Present yourself to the readers
Hey, I’m Seedy Mitchell from Sleepwraith. We’re a two-piece metal project based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Ryan Biggs (drummer) and I have been planning to write music in a project like this for as long as I can remember. We’ve been playing music together in various groups over the past 20 years and finally decided it was time to concentrate on Sleepwraith and create music and art for it. Day Terrors is the first album we’re releasing under this name, and we plan on starting to write more soon.
Who composes ?...How does it work in the duo ?
I write the guitars, bass, and do the vocals, and Ryan writes the drums. Typically, I’ll come up with a couple guitar riffs and a loose layout, and bring those ideas to jam, where Ryan will write some beats and we’ll start planning out a song structure together. Every song we write is written, and rewritten by the two of us until it feels right. Once the main guitar and drums feel good, we record them as a pre-production version, where I can play along to it and write the second guitar, bass, and vocals. When all of the instruments are there, we make final adjustments to the song and structure until it sounds the way we envisioned.
And your texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
The lyrics and stories on Day Terrors all follow one character’s journey through psychosis and mental illness. They are trying to find peace, and make sense of a world that is alien to them. Each song visits a different element of the character’s psyche, and the battles being fought within them. We really want to tell stories with both the lyrics and the music.
Why the name SLEEPWRAITH ?
The name Sleepwraith was something I had been thinking of for a while. I’ve always felt like there’s a very dark part of me, like I’m two people, or I’m haunted. It’s a shadow figure that weighs on my heart and mind, and I wanted to focus that darkness and make it in to art. The Sleepwraith is the dark part of our own souls.
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
Ryan and I are influenced by all kinds of music. We both typically listen to heavier styles of music, but there’s something to be learned from every style and sound. When I’m driving, I’ll often listen to totally different types of music from progressive metal bands, to death metal, to 90’s skate-punk, to the classical radio station. I like to absorb it all and learn from it.
In studio, what was the atmosphere for your album ?...etc.…
Recording this album was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. We worked with Terry Paholek at his studio called The Physics Lab here in Edmonton. He’s a great engineer, a great guy, and the three of us got along really well.
How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?
The artwork for this album was created by an artist named Therese Lanz (Instagram.com/trez_makes_art/). I had hired her once to design a tshirt that I had an idea for, and we got along really well and she did beautiful work, so I wanted her to do the album art. She did the front and back album cover, and a 5-page story booklet for the cd. I had all of the artwork and concepts designed in my mind, and brought those concepts to her. She interpreted those ideas and created the artwork, and they turned out better than I had imagined them.
With Management and booking, how do you work ? And with whom ?
We don’t have management or a label. We’re completely independent. Because we’re only two members and write the music for, essentially, a 4 or 5 piece band, we don’t have any current plans to perform the music live and don’t require a team of people to help with the workload associated with being touring artists. Our main goal is to create and release art and music without being concerned about playing it live. We’re going to keep writing and recording music, and will get to work on more material as soon as we’re able. The most important thing to us is being true to ourselves and making music for the right reasons. We make it because we love it. We pour our heart and soul in to Sleepwraith, and we try to make records that we would love to listen to. We are going to continue doing that.
Website to remember
If you want to get in touch with us, or want to some Sleepwraith merch, please visit www.Sleepwraith.com
Or send us a note on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sleepwraith
What would you like to say to the readers ?
We would love to hear from you.
Thanks for your time,
Mitchell.
Thanks for the upkeep
Hugues B.
