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I am not going to lie, I had never heard of The Sleeping before this tour. I hadn’t even heard of them until I was offered an interview with them. (Don’t hate me!) I accepted the offer and headed over to their myspace to check them out. I quickly came to the conclusion that I made no mistake accepting it. The first song I heard was the first one on their player, which was Bomb The World. I liked all the songs I heard, but Bomb The World was most definitely my favorite. In fact, it is in my top five most played! I strongly suggest checking out The Sleeping. Not only are they great musicians, but they are really fun guys.

“So for people to relate to those lyrics and get it on their body for what it means to them, it’s one of the reasons I write.”
Doug: The Sleeping.

For our readers who don’t know who you are could you please introduce yourself and what you do for the band?

Yes. I am Douglas and I sing for The Sleeping.

How did The Sleeping come to be and where did the name come from?

We formed about six years ago there was a band called Sky Came Falling an old hardcore band that the dudes in my band were apart of and then they broke up and formed another band and before they played any shows they ended up looking for a singer and I was one of like, twenty-three singers who tried out. I got in and we started playing shows and becoming a band. We named ourselves The Sleeping because it is kind of like an ode to people who live their lives not doing what they love to do and not living out their dreams. Kind of like they’re sleeping, y’know what I’m saying? So we made it like an ode to those people…so it’s like, you can quit your job. You can do something you love as long as you do it full force and not give up. So that’s what the name The Sleeping means.

[Jen’s Note – His mom called. It was cute! He didn’t answer though!]

Your new album is coming out next month, what can you tell us about it?

[Jen’s note: Sorry it’s so late!]

Uh yeah. It’s called What It Takes and it comes out February 17th. We have two new members. A new guitar player and a new piano player and it’s definitely some of the most energetic music we have ever written as a group. It is very intense very straight forward and it’s just got a lot of intensity to it and it is definitely some of the darkest lyrics I’ve ever written and I hope a lot of people will relate to the lyrics and take what they get from it and help relate it to something in their life. It definitely deals with a lot of issues that people go through and are kind of afraid to talk about and stuff.

You asked in your blog for fans to check out two songs from the new record and pick their favorite. How has the response been and what is your favorite song?

The response has been awesome. We have been gone for a while trying out new members, so I know that we’ve kind of been in hiding for a little. So this way people are already checking out the new songs and it’s really awesome. Every response has been a very positive response and it’s just awesome cause those are two of the songs on the record but there are like ten more that are…I just can’t wait for everyone to hear them. They are going to be awesome. I have a few favorite songs on the record. Lyrically I think…I think it would have to be Anyone Night Stand, which is track number eleven on the album, or Deadbeast which is about my father which is track number twelve on the album. Those are probably my favorite lyrically. Musically as a whole I think my favorite would have to be Friday Night, which is number two on the record. There is a lot. There is a lot of cool stuff. It’s the most proud I have ever been of our works. I’m super stoked on it. So proud of it.

While I was on your myspace and I noticed that you have a lot of fans with tattoos of your logo or your lyrics. How does it make you feel to see that something you’ve written means so much to someone that they get it as a tattoo?

It’s awesome. It’s cool because I was like, twelve years old telling my mother I wanted to be a rock star…not saying I’m a rock star or anything but y’know? To know that I’ve worked this hard to get my message in life across to people, it’s a very cool feeling and when I see people with our logo or lyrics that I’ve written, it’s definitely a good feeling because those lyrics mean the world to me. They are what I have gone through as a human being. So for people to relate to those lyrics and get it on their body for what it means to them, it’s one of the reasons I write.

Is there any significance behind the bunny?

Actually, um…the bunny was taken from Cameron, our guitar player’s brother. He had a website for his…it was kind of like a resume. An electronic resume because he was a graphic designer and on the website was the logo. And we took the logo! It’s actually from a Japanese book which is kind of about getting through struggle and the rabbit is the cover to kind of symbolize getting through a lot of sh*t on your own.

For anyone who hasn’t seen you live, could you describe a live show?

Yeah. Oh, well I can try! (Laughs) I hope it’s good! I hope people who have seen us will agree. It’s very…awesome!

(Laughs)

At this point Travis and Johnny from This Is Hell distracted Doug. So Doug invited them to say Hi!

Doug: Come here!

Travis: But I’m so camera shy!

Doug: Come here! You. come here! This is my friend Travis from This Is Hell. He is awesome!

Travis: (Waving) Hi everybody.

(Laughs)

Doug: This is Johnny, he is also in This Is Hell.

Travis – Okay, we’re going to go. Don’t want to take up all your time!

We then had a group good-bye for Travis and Johnny! Then I told Doug about how Travis scared me earlier that day. And I mean like, I was near heart attack!

A live show is very honest I guess. We’re not one of those bands who shake our scene hair and wanna do like synchronized moves together. We’re just an honest band who plays honest music.

You don’t like to dance?!

(Laughs)

Naw, I like dancing. I just like dancing the way I wanna dance! Not the way all these other bands dance together!

(Laughs)

But yeah. It’s a very honest show with a lot of heart and energy.

You’ve toured with some great bands like Taking Back Sunday. What was the experience like and what, if anything did you learn from touring with them?

