from the whole album are those that Otto enjoys most, or gets the most excited about?
“Well there’s different levels of excited, but I guess the moment that moves me the most is on the very last track of the album, your time will come again, and it moves me for a number of reasons. One because the song is very close to my heart and I wrote it on my acoustic guitar and me and Alex worked on it to bring it out into something that was more sleepmakeswaves, and it’s special because we worked quite closely on that bringing the melodies and chords together.
“But also there was this moment during the recording, one of those really magical recording moments where Alex, Kid and I were all in the same room – this is in the beautiful 301 recording studios in Byron Bay – and me and Kid were playing guitars with amps in the other room and we were all quite physically near each other and it was just quite a special moment I think. It was very quiet in the room and Alex was playing his chords on that piano we were all king of in something and that’s what we ended up closing the record out and I’m really happy with how that turned out.”
Getting back to those performances with Karnivool, it was fascinating to see a first slot support band grab the attention and respect of such a big crowd here in Melbourne, and I heard more than a few people comment on how good the set was. In one way it’s not just getting some more fans but converting people to instrumental rock, which most punters have never seen live, let alone listened to recorded. What’s the plan to tap into that group of instrumental rock virgins?
“Yeah well it’s hard because we’re not one of the most commercially ready bands, but we’re lucky in a couple of ways, I mean we work with really good people like Mike. He’s really got a strategy for us, well I think – who knows with Mike, he’s a mysterious man – but he has this vision for us but also getting the chance to tag along with this really big established bands and play these amazing shows to Karnivool fans who are really open minded and quite numerous, which is really rare and that shows how amazing Karnivool are that they manage to be so successful while playing such cool and interesting stuff, and so we got to play to the perfect group of people in Australia. So I think it was quite a masterstroke getting us on that tour and we got to meet the Karnivool guys and become friends with them and Dead Letter Circus as well and there’s this really strong prog scene with really catchy melodies and really strong vocals. I wouldn’t have thought we could tag along and jump on board a tour like that but we did, and it went better than we expected, and we’re very grateful for that.”
Playing at dunk!festival gives the likes of sleepmakeswaves the chance to share the stage with many bands that are out there setting standards, and Otto talked about having to follow Tides From Nebula and thinking how hard they were going to have to work to keep up with a performance like that. But there’s some great instrumental rock talent here in Australia as well such as Solkyri and Dumbsaint, but Otto has a particular affection for Meniscus.
“Oh man, the first time I saw Meniscus was in the old Excelsior in Sydney– it’s not even a venue any more, it’s closed down, but I saw them in a room where there were around 30 or 50 people there, and to this day, that band is possibly the greatest band I’ve ever seen in my life, and Daniel Oreskovic remains the best guitarist I’ve ever met, like these guys are so, so good it’s unbelievable. Dan’s a combination of being incredibly passionate and clever as well as being an amazing performer. Incredibly talented and he influenced my guitar playing a lot and I have a lot to be grateful for with him. They’re actually looking for a new drummer right now and I’d urge any excellent drummer to apply.”
Sleepmakeswaves have just kicked off an Australian tour for the new album (weekends only in true Aussie style) and are being supported by the brilliant Breaking Orbit and Teal who both play great alternative/progressive rock, and of course the new record is out now.
Tour dates:
Sat July 5 @ Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW
Sun July 6 @ Rad Bar, Wollongong NSW
Sun July 13 @ Rad Bar, Wollongong NSW (no Teal)
Thu July 17 @ Coffs Hotel, Coffs Harbour NSW
Fri July 18 @ The Northern, Byron Bay NSW
Sat July 19 @ The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
Fri Aug 1 @ Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
Sat Aug 2 @ ANU Bar, Canberra ACT
Fri Aug 8 @ Amplifier, Perth WA (no Teal)
Sat Aug 9 @ Jive, Adelaide SA (no Teal)
Sat Aug 16 @ Manning Bar, Sydney NSW
