“If all of the chips fall in the right place we could be heading back out on the road again and have a really big touring year like we did last year. I suppose in the back of our minds there’s this idea that the last record is almost two years old now. If it pans out that we just had time to write the new record and be in a position to record it in 2014, and maybe release it then as well, that would be absolutely fine.”
Since the release of their first record the band haven’t had much time to step away from the live environment and work on new material. Wilson says that in order to develop the complex textures, which constitute their characteristically emotive soundscapes, they require a dedicated songwriting period.
“We’re not the kind of band that bashes out songs really quickly. When you’re smashing together a big rock band sound with electronic stuff, and the songs can get pretty long, they just take a while. We really need to sit down and get ourselves in the head space and focus through arranging what can be some pretty involved, convoluted sort of music.”
The upcoming …and so we played everything tour will demonstrate their careful attention to detail and Wilson describes how they’ve sculpted the setlist to have a captivating consistency.
“We’re trying to mix up the set from night to night because previously when we’ve gone out on headline tours it’s just been the same thing each evening. We’ve put together two sets with a mix of new songs, things that people are used to hearing and some old stuff that we’ve never played before. Getting the right moments to be really full on and violent and the right moments to pare it back and create a vista musically, that’s a big part of what we’re always thinking about, that ebb and flow.”
Sleepmakeswaves benefit from not having a major hit or a string of obvious songs that fans will demand to hear. The sleepmakeswaves live show seeks to be a balanced journey, delivering a holistic experience for the duration of their stage occupation, explains Wilson.
“I think when you don’t have a vocalist and you’re not churning out stuff with verses and choruses, what people latch onto isn’t the lyrics and the individual songs, but the idea that you’re creating a head space. When we’re planning the stuff that we play on tour, it’s more about the music flowing together in a coherent way so that thing that we do – that hypnotic, trance-like, post-rock crescendo kind of shit – will work without interruption.”
Indeed, the dynamic structure of live instrumental music contrasts to music that is centred around vocal melodies and Wilson indicates towards sleepmakeswaves’ understanding of what’s required to avoid meandering or playing too many pieces with a very similar sound.
“My favourite bands when I was growing up were ’90s bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Faith No More. They always had so much variety in what they did and I’ve always gravitated to that idea, that you can have really angry fast songs and put them next to really slow optimistic ones and you can make it work. I think that in this whole post-rock thing, that sometimes has a reputation for being samey and repetitive, we have consciously tried to write material that, although it’s instrumental and it references that sound in a big way, has a kind of variety in it where we can take people through a whole series of different emotions during the course of a night.”
The experience sleepmakeswaves have gathered while carefully curating the live show since releasing …and so we destroyed everything has subsequently impacted upon their creative approach. Wilson reveals they’re now composing material with thoughts of how it will sound onstage.
“When you have that opportunity to tour so much it changes your approach to how you song-write and how you look at your own parts. We want to make sure that all of our stuff is really road tested and worn out live before we head into the studio. We want to know it inside out.”
A huge learning curve for the band was a successful international touring stint in 2012, which saw them traverse Europe far and wide as well as a brief US visit. To further the band’s career prospects they’ll probably look at the overseas market a lot more in the future, however, Wilson believes there’s plenty to keep them occupied in Australia as well.
“We definitely want to build a bigger touring career in Europe because there’s a lot of love for our kind of music there. I also think that, even though there’s this really exciting world out there and we want to conquer as much of it as we can, we know there’s still so much for us to do here at home.”
Wilson indicates that despite their busy schedule it doesn’t feel like work and he optimistically surmises the prevalent feeling in the band. “We’re just pretty excited about getting out on the road anywhere!”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
