By Kim Bentley
Sleep Dealer was born of a perfect storm. Equal parts boredom, teen angst, and a marathon binge-listening session of The Wonder Years (the band, not to be confused with everyone’s favorite coming-of-age TV series) culminated perfectly in the formation of southern Utah’s new favorite post-hardcore band.
The band’s current four-song, 32-minute set was originally the brainchild of frontman Austin Graves who, at the time, was publicly performing his own unique version of an acoustic folk Americana one-man band with growly, Tom Waits-style vocals.
In early March, Graves decided to bring Sleep Dealer to life and quickly recruited the highly capable Patrick Swansborough (guitar) Alek Wiltbank (drums) and Tyler Huff (bass) by asking the simple, straightforward question, “Hey! You guys wanna jam some pop punk?” The answer was an unequivocal “yes!” The four joined forces and five minutes into their first jam session realized their sound was a far cry from a genre defined by bands like New Found Glory, All Time Low, and Fallout Boy. When asked to define their sound, all four members agree it can only be akin to “emo, mathy, indie, hardcore jazz.”
The band spent three months fine-tuning their sound before playing their first show at Jazzy’s in early June with Shine Bright and Kingdoms. The crowd was immediately and deeply won over by Sleep dealer’s intense energy. At the end of their first set, the audience was begging for an encore, at which point the band realized they’d quickly need to write new material to appease their instant fan base.
Sleep Dealer didn’t expect to draw such a loyal following so quickly.
“Initially when we started playing we thought we’d have two or three people that would actually enjoy it,” Graves said. “Then we played our first show and had this incredible crowd response like nothing we’ve ever experienced.”
“I thought, ‘If all else fails, Richard Curl (of Filfy Ricky fame) will think we’re cool,'” added Huff.
“That’s all that matters in the end.” Austin quipped.
Sleep Dealer seems to have lit a fire in the southern Utah music scene, playing four shows in one month with the crowd growing larger and more excited every time. Austin was surprised and humbled to find that people already know the words and are able to sing along with his songs. They were slightly shocked when asked to play the main stage at the popular family-oriented George Streetfest July 1. Inclement weather forced their performance inside the main street parking garage, which proved to be a perfect setting for their sound and the band’s favorite show to date.
Swansborough and Graves are both quick to denounce the notion of one playing “lead” and the other playing “rhythm” guitar. Instead, they prefer to experiment with interchanging duties, or split lead, which lends to complex layers of sound. Though Graves had the initial four songs mostly written before the band formed, Sleep Dealer has found the collaborative writing and recording process to be unifying.
“It’s a lot of fun writing a new song.” Swansborough said. “There’s a lot of experimentation and figuring out what guitar parts sound good together.”
“Even in parts that aren’t as complicated there’s still this complexity,” Added Wiltbank. “Every part is doing something different. There’s a lot of layers to it. Like Shrek. And onions.” Everyone agreed.
“Sleep dealer is like onions.” Huff observed.
The band recently recorded a two-song demo with Allen Hutter of Studio Allegro. A full album is in the works to be released in October on Wiltbank’s own Arborist Records. They also played their first out-of-town show last weekend. They were incredibly excited to share Provo’s Muse Music stage with the bands Perspective, A Lovely Hand to Hold; Doris Day; and Second Anchor Line. Their next show in southern Utah will be on Aug. 6 at Jazzy’s.
When asked what the future holds for Sleep Dealer, they talk of a possible short tour this fall, a CD release party, hookers, onions, onions as hooker repellent — the usual. Above all else, Sleep Dealer hopes to inspire other local aspiring musicians to start projects of their own. They’d like to see the local music scene grow and flourish with new bands and an abundance of musical creativity. Hear that, kiddies? Sleep Dealer wants to hear you! So plug in your instruments, turn on the Wonder Years, peel some onion layers ‘til your eyes bleed, and make some music! Sleep Dealer will be pleased.
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There is all ready a band from Moscow named Sleep Dealer. They’ve been active since 2009 and have released 6 albums.