The Sleepers First National Tour Round-up

Ok. So we know a lot of you want to know all the details of how our first tour went.
It went exceptionally well. I think all of us were quite surprised at all the love we were shown and the warm crowd responses from Gauteng and Kwazulu Natal. Secondly, we had no technical problems, nothing was broken and we all arrived back home intact.
On the way up we very nearly ran out of petrol. That was pretty scary. But luckily, Winburg (a tiny little village next to the highway on the way into Gauteng) has a petrol station. The very friendly petrol attendant found it quite exciting helping fill up for a band.
Oh yes, and then after the petrol debacle, we encountered a storm. THE STORM. It seemed to follow us, we had about 10m visibility all the way into Gauteng and it carried on for 3 hours. And yes, the five Capetonians in the kombi were very frightened by the loud lights in the sky. Jislaaik.
On the Thursday we played with the mighty Isochronous at Tings ‘n’ Times in Hatfield, Pretoria. The place was packed to the rafters, and the boys from Isochronous kindly let us play an encore. The crowd was insane... Pretoria we love you! Sound was great, it was boiling hot outside, we sold some cd’s partied afterwards... all in all we had an awesome night.
Friday saw us playing with The Uncut at The Bohemian – a really cool little club catering to the students from UJ. But on the way there we got lost. Seriously lost. We ended up in Fordsburg (and drove past Barney Simon Avenue, who we later found out was named after the playwright, and not the DJ... sadness) somewhere in the industrial area, which really didn’t look like there were any clubs there. But luckily we phoned a friend who eventually guided us to the club. And when we got there... delicious pizzas! Black Label quarts! We felt right at home. This night was probably the most intimate of the shows and we played two encores! The Uncut also rocked our socks off and we’ll be sure to hook up with them again.
The Saturday saw us play a small show for the cast of a play at Parktown Girls High School. The very very talented girls are using two of our songs for a play they’re doing in March, and we were very excited to see what they were up to. We sat down and chatted with the girls and they showed us some hilarious improvising skills! They made us feel really welcome and we felt like total rockstars!
Straight after that we pulled through to Back2Basix for our last show in Gauteng. We played with our stablemates, Heroes Wear Red. We had some awesome sound, had a great turn out and had a great send off from the Jozi locals.
So the next week saw us do a bit of promotion, visiting Highveld stereo and UJFM for some interviews and disc spinning. We visited some music stores, comic stores... but mostly we were stuck in traffic. Sadly, Michaela our photographer had some pressing work to tend to back in the Mother City and had to leave the tour before our KZN leg. We had a little braai with the guys from Isochronous, got a bit silly and got ready to drive through to KZN on the Thursday - sans Michaela. Stayed over at Ladysmith on the way and arrived in a mighty humid Durban on the Friday. We stayed wet and sweaty for the next 36 hours.
We headed through to Umhlanga to the slick Boogie’s Diner and had an awesome night with Kissed By Katie and The Otherwise. The next day we got a little lost (again!) but not too badly, and we went to some more music stores and had some much needed breakfast in the Pavilion Mall. We then packed all our gear and headed through to Burn. There was a storm brewing and it was breathtaking to watch from Burn’s roof. We saw some familiar faces from Umhlanga (C.R.A.C.K. and The Otherwise FTW!). We played a rocking set and met some really interesting Durbanites! Juggernaught and Grynd Rodd Muse broke the stage with a deft precision and so ended our night in Durban. We stood outside on the roof for a little while to cool down in the rain, drinking in the end of our tour. Satisfied and tired we got into our blue kombi and said goodbye to Durban. Steve drove us out for the first few hours, I fell asleep on the backseat. We took turns driving for the next 19 hours back home. When we arrived we were five blissed out and tired guys, happy to be home.

Hands upon the wheel...

So, we arrived in Gauteng on Wednesday night, having driven the last 300kms through one of the most terrifying electrical storms we've ever seen. Now, I know a lot of you Jozi fans are scoffing at the Capetonians being scared of a little thunder... but seriously, this was crazy. We had 10m visibility in front of us, with big fat rain drops and lightning and crazy truck drivers doing stunt driving it seemed in the middle of the tempest. Oh... and we almost ran out of petrol... almost... thank you Winburg for having a petrol station.

So far, both shows we've played have been awesome! Tings on Thurs in Hatfield with Isochronous was electric, and The Bo' with The Uncut was off the hook. We've gotten some really warm responses from the twin cities. Thanks to Mike from Tuks FM and Alexia and Grant at UJFM for some hilarious interviews.

And yes... we have a GPS... and yes, we managed to still get horribly, horribly lost. But not because of the little device, but good ol' human error.

Tonight will be our last show in Gauteng with our Headline Artists stable-mates Heroes Wear Red... we're going to go big, if you're in the area come for the party!