I think touring with a band like Taking Back Sunday it definitely taught us a lot about how to do things. Like to be very smart about things. Like, they are such a big band and we toured with them when they were coming off a tour with Fall Out Boy and Matchbook Romance and they taught us a lot about how to be smart on the road. We were always smart when it came to certain decisions but Taking Back Sunday man, they are awesome and have a very cool way about being smart about certain decisions and going on the road and what to do in certain situations. They definitely taught us to be a little wiser in things. I remember them helping us out when we were picking our new vehicle because we had a shuttle bus that broke down and I remember Eddie being like, ‘Don’t get another shuttle bus.’ And we were like, ‘No we’re gonna get a shuttle bus,’ ‘No man, save your money get a van.’ ‘No we’re gonna get a shuttle bus.’ Then we get the shuttle bus and drive it from Texas, where we bought it, to Arizona to pick up the rest of the band and equipment and then drove back home and it broke down. (Laughs) So we were like, uh should've listened to Eddie but y’know it’s good to experience things like that because then you become smarter. Touring with all these bands has just taught us what to do and stuff like that. It’s been six years now and I feel that we are a very smart very knowledgeable unit when it comes to touring. On the road we already knew what to do with ourselves and whatnot, but you learn from other people and it’s really cool.

If you were in charge of the music industry what would be the first thing you’d change?

I would try to figure out the whole downloading thing. I mean, it’s unstoppable and I’m not even against it as long as people still come out to shows. I mean, we live in a world now where record sales aren’t really anything anymore. I would definitely have to say…

Jen’s note: His mom called again…this time he did answer!! I hope you called her back Doug!

But yeah…sh*t what was the question?!

(Laughs)

If you were in charge of the music industry…

Music industry! Right! Well I would have a better memory (laughs) I would definitely try and figure out a way for kids to download things in a sense free, but maybe pay for artworks or something. Like so much now is that no one gives a sh*t about artwork half the time. Me, the way I do it is I get a lot of music from my friends…

(Laughs)

[Jen’s note: At this point something was said by Natty about album art because she can’t not have it on her iPod, but I couldn’t make out what she said. But it was apparently really funny because we all started laughing really hard and I made a point that I wasn’t behind the camera because I didn’t want it coming back on me…so maybe it was funny and bad!!]

(Laughs)

It’s good to care about artwork! The thing that I do…everybody has iPods now so you’re not really stealing music in a sense that you’re going to your computer to download it or your friend has this record if you want it. So everyone is exchanging music but like, if there is a band I really like, I buy vinyl because it’s like collector’s edition. But you know what, I would rather buy vinyl and have a bigger vinyl collection than CDs. I can just get the song through someone else’s iPod. I have my iPod and it has a lot of the songs that I have gotten from friends or that I have purchased but for the most part I just stick with buying vinyl. I wish there was a way to bring back the old record players because I think a lot more people would buy vinyl and realize, wow the artwork is cool. You’re getting a f*cking LP with the artwork (he motions the size of a vinyl.) And that is really cool to me.

You would bring back vinyl?

Yeah. I would.

So would Matt from Funeral! You guys should do that! I would be okay with it!!

(Laughs)

I would! I shop with Chris, our new piano player…we go shopping for vinyls everyday.

So we usually end our interviews with five random questions…are you up for that?

Yep! Bring it on! The five randos. Can we call it that?! From now on the random part of your interviews is called The Five Randos!

(Laughs)

If you could be any inanimate object what would you be and why?

Anything?

Yep. Anything.

I would be… (very long pause) … I would be Paris Hilton’s Mirror. I like Paris Hilton. I wanna be as creepy as possible. I wouldn’t be able to move or talk. I would just be a mirror with feelings and I would stare at Paris Hilton all day.

If you were a scented candle, what would you smell like?

Sh*t.

(Laughs)

No I’m just kidding. I would want to smell like, boiled spinach with garlic and breadcrumbs. Dude, have you ever smelt that?! My mom makes this casserole and it always smells like, ah! I would smell exactly like that. Not the candle flavored sh*t that says it smells like an apple pie but it smells like an apple cough drop or the worst smelling sh*t ever!

(Laughs)

If you could be stuck in any 80’s movie, what one would it be and why?

Teen Wolf. And I would be Michael J Fox. I would be Teen Wolf. Teen Wolf 2 was a good one too, but I don’t know if that was in the nineties. I would be Teen Wolf.

Who would you want to win a date with?

[At this point, Paul (new guitar player for The Sleeping) was reading the questions over my shoulder. He answered this one, but didn’t want to take part in the actual interview…]

Paul: Megan Fox.

[Jen’s note: Seriously boys, what is with Megan Fox?]

Doug: Yeah, Megan Fox. You know what, I’m down with Megan Fox, but I think Paris Hilton.

If ‘That’s what she said,’ what in fact did she say?

Are you f*cking kidding me?!

(Awkward silence)

That’s it. Wait. I don’t get it!

(Laughs)

The ‘That’s what she said’ jokes…

Oh yeah yeah!! I’m thinking of the most random thing because it’s the five randos, so I’m thinking like, ‘okay if she said something to you, what in fact did she say?’

(Laughs)

Oh my gosh! I thought you were like mad about the question!

(Laughs)

Oh no no!!

I was thinking, I just ruined this interview!

(Laughs)

Okay so wait. (Laughs) Say it again!

If ‘that’s what she said’ what in fact did she say?

…Oh. Are you f*cking kidding me?! That’s it! Its like, ‘are you f*cking kidding me?’ … ‘That’s what she said!”

(Laughs)

I get that a lot!

(Laughs)

That is fantastic, thank you so much!

Awesome!

TWe would like to thank Doug from The Sleeping for taking the time to chat with us before the show…And make us laugh! Check out The Sleeping at theirMySpace