Lambgoat's Jhonn Thomassen had an opportunity to speak with bassist Sal Mignano and drummer Joe Zizzo of The Sleeping in December of 2004. The interview was conducted over the phone.

First, the basics – Who are you and what do you do in the band?

I'm Sal, and I play bass and keep the kids in check.

I'm Joe, I play the drums, and the make the action happen.

Who was in Skycamefalling, and who is new?

Well, Cameron [Keym] is the only totally original member of Skycamefalling that's in The Sleeping, the only one who's been a part of that band since the beginning. I [Sal] was in Skycamefalling for a long while, and Joe played drums for the last few shows, including Hellfest.

The Sleeping is a step in a very different direction coming from SCF, so how did that come about?

Skycamefalling wasn't Skycamefalling for a good while before it ended. We knew that our sound was changing and that it was becoming something very different that what it started out as, so it was then that we decided to disband and start something new.

The final Skycamefalling EP [Thera / The Elephant Graveyard] then, was when you knew that things we're changing?

Yeah, that EP was just really different, and we were wanting to do more complex things, and The Sleeping as a result is a much more complex band.

What is your motive behind promoting the fact that The Sleeping is ex-Skycamefalling since The Sleeping has such a different sound?

I mean, it wasn't a ploy of anything; when we formed, the music wasn't meant to fall into a certain genre and we weren't trying to send out the message that we used to be in this hardcore band or that we were still hardcore and we know what's up.

So it's just a fact that The Sleeping sort of grew out of Skycamefalling?

Yeah, pretty much. The Sleeping doesn't sound anything like Skycamefalling, and that's fine. We try to keep it fresh and we want to appeal to the hardcore scene, but it some kids don't like it, then fuck them. We enjoy it when kids come out and can dance and have fun, but we try to appeal to everybody else as well. Everyone in the bad has done so much and been involved in so many different kinds of music, and not a lot of people know that, and know that we bring all that into this band. We're older guys and we've been into hardcore for a long time.

Have certain aspects of SCF influenced how this band writes music?

Cameron used to write most of the stuff for Skycamefalling, but for us, 90% of what we do is just get together and jam. We're like a bunch of hippies. We just sit around a throw a bunch of stuff around, Phish-type stuff.

Phish?

[Laughing] Actually, I [Sal] hate Phish. Make sure to put that in.

I definitely will. On a similar note, then, ex-member bands tend to get swept under the rug or ignored in comparison to their ‘predecessor' band. I assume you guys don't plan on having this happen to you, so what do you feel will keep The Sleeping a separate entity despite its connections to a well-known past group?

Just our sound alone separates us. In a lot of early interviews we did, interviewers kept asking questions about Skycamefalling, and it sort of overshadowed this band, but we think things are changing.

Well, that's a good way to jump into the topic of post-hardcore? I guess first I should ask you what genre you guys would fit yourselves into? I know that no band likes answering that question, but if you have to put yourselves somewhere, what would that place be?

Honestly, we usually just say we're experimental rock. If anyone asks, I [Joe] always say fucked-up experimental rock.

How do you feel about your place as a band in the independent music scene?

We definitely like to keep it independent. We're all doing this DIY.

What about the mass of post-hardcore music that's been flooding the independent scene lately? What are your thoughts on it?

A lot of that stuff is failing. There are so many bands and labels ready to ride the current trend, and there's so much emphasis on belts and shoes that it just can't last.

On a similar note, I've noticed you guys are not afraid to mix some very noticeable hardcore elements into your music. You've got tracks such as “If Your Heart…” that are very breakdown-laden. Does this tend to split the crowd at a show into those who enjoy one aspect of The Sleeping over another, or does the band seem to attract only one type of audience?

We attract more of a hardcore fan base, but we get a lot of kids coming to shows, especially when you're on tour with bands like Taking Back Sunday, Brandston, Action Action, bands like that.

How would you respond to the charge that throwing in breakdowns or any other ‘heavy' qualities to a more post-hardcore sound is an attempt to blend two unmixable sounds?

I mean, I think we do a good job with what we do. Our breakdowns work, and they're not forced, and it really creates an even heavier sound going from something soft to something heavy. So much stuff out there is just pure breakdown, going from one “Let's kill each other” riff to a “Let's kill each other again” riff, and that gets boring really quickly.

I don't have access to any lyrics in my promo copy of the CD, so could you explain who writes what and what sort of themes the band chooses to deal with?

Everyone sort of throws their ideas into the lyrics. There are certain songs that Doug wrote completely, like “The Big Breakdown – Day 1,” which was about us actually being broken down in Georgia while on tour. But for the most part it's collaboration.

What would you like listeners to get out of the album title and title track (“Believe What We Tell You”) or from the album as a whole?

[Laughing] The title for the album sort of came out of the first interview we did a ways back. The guy kept asking about Skycamefalling, and we decided to sort of fuck with the guy and make up tons of shit, like saying that we had been to Europe and that Chris [Tzompanakis] had seen a psychic and that she told him that the band needed to break up or else something terrible was going to happen. The interview was done live, so we actually had people close to us asking if this really was the case and why we didn't say anything about it. But as for the title, it's sort of just about not paying attention to everything you hear.