Next week sees us taking to Umhlanga at Boogie's on the Friday with The Otherwise, and Burn Nightclub in Durban on the Saturday with Grynd Rodd Muse and Juggernaught.

We'll keep you updated with some more tour antics, spread the word, if you've got friends JHB/DBN, tell them about us.

Keep safe.

Simon

The Sleepers.

IMPENDING TOUR!!!

So we're off to Jo'burg, Tswane, Bloem, Pietermaritzburg and Durban in February. If you have family, friends or enemies up country, let them know where we are. We're getting briefed on all our dates tomorrow, so we'll let you know where we are at all times. At the moment, we'll be playing Hatfield's famous Tings and Times on Thursday the 4th of Feb with musical cousins, Isochronous... and we're playing the following night at The Bohemian. We can finally meet all those cool peeps who we've been chatting to over the internets all these years! Hurrah!

We'll be leaving the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st, giving us about a day to settle and give me time to warm up the pipes. And then we'll arrive back home about two weeks later. kief!

And just watch us get lost without the mountain... and especially with those new crazy intersections. I'm talking to you JOZI!!!

A Crucible Remakes

like a crow's waiting cry
spiralling over highways
between the reeds
one stony eye
venerates the turmoil
within your soul
a deeper heat
encircles your dreams there
but purity is what we seek
one crucible remakes me

these times are trying
we're walking through fire

senseless everyday the wasted time
the baptist's body is tired
i'm a philistine one stupid fool
please cleanse me with fire
as a floating leaf
as a razor's plea
cleanse me with fire
but purity is what we seek
one crucible remakes me

these times are trying
we're walking through fire
we will find release here tonight
as we're walking through fire

held up my hands cupped the wind
one step to another leads
one blur of time burnt within
and all is beautiful

with our feet on fire
we are gold
with our feet on fire
we are
we are gold
all is all

all is all
is now remade
is purified
we'll find release tonight we will find release

Jordi

With a heavy heart we would like to announce the departure of Jordi
Reddy from The Sleepers.

Jordi has been studying towards his Masters degree in Biomedical
Engineering, working on artificial artery design and testing. This is
something that obviously requires a tremendous amount of focus and
dedication.

His decision to leave the band comes with the realisation of the
pressure that awaits him next year, when he will be doing his PhD,
which involves the development of synthetic heart valves. He says
that, although he’d like to carry on, he feels it’s better to bow out
now than be unable to give the attention he feels the band deserves.

Though we are deeply saddened to lose him, we fully support him and
wish him the best of luck with his studies.

Jordi has been a member of The Sleepers for four years. After original
member Carly Phillips suddenly passed away due to complications with
leukaemia, he respectfully joined full-time. His contributions to the
band have been vital and we are eternally grateful to him.

But all is not lost! Although Jordi will no longer be with us we will
be carrying on. As yet no plans for a replacement have been made
(these are big shoes to fill, after all) In the meantime, our dear and
talented friend, Chris Truter of the band Fezray, has kindly been
filling in for Jordi when deadlines were looming.

Jordi will play his last show with the band at the Synergy Live
festival. The festival runs on the last weekend of November - 27 -29 at Boschendal Wine Estate.

The Sleepers would like to thank Jordi for his strong character,
musical brilliance, powerful stage presence and continuing friendship.

Pandora

heaven send a helper
she's tied to iron
too weak to move it
pandora find it

your face
your smile
the noose you love and hold
the key behind
the way out of this hole
your knees in the dirt
too young to know the mold
in the eyes
your wrists
twisted tight as screws

the box
it's maw
yawns in the dark and dust
those things let out
were shaking at our heads
and blood we drew
to keep the devils out
see this tonight
the hope you crave to hold
is behind you

feather your nest girl
with your barbed wire white cotton dress
and all those pretty little things
that your lover used to bring last summer
black and brown feathers girl
are you'll have to sleep on in winter
even linen's blushing to keep you from the cold 'til now
after your penance

look behind
the box's maw yawns

here we see the order
one quiet murder the weapon's inside her
pandora find it

Protection

a wave of bliss
engulfed my thoughts
pleasure pounding down the door
here i soar to new heights
now knowing this
all my words floating out into the world
won't change our frail existence

voices call
come inside
is that vitriol that you hide
the cycles of self destruction

imagine this
no more walls
no more seeking for a door
to lead you to paradise

seek inside

my hands on the pavement
push up slow
my knees scraped open
here we are fighting slow
i will line up empty bottles on the outside wall
i will beg the wind to blow and call out your smoke
lift up my fists it's my turn to strike now

this is the world spinning round
eclipsed with certainties, breaking grounds
between the poles there's no real distance
outside the moths fan our wounds
dirty hot swollen wounds
you drew the line
you drew the line

inside the urgency might burn me hollow