Interviews
James Crossland
SleeperX

Q. Does SleeperX have any recordings out or
coming out? Can you tell us about the name,
release, tour, experience while recording it, etc?

We're currently working on our debut EP which
should hopefully be out by the end of the year.
It's been a pretty slow process given that we're recording it in a studio we're building that's very much a work in progress, we've still got a few gadgets and toys to buy yet. But the first song 'Don't Speak Too Quiet' is nearly done and it's sounding pretty damn solid and crisp, so we're certainly doing something right. That song will be coming out on a compilation CD called 'New Blood Rising', which is going to be the first release for Red Guard Records & Promotions, which is, I guess, the business wing of SleeperX. The comp is going have the likes of Civilised, Zeta Theory, Snowman and Antistatic on it plus many others. It'll paint a pretty good picture of some Perth's up and comers I think.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the band and its history? Has the band changed since forming?

The band was started by me and Wade ( Taylor, guitarist ) and that would have been at least two years ago. We went through a lot of bullshit and had alot of false-starts with drummers in particular until eventually, in late 2002 we met Chris ( Butler, Drums ) at a party purely by chance. I was in in a real depressed mood over all the hold-up's we'd been having with the band and I didn't want to go out but I remember Wade said 'don't worry, we'll find some little drummer boy at this thing tonight' and low and behold, we
did. Garth ( Adams, Bass ) has been my friend since we were born and as a bassist, always had a style I loved. I asked him to join after the guy who it seemed, had pretty much settled in on the bass dropped out to concentrate on uni. By this stage I was scratching my eyes out in frustration with the whole thing, I was that close to just saying fuck it and closing up shop. But, cooler heads prevailed and we decided we needed someone we could trust and depend upon who wasn't going to screw us over or waste any more time and that's exactly who Garth is.

Q.  What is the songwriting process for the band?  Do you write the lyrics and music together or one first and then the other?

It changes from song to song. I tend to work off a beat or a riff in my head, or sometimes just a feeling, an impression of how I want a song to sound. I figure out the tempo, perhaps use Fruityloops or whatever, plug in the guitar and see what happens. The blanks get filled in later. A lot of the earlier songs I wrote myself on guitar, took them into the rehearseal room and strapped on the jack-boots. I would have everything mapped out in my head perfectly and any divergence from it in anyway was instantly branded as wrong.

Thankfully, we all work a little more democratically now, but still for the most part it starts with me just humming a tune or getting a line in my head that sticks with me, singing it over and over, thinking of different ways to sing it, recording it, jamming over the top of it. The lyrics come more as words and sounds then meaning. Any messages that need conveying get added later, but more often then not the lyrics just come to me, yet still they all somehow have meaning, sub-concious thing I think.

Garth tends to figure out a lot of the structure for the tunes and any guitar parts that sound remotely technical would be Wade's. I'm a self-taught guitar player and I basically play by gut feeling. As a band we work around what the drums are doing more than anything. We're a beat band. The vocals especially, follow the drums very closely. The way Garth writes bass it often goes off on tangents, stuff that just should not fit, but somehow it does. I think that's a pretty important part of our overall sound, mixes it up, confuses a few people and keeps it interesting.

Q.  When playing live shows, is it important to make every show a spectacle or does it just happen naturally.  Do you feed off the crowd's reaction or do you try to create a reaction?

I think in some way, we have to feed off the reaction. For any band, it doesn't matter who you are, it's always a good feeling to look out and see people creating mayhem and mischeif to your music. It's always a good feeling to provoke a response. Whether it's people dancing or people standing right up the front of the stage and yelling abuse, just getting a reaction is important. But I don't think it's our fuel. There have been gigs
that have been like playing in a cemetary and in those instances I really don't think our demeanour changes. It's just a question of getting excited about your own music. The amount of bands you see on stage who are just 'there'. They just turn up, plug in and play. They look like they could be doing their laundry, that shit is just depressing. The way I see it, if you can't get excited about your own music, who the hell else will?