I know you've touched on this a little bit, but what is the song-writing process like? Does everyone collaborate at set practices, or does someone, or a few members, take the bulk of responsibility in writing, or is it a completely random process?

It's a combination of everything. We'll be writing on tour a lot, and when we're at home, we'll get together and write. We'll have a practice at a set time, and someone we'll show up late, so we play for a bit, stop, grab something to eat, and start playing again until 4 in-the-morning. There's nothing that set about it, really.

The artwork for “Believe What We Tell You” is a little unconventional. Who was commissioned to do the art and layout?

Jeremy Arambulo did the artwork for us. He's actually a comic-book artist, and we worked on it bit by bit. We're really happy with the inside, which is meant to look like a newspaper from the 40's or 50's. We all played a different part in the storyline of the layout, and each song is supposed to read like a news story.

Yeah, my promo copy is also lacking the inside.

We actually won some award from some independent music group.

Do you know anything about it?

No [laughing], we just heard about it from someone. We're happy with that, though.

You received a fairly good review from Lambgoat.com itself. Have you been receiving similar reviews from other publications, online or print? How do you guys take criticism of this kind?

I think of all the reviews we've seen, nothing has really bashed us. Volcano (?) gave us a really good review. I mean, if you pay attention and worry about every review, it's just going to consume you.

How did the recording go for this album? Did it turn out the way the band expected?

It was the sickest shit ever. We basically lived in the studio while recording this thing. The process was a lot cooler than we expected.

Why did you choose to producers you did? Did you guys have a choice in the matter?

Yeah, we had the option of going with whoever we wanted. We knew Mike [Birnbaum] and Chris [Bittner], and they really liked our sound. We think it's important to work with someone who likes what they're recording and producing.

What is the band's relationship with One Day Savior like? Did they approach you, or was it vice versa?

Well, Chris from Skycamefalling owns One Day Savior.

Oh, really? I didn't know that.

Yeah, so it was easy to get things started with him. Chris had come out to see two of our shows, and by the second time, he was wanting to work with us. He had a lot of backing from Doghouse Records for this one, so we had the resources for it.

Keeping it in the family, then?

[Laughing] Yeah, well, we knew that for this album, we'd be getting the attention we needed from a label, and going with someone else we didn't know as well or going with a bigger label, you run the risk of not getting what you needed, but we knew with Chris that this wouldn't be a problem.

Are you guys ready to jump ship to a major label, then if you had the chance, considering how things are going for you guys? Do you feel that The Sleeping or post-hardcore in general can be the next ‘big' mainstream genre as more hardcore labels pick these kinds of bands up?

I mean, it's hard to say. We like where we're at, but you never know until something like that comes along. I guess if the opportunity came, you know, we wouldn't mind being the fucking, uh, conductor of that train [laughing].

How does the band feel about the viability of having post-hardcore become the ‘new' thing in music?

That's a really tricky thing, ‘cause shit changes all the time. It's really hard to say.

Well, you've already got this new-new-wave of 80's sounding stuff like Action Action and The Killers…

Yeah, and some of that is alright. We're on tour right now with Action Action, and we love those guys.

Are there any plans for extensive touring of the U.S.?

We've been on tour non-stop as it is. We've already been to the West Coast and all over the East. We're on tour right now. So, I guess our plans are just more touring.

What happens when you go back home, any jobs to keep up with or anything?

We've been on tour so long that none of have held a job in months. When we set out to tour around, basically non-stop, we just all quit everything we were doing. We're finally going back home in a few days to end our tour.

Any exceptional moments on tour so far?

We've been on tour with so many different bands, like Bayside, Action Action [the current tour], Taking Back Sunday, Brandston, a few hardcore bands, that they've all been fun in their own right. There was the thing with Action Action in Chicago [referring to a story prior to the interview about a show at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago where a few ruffians who had been kicked out of the club tried stealing Action Action's van while a few members were inside the van, and several bands and members of Victory Records came to the rescue to stop the assailants. Sal and Joe contended that The Sleeping saved the day by cornering the thugs and holding them by their ankles over the edge of the building until the proper authorities showed up]. There was also being broken down in Georgia. We were shot at in Orlando [Laughing].

Last question, but would you say if I said that singer Doug Robinson sounded a lot like Gavin Rossdale?

Ha ha, well, I don't know about that. I'd have to go back and compare the two. God bless you, though. He's actually gotten a lot of different comparisons. Doug's been compared to the singer of Rise Against a lot.

I could see that.

But still, everyone things he sounds like someone else. He sounds like Doug to us.

Well, that's pretty much it for questions. Any last comments?

Make sure you put that story in about Action Action.

Anything else?

Believe what we tell you.

Thanks a lot guys.

Sal: Hey, thank you.

Joe: Yeah, thanks.