Sleep Waker Release ‘Distance (Reimagined)’ Featuring All Members On New Instruments

Grand Rapids natives Sleep Waker have unveiled a reimagined version of their knockout single ‘Distance’ which received it’s premiere on GEAR GODS. First released as the lead track from their July album ‘Alias,’ ‘Distance’ is a commanding and emotional exploration of loss, unraveling vocalist Hunter Courtright’s experience witnessing his grandfather battle with dementia.

Their new reimagined cut finds Sleep Waker not only leaning into their love of alternative musical genres, but switching up instruments along the way.

Drummer Frankie Mish takes up lead vocals and guitar on the new version and shares more behind the band’s mindset while writing it:

“’Distance (Reimagined)’ came from our love of softer emo and shoegaze music. Everyone in the band has a major affinity for it, and we felt it would be a good time to highlight that some of us have talents outside of our usual instruments. Hunter used to play guitar in the band before Sleep Waker, Jake started as a drummer for a pop-punk band, Aaron had this hidden piano talent no one knew about, and I’m constantly writing with guitar,” he explains.
 
“This song is an expression of the band from a different and much more personal perspective. We love to experiment and mess around, and we’re very excited to bring more experimentation into the sound of Sleep Waker.”

Check out the video for ‘Distance (Reimagined)’ below.

Sleep Waker Share Video For title Track, ‘Alias’

Grand Rapids band SLEEP WAKER have shared the video for the title track of their new album Alias, out today, July 23, via UNFD.

“‘Alias’ is the final piece of the album,” offers Mish. “It’s the culmination of years of work from us, and concepts that have slowly been building since the beginning of the band. We specifically wanted this song to hit all the points on this album and really show the evolution. By the time you get to ‘Distance,’ the final song, you’ve come full circle and really feel the journey and full breath of the songs.”

This concept is mirrored in the music video. Mish explains, “Our music videos have always had a conceptual B story — even the playthroughs. We hope that now one of the final pieces has been revealed, we’ll be transitioning into a new chapter of Sleep Waker as a whole.”

Alias, which follows the band’s 2017 debut EP Lost in Dreams and the 2018-released full-length Don’t Look at the Moon, is the sort of album that asks listeners to examine who we are, how we quantify our reality, and what it means to be alive. Although rooted in many of the same conceptual themes and ideas that gave the band their successful start in 2017, this time they’re diving even deeper. This time, it’s not just conceptual exploration. This time, it’s personal.

The band draws inspiration from the dream-like surrealism of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks series, and futuristic sci-fi movies The Matrix, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Japanese sci-fi anime series Cowboy Bebop.

Check out the Cover Art and Tracklisting for ‘Alias’ below.

Alias
Skin
Strangers
Cold Moon
Melatonin
Insomniac
110 Minutes
Serenity
Synthetic Veins
Distance

Sleep Waker Share New Track, ‘110 Minutes’

Sleep Waker have dropped a new single, ‘110 Minutes’, their latest cut from their upcoming record, ‘Alias’.

Speaking about the track, the band had this to say.

“‘110 Minutes’ is one of the most energetic songs on the record, but it still holds the same melancholic theme of change brought from loss. This is a concept we decided to carry over from the new song ‘Distance.’ We felt that making one of the hypest songs on the record connect back into the story our past song, ‘Relief’ [from 2018’s ‘Don’t Look At The Moon’], all the while making this song relate sonically to ‘Don’t Look At The Moon’ with heavy, crushing, fast-paced riffs and constant background effects to build atmosphere. We really wanted to highlight that while ‘Alias’ may have more melodic experimentation with songs like ‘Distance’ and Skin,’ a song like ‘110 Minutes’ is a perfect showcase of our signature heavy sound that we’re still developing while perfecting the newer elements.”

Check out ‘110 Minutes’ and its video below.

‘Alias’, the bands second record is set to be released July 23rd 2021 via UNFD.

Pre-orders for the record can be made via the label’s webstore.

Sleep Waker Sign With UNFD, New Record ‘Alias’ To Be Released In July

SLEEP WAKER which consists of guitarists Jake Impellizzeri and Jason Caudill, vocalist Hunter Courtright, drummer Frankie Mish, and bassist Aaron Lutas — have signed with UNFD. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based band will release its second album Alias on 23rd July. Pre-order the album here.

Sleep Waker have also shared the video for the first single ‘Distance.’ Check it out below.

‘Distance is about loss — more specifically, losing someone very close to you,’ says Courtright. ‘For me, it’s about witnessing my grandfather struggle with dementia. His passing really hit me and it was a very hard and emotional experience. I immediately knew I needed an outlet for that feeling and started working on the lyrics that eventually turned into Distance.’

Mish furthers, ‘When writing Distance, we realised this was the perfect song to round off this album. We had most of the songs finished and this demo just sat there as a lead and a chorus, and the further we got into the process, the more we realised we really needed something to stick out as a major emotional point in the album. Once that clicked, the song just easily flowed out.’

Overall, Alias is the sort of album that asks listeners to examine who we are, how we quantify our reality, and what it means to be alive. Although rooted in many of the same conceptual themes and ideas that gave the band their successful start in 2017, this time they’re diving even deeper. This time, it’s not just conceptual exploration. This time it’s personal.

“When I had the idea to start the band, I had insomnia and sleep paralysis,” says Mish. “It was a big thing in my life. I had the name Sleep Waker, I was playing around with logos and stuff like that. And then Hunter mentioned he had insomnia as a kid. So we bonded over that connection.”

“Each release has had a theme built around experiences we’ve had in dreams, or concepts based around sleep,” he continues. “[2017 debut EP] Lost In Dreams established that, and [2018’s debut album] Don’t Look At The Moon was all about sleep paralysis. But we tag-teamed the lyrics this time. I write from a lot of my personal experiences of nightmares and dreams. Overall, our overarching theme has always been the band name itself.”

‘I’ve had hallucinations,’ Courtright reveals. ‘I’ve had the feeling of someone sitting on my chest, and monolithic figures staring at me from the corner of my bedroom. That stuff’s definitely still interwoven throughout the album. But things really took a shift this time. On this record, my lyrics are quite literal and personal. Everything I wrote was either situational to my life, or about how a person can be changed by a life event or circumstance, thus creating an alias.’

Within Destruction Confirm UK Tour For November 2020

The heavy hitters from Slovenia, Within Destruction have confirmed that they’re going to be heading over to the UK for a run of headlining dates this November which will come as part of their tour across mainland Europe.

The tour which is in support of their upcoming release, ‘Yōkai 妖怪’.

Signs Of The Swarm, Bodysnatcher and Sleep Waker are going to be the support acts.

The tour dates can be found below.

November 2020

11th – The Joiners, Southampton

12th – New Cross In, London

13th – The Star And Garter, Manchester

14th – Boom, Leeds

15th – Audio, Glasgow

16th – The Exchange, Bristol