Q. Is there a story behind the name SleeperX?

Disagreements and lots of them. It was a matter of compromise. We had everything from Spider Monkeys to Tablas Of Doom put forth, usually from Chris and none of us could all agree on a name. SleeperX I think Wade came up with. It's mentioned somewhere on an album we both like. But still, in my more philosophical moments, for me there is a meaning I can attach to it. I take it from the Chuck D lyric about 'so many people are sleeping while standing up' and apply it to the idea that everyone on earth is walking
around asleep, not realising what's truly going on around them or worse still not caring. That's just my take on it and everyone's free to have their own idea, but like I say, the name itself came from somewhere else.

Q.  There is a lot of interest in Perth bands and Perth music at the moment, do you think there is a particular Perth sound and is it very different from bands from the Eastern States?

I think the pop rock made over here is very distinct. If a Perth pop song comes on the radio you know it instantly, there's just something about it that screams Perth. Personally I don't think it's a particuarly good thing that you hear, but then there's a nation of bouncing teenagers who'd say otherwise. I don't buy the notion for a second that Perth is, or was ever going to be, the next Seattle. I remember hearing that said in high school
and I laughed my ass off then about it. That was four years ago and I still don't see it. If there's one thing the Perth scene needs to realise it's that it's not as special as we think. It's not something unique because of it's isolation. There are some diamonds in the rough definitely. You got acts like Snowman, who won the NBT comp and Wire Complex coming up and making different music, but still, Perth's a small town and subsequently,
these bands don't get half the play they should.

Q. What bands have had the greatest influence on you and who are your favourite bands at the moment both from Perth and from elsewhere?

We all have a pretty mixed-up tastes in music. Garth prefers older style metal and rock, but he's also a big fan of Jewel. Chris likes some of the nu-metal stuff, but then he tends to give everything a listen at least once. Wade and I probably have the closest musical tastes. I'd say we're the only two guys in the band who can drive along in a car together and agree on what CD to play.

Stuff like Fantomas, Skunk Anansie, System Of A Down, Mr.Bungle, that's more our heavy side. But I think that in terms of music the main influences I see coming through for us are American Head Charge and Pitchshifter if they didn't use loops and samples. This is because guitar-wise that's where I take most of my style, as well as in overall sound. They're dance metal, which is what I originally intended us to do. But at the same time I don't think heavy music is a big thing for us in terms of influence. Music is music and the less chance of pigeon-holing your tastes the better you'll be at making music.

I'm more likely to listen to Clannad or Secret Chiefs3 than Korn, Wade's more likely to crank up Bjork then listen to Metallica. Same for Garth really, he's got Pearl Jam and Tori Amos CDs in his car, right next to In Flames albums and Chris, as I say, listens to a lot of the newer stuff. That post-hardcore stuff, Thursday and the like. It's a healthy mix that I think is important to have in order to write good songs. At the moment I'm listening to Robbie Williams because as a vocalist, I admire him. That doesn't mean I don't still enjoy blasting out some Henry Rollins or Jello Biafra anger. It's good for vision.

With regards to Perth bands that we like the one I know of that we're all digging right now is Civilised. I just can't stop listening to their CD, they're something original that Perth needs more of.

Q. What is your favourite live music venue in Perth?  Do you prefer small pub shows with a small audience or bigger shows with lots of people cheering you on?

So far, it would have to be The Rosemount. We're playing the Amplifier for the first time this Saturday, so maybe that'll change, but for now, Rosemount is the best place we've played. I think most bands would give you a similar story. It's got a great sound and a large enough stage for us. Big venues would be great, if they could be filled.

Q. Do you have any gigs coming up that you would like more people to come along to?

Several. Campus Bands Semi-Final on Saturday September 20th at the Amplifier, we're on at midnight. There's also a gig at the Carlton on October 1st, plus we've got two pretty big gigs coming up on October 17th for Head Filled Attraction's website launch, which should be a pretty grand affair, as well as October 25th, where we'll be doing a Red Guard showcase at the Whitesands with Antistatic and Dyscord.

SLEEPERX are :

Wade Taylor : Guitar
Garth Adams : Bass
Chris Butler : Drums
James Crossland : Vocals

Interview by Justin

For more information visit the official SleeperX website.