- simon
where The Sleepers muse and disclose
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
The Sleepers & Verona Walls Easter Tour.
This past February we had our first adventure up country. It was
fantastic but we were crammed into a blue combi from Cape Town to
Joburg for 19 hours. Now, this past Easter, just as finger-shaped
bruises on throats start to fade, we jumped into 3 cars with our
friends Verona Walls for a 2 date mini-tour up the East coast, dodging
kamikaze truck drivers and stuffing ourselves with Dagwood burgers
along the way.
Simon and I had flu and our conditions were temporarily worsened by
our arrival in East London. The place is nice enough but one cannot
help feeling like someone is walking over your grave. Even Steve, who
was born there, had no explanation for this curious atmosphere. Due to
the Easter time-warp and roadblocks afflicting our national roads we
had missed sound check.
Our first show was at the Art Theatre Club we shared a bill with a
number of local metal bands (whose names have escape us all it seems,
very sorry) and Horse The Band from the U.S. We arrived in time to
catch the first bands. One guitarist had the uncanny ability to sound
like the death phone ring tones from Metalocalypse. Us, Verona Walls
and Horse The Band played well amid technical difficulties and dealt
in our own ways with some who didn't know what to make of the
'not-metal'.
Not feeling well afterwards, I passed out almost immediately at our
backpackers while the rest made merry into the early hours. I woke up
the next morning feeling sickly and tender. I must have had one
Dagwood too many. We soon said fair well to East London.
Hours and hours later, we arrived at the doorstep of Cameron, owner of
Jester's, the next venue. Cameron kindly let us stay the night in his
big home. He's a fantastic host and great guy.
Jesters is awesome (great selection of potent shooters). Nearby i was
amused to see a club called Dagwood. While Dear Martyr very capably warmed
the crowd, Verona were preparing themselves for their performance by
sampling said shooters, pacing and crawling on the floor. Their set,
including a guest appearance by Simon, was so tight and full of energy
I was gobsmacked. Riding the wave they created, we played well. Marne
(Verona guitarist) joined us on stage for his favourite song
'Restriction'. He took photos sang and mooned the crowd. Speaking of
the crowd, we were surprised by their warm response. P.E really seems
to be full of friendly people. I hope to be back there soon.
After the show the partying started. Memorable moments include:
-A stop off at an Engen where Marne attempted to steal a Debonair's
Pizza delivery scooter.
-A terrible collision involving me, a shoe, a crying, one-legged
homeless man, an Engen bathroom and it's colourful contents.
-Much time spent beer funneling and absinthe lighting.
-Steve cling-wrapping a sleeping Adam's legs together.
At some point most of us passed out, have exhausted our quaffs, while
others went off to the beach to freeze their asses off.
Saturday next morning we had breakfast at a diner (I had my last
Dagwood) before heading home.
Arriving back at Kill City that evening, everyone off-loaded gear and
went for an end-of-tour drink at the Shack - except for me. I was
barefoot ever since the Engen bathroom incident and I managed to cut
both my feet open stepping on glass on the pavement outside Mercury. I
went home - barefoot and beerless, though ready to do it all over
again.
Much love,
Nic
fantastic but we were crammed into a blue combi from Cape Town to
Joburg for 19 hours. Now, this past Easter, just as finger-shaped
bruises on throats start to fade, we jumped into 3 cars with our
friends Verona Walls for a 2 date mini-tour up the East coast, dodging
kamikaze truck drivers and stuffing ourselves with Dagwood burgers
along the way.
Simon and I had flu and our conditions were temporarily worsened by
our arrival in East London. The place is nice enough but one cannot
help feeling like someone is walking over your grave. Even Steve, who
was born there, had no explanation for this curious atmosphere. Due to
the Easter time-warp and roadblocks afflicting our national roads we
had missed sound check.
Our first show was at the Art Theatre Club we shared a bill with a
number of local metal bands (whose names have escape us all it seems,
very sorry) and Horse The Band from the U.S. We arrived in time to
catch the first bands. One guitarist had the uncanny ability to sound
like the death phone ring tones from Metalocalypse. Us, Verona Walls
and Horse The Band played well amid technical difficulties and dealt
in our own ways with some who didn't know what to make of the
'not-metal'.
Not feeling well afterwards, I passed out almost immediately at our
backpackers while the rest made merry into the early hours. I woke up
the next morning feeling sickly and tender. I must have had one
Dagwood too many. We soon said fair well to East London.
Hours and hours later, we arrived at the doorstep of Cameron, owner of
Jester's, the next venue. Cameron kindly let us stay the night in his
big home. He's a fantastic host and great guy.
Jesters is awesome (great selection of potent shooters). Nearby i was
amused to see a club called Dagwood. While Dear Martyr very capably warmed
the crowd, Verona were preparing themselves for their performance by
sampling said shooters, pacing and crawling on the floor. Their set,
including a guest appearance by Simon, was so tight and full of energy
I was gobsmacked. Riding the wave they created, we played well. Marne
(Verona guitarist) joined us on stage for his favourite song
'Restriction'. He took photos sang and mooned the crowd. Speaking of
the crowd, we were surprised by their warm response. P.E really seems
to be full of friendly people. I hope to be back there soon.
After the show the partying started. Memorable moments include:
-A stop off at an Engen where Marne attempted to steal a Debonair's
Pizza delivery scooter.
-A terrible collision involving me, a shoe, a crying, one-legged
homeless man, an Engen bathroom and it's colourful contents.
-Much time spent beer funneling and absinthe lighting.
-Steve cling-wrapping a sleeping Adam's legs together.
At some point most of us passed out, have exhausted our quaffs, while
others went off to the beach to freeze their asses off.
Saturday next morning we had breakfast at a diner (I had my last
Dagwood) before heading home.
Arriving back at Kill City that evening, everyone off-loaded gear and
went for an end-of-tour drink at the Shack - except for me. I was
barefoot ever since the Engen bathroom incident and I managed to cut
both my feet open stepping on glass on the pavement outside Mercury. I
went home - barefoot and beerless, though ready to do it all over
again.
Much love,
Nic
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Fear Will Unite Us
Constantly let it out
don't you ever fold
Cut the rope relentlessly
drive it to the ground
An aftermath, a dreaded peak
drive it to the ground
Snakes in our path
Pearls catch the light
Needles point south
Mirror's shards reunite
You and I
we are fine
Scattered papers, torn curtains
You're all that's left now
Broken windows, the door's open
The walls are bare now
A rusted buried blade
A flower's broken vase
Taught wires over broken steel
don't you ever fold
Cut the rope relentlessly
drive it to the ground
An aftermath, a dreaded peak
drive it to the ground
Snakes in our path
Pearls catch the light
Needles point south
Mirror's shards reunite
You and I
we are fine
Scattered papers, torn curtains
You're all that's left now
Broken windows, the door's open
The walls are bare now
A rusted buried blade
A flower's broken vase
Taught wires over broken steel
Monday, February 22, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, January 11, 2010
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!!!
Friday, December 18, 2009
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
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
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