sleepmakeswaves announce 'Live at the Metro' album release

Bird's Robe blogNews

4 Oct

Written By

To be in a moment like this with all of you beautiful people, is something beyond what we would have ever imagined. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. – Alex Wilson, sleepmakeswaves

If ever you needed reminding just how good and life-affirming live music can be – this one’s for you.

Australian instrumental post-rockers sleepmakeswaveshave announced the release of ‘Live at the Metro’ – a momentous recording of their epic show at Sydney’s Metro Theatre in June 2015.

Originally recorded for triple j radio’s Live At The Wireless broadcast, the album features highlights from the band’s final show of their 55-date world tour in support of ARIA-nominated and J-Award nominated second album Love of Cartography.

The set list features album singles including ‘Great Northern’ & ‘Something Like Avalanches’ as well as a classic show-closing performance of ‘a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun’ from their ARIA-nominated debut album …and so we destroyed everything.

Headlining the Metro Theatre in their hometown was a high watermark for the band, whose classic Love of Cartography-era lineup features on this recording (Alex Wilson, Otto Wicks-Green, Tim Adderley & Jonathan ‘Kid’ Khor).

The emotions and excitement of the occasion are reflected clearly on the album – as the band take turns delivering heartfelt thanks and reflections on their journey, they are met with the cheers and tongue-in-cheek jeers of a rapturously supportive (and quintessentially Aussie) crowd.

Guitarist Otto Wicks-Green reflects on the show:

This show at the Metro in 2015, in some ways, was the culmination of a series of journeys.

The first, and most clear, was that it was the end of 3 months of solid, solid, worldwide touring. The kind of touring where you don't have much clue what time it is, what day it is, just whether or not your strings need changing. The kind where you're more tired than you've ever been, because you've fallen in between the cracks of three different time zones. The kind that you'd have once have given anything to do, and you are all at once exposed to the clear, and sometimes harsh and unromantic reality of your dreams.

55 shows. 22 countries.

We started with 28 shows in Europe and the UK, went through Greece, had some interesting experiences crossing borders in the deep east of Europe, disappeared into the transylvanian wormhole and emerged in China, where we played shows around a slew of high speed rail and high spice noodles, before crashing back into Aus, via sweaty club gigs in Singapore and Hong Kong.

This all exists in my memory in a series of blurry moments. And in this uneasy truce, as somehow both one of the best and most challenging times of my life. The love/hate of cartography.

June 13, 2015. The Metro Theatre.

This was the biggest headline show we had ever played and was the result of 7 years of DIY work in and around the periphery of the aus music scene. It meant a lot to us to be headlining the Metro, a venue we'd all been to many times to see other touring bands. It was difficult not to get caught up in the sheer optics of the thing. It was clear in that moment our little band had graduated to something more. We are all familiar with the fever dream of showing up for a consequential event entirely unprepared, but here the immensity of the occasion met perfectly with the musical readiness and preparation of 12 weeks on the road, and the result was pure and big and heavy.

Finally, and most importantly, it was also the end result of a lifetime of love of rock and guitar music. A decade or two of obsessing over hammer ons and pull offs, of tube overdrive and delay pedals.

We are in this band because we love the immensity of loud guitars and booming drums over glitches and beeps. It genuinely makes us happy. And we were so happy, because we were all together, in this familiar room, in this familiar way, but entirely differently, because it was our noise pumping through the speakers, and our joy reflected in the smiles of the faces in the room.

I want to thank everyone that attended this show, and our hardworking crew who saw us through this tour, particularly Brett and Wojtek.

Hope to see you at the next one.

- Otto

credits

Alex Wilson - bass, keys, electronics
Jonathan 'Kid' Khor - guitar
Otto Wicks-Green - guitar
Tim Adderley - drums

Track listing: