sleepmakeswaves - our 2nd album
A$30,061
of $25,000 targetyrs ago
Successful on 24th Feb 2014 at 10:43PM.
It was never supposed to come this far...
Four guys who shared a love of heavy riffs, pretty soundscapes and delay pedals started jamming in a garage in 2007.
Seven years later and sleepmakeswaves have played countless shows across three continents, released several critically acclaimed records, been asked to do a Reddit AMA, been given the opportunity to play with some of our favourite and inspirational artists, been nominated in the 2012 ARIA Awards and, most importantly, connected with tens of thousands of people around the world.
Where to next?
Well, it's been a solid three years of domestic and international touring off the back of our debut album, including SXSW in Austin, dunk! festival in Belgium, driving around Australia enough times to make it to the moon and back, supporting 65daysofstatic on a marathon 37-date tour of Europe, supporting Aussie prog heroes Karnivool (twice!) and intimate shows ranging everywhere from Paris to New York to Warsaw to London to Barcelona to Budapest. We realised it's about time to settle down and start putting all of these experiences and all this growth down on record.
A second album. One that celebrates our passion for the road, our development as musicians and what we've seen of the world through playing music. The sounds on this album are inspired in no small way by our love of live performance. With every show we've played we have gained an appreciation for the powerful connection we can achieve with our audience, even without the use of lyrics. We have been humbled by the passion of our fans, feeling the energy we deliver is always reciprocated. On this album we want to tap into this.
But let's not stop there.
Sonically, we want this record to be a lush, evocative soundscape, with all the melody, narrative and heavy riffage that sleepmakeswaves listeners have come to expect from us. We are proud of these songs, most of them written or pulled together in some way while on the road in some far-off town. We want to bring the absolute best out of them on this album, and doing that will cost a lot of money.
That's where you come in.
We thought long and hard about crowdfunding this record, as we have so far prided ourselves on being entirely self-sufficient (we all work day jobs in addition to playing in sleepmakeswaves). Unfortunately, the cost of recording, when combined with all of the other costs of independent touring over the past few years, means we've wound up here to fund a recording of the quality we want to provide. But on the positive we thought: "why not put our trust back into our listeners and fans, as we have countless times abroad and at home, who might be able to help us out and make this record happen and grab some sweet rewards along the way!?". It's the same as a pre-order campaign for the album, but in this case, we're offering additional packages and putting the funds directly towards the creation of the album. This way we can fund the record we want to make, and still have the energy and money left over to bring these songs all around the world, to wherever you may happen to live.
Sound good? Read on!
Four guys who shared a love of heavy riffs, pretty soundscapes and delay pedals started jamming in a garage in 2007.
Seven years later and sleepmakeswaves have played countless shows across three continents, released several critically acclaimed records, been asked to do a Reddit AMA, been given the opportunity to play with some of our favourite and inspirational artists, been nominated in the 2012 ARIA Awards and, most importantly, connected with tens of thousands of people around the world.
Where to next?
Well, it's been a solid three years of domestic and international touring off the back of our debut album, including SXSW in Austin, dunk! festival in Belgium, driving around Australia enough times to make it to the moon and back, supporting 65daysofstatic on a marathon 37-date tour of Europe, supporting Aussie prog heroes Karnivool (twice!) and intimate shows ranging everywhere from Paris to New York to Warsaw to London to Barcelona to Budapest. We realised it's about time to settle down and start putting all of these experiences and all this growth down on record.
A second album. One that celebrates our passion for the road, our development as musicians and what we've seen of the world through playing music. The sounds on this album are inspired in no small way by our love of live performance. With every show we've played we have gained an appreciation for the powerful connection we can achieve with our audience, even without the use of lyrics. We have been humbled by the passion of our fans, feeling the energy we deliver is always reciprocated. On this album we want to tap into this.
But let's not stop there.
Sonically, we want this record to be a lush, evocative soundscape, with all the melody, narrative and heavy riffage that sleepmakeswaves listeners have come to expect from us. We are proud of these songs, most of them written or pulled together in some way while on the road in some far-off town. We want to bring the absolute best out of them on this album, and doing that will cost a lot of money.
That's where you come in.
We thought long and hard about crowdfunding this record, as we have so far prided ourselves on being entirely self-sufficient (we all work day jobs in addition to playing in sleepmakeswaves). Unfortunately, the cost of recording, when combined with all of the other costs of independent touring over the past few years, means we've wound up here to fund a recording of the quality we want to provide. But on the positive we thought: "why not put our trust back into our listeners and fans, as we have countless times abroad and at home, who might be able to help us out and make this record happen and grab some sweet rewards along the way!?". It's the same as a pre-order campaign for the album, but in this case, we're offering additional packages and putting the funds directly towards the creation of the album. This way we can fund the record we want to make, and still have the energy and money left over to bring these songs all around the world, to wherever you may happen to live.
Sound good? Read on!
Ready to contribute?
Finally, a massive THANK YOU from sleepmakeswaves to you. If you have decided to pledge funds to this project, then we can't thank you enough and are grateful for your support!
Even if we reach our target goal, please keep pledging. All additional funds will be fully invested back into album promotion and album touring costs!
Your contribution, no matter the amount big or small, will make our 2nd album a reality.
- Alex, Otto, Tim and Kid
Even if we reach our target goal, please keep pledging. All additional funds will be fully invested back into album promotion and album touring costs!
Your contribution, no matter the amount big or small, will make our 2nd album a reality.
- Alex, Otto, Tim and Kid
Are there extra shipping costs for rewards?
No. We have made sure that all the shipping costs are already included in the pledge amount, no matter where you are in the world!
Here's what others have been saying
Alex Tulett from the "Close to the Edge" show on Sydney's FBi Radio
Ian Kenny from Karnivool and Birds of Tokyo
Kim Benzie from Dead Letter Circus
Ian Kenny from Karnivool and Birds of Tokyo
Kim Benzie from Dead Letter Circus
THANK YOU!
Thanks to your support, we are about to begin recording our album. We can't wait to share the results with you - stay tuned for a release mid-year.
How The Funds Will Be Used
A lot goes into the full release of an album. There's the recording and mixing, and then mastering on top of that. Then artwork, manufacturing, distribution and publicity. The four of us, the members of sleepmakeswaves, will all be pitching in our own personal funds significantly in order to make this record a reality. The $25,000 figure that we are asking for is a partial contribution to help us reach the larger total costs for getting this record fully released and ready to listen.
Your funds will only get released to us, from you, if we meet our total goal.
Your funds will only get released to us, from you, if we meet our total goal.
The Challenges
We're going to be taking a new approach with this album. Whereas we'd previously done all our albums by multi-tracking, or gradually layering one instrument on top of the other separately, this time we're aiming for all four of us to record together, in an attempt to capture the energy of our live performances. This is a new way of doing things for us and we're going to head into the studio more prepared than ever before: songs fully written, album planned and parts rigorously rehearsed.
We have never felt more motivated or excited about the future. This record is the culmination of all this work, and what we've learned from becoming a touring band, and our growth as musicians and people.
We have never felt more motivated or excited about the future. This record is the culmination of all this work, and what we've learned from becoming a touring band, and our growth as musicians and people.
FELLOW TRAVELLER For donating $5 to our cause, you get a personal thank-you from one of us via email to show our appreciation. Maybe you never liked epic post-rock anyway, but you're a rad person and if we ever meet you we also owe you a totally awesome hug or a passionate brofist!
6 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD For 15 bucks we'll hook you up with a digital download of the album in a variety of formats: MP3, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, OGG, etc. Oh, it also will be DRM-free!
84 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
CD DIGIPAK PREORDER You get a physical copy of the new album on a CD. Comes in a digipak with epic artwork by long-time SMW collaborator James Stuart. You also get the digital download!
103 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
SIGNATURE & POSTER PACK You get the CD with our signatures on it, a limited-edition poster, and the digital download, for 35 big ones.
79 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
"THANK YOU, YOU'RE AWESOME!" PACK Yes, you are awesome! For $50 you get the signed CD, the limited edition poster, the DRM-free digital download and your name printed in the liner notes thanking you for helping to make the record a reality!
92 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
TIM'S SIGNED DRUM HEAD One of Tim's drum head skins signed by the band. Warning: may contain traces of Tim's blood.
15 chosen / 1 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE ACOUSTIC EP PACK For 60 bucks you get everything included in the above "Thank you, you're awesome!" pack with another digital, DRM-free download of an EP featuring acoustic versions of the sleepmakeswaves tracks 'in limbs and joints', 'we sing the body electric' & others.
34 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE FRESH THREADS PACK You get a CD, a digital download of the album and the acoustic EP, the limited edition poster and a limited-edition t-shirt, all for $75.
44 chosen / 106 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE 'JUST VINYL' PACK You get a limited-edition double gatefold vinyl pressing of the new album and a digital download. Oh, and your name in the album liner notes to show your friends.
37 chosen
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE HOODED JUSTICE PACK You get the CD, the digital download of the album and the acoustic EP, the limited edition poster and a limited-edition hoodie. We love our hoodies, especially Otto's red one.
22 chosen / 28 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE EPIC SIGNATURE PACK You get a signed discography of sleepmakeswaves, including: - in today already walks tomorrow CD digipak - ...and so we destroyed everything CD digipak - …and then they remixed everything CD gatefold - a limited edition of our US EP - our new record on CD Plus a download of the new album and the acoustic EP. All for $150!
4 chosen / 46 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
SKYPE VIDEO SESSION Up to 45 minutes of video conference with members of the band. We can teach you to play our songs, nerd-out about gear, provide advice on your own music, teach you Ableton Live or even start writing a song together. Ask us absolutely anything, like how often does Otto wash his hoodie? What does Tim eat for breakfast? What's Kid's warm-up routine? How does Alex upkeep his beard? It's all up to you! You also get a the album on CD, the acoustic EP and a limited edition poster.
2 chosen / 3 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE DUBZ SNACK PARTY PACK You get an invitation to a private listening party at one of our homes in Sydney – we provide a BBQ, snacks, drinks and banter, plus the new CD, poster and did we mention snacks?
2 chosen / 8 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE VINYL PACK You get a limited-edition double gatefold vinyl pressing of the new album for $200, plus a signed CD, a digital download of the album, the acoustic EP & your name in the CD liner notes.
11 chosen / 289 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE CUSTOM TRACK PACK Two options here: 1.) Otto and Alex from sleepmakeswaves write, record and send you a custom song, in a non-post-rock genre. We'll ask you for a topic, discuss the genre with you and then BLOW YOUR MINDS with the end product. 2.) Alex remixes a track from your band or musical project. You must be able to provide some multitrack stems for this one to happen. Oh, you also get a digital download of the new album and the acoustic EP.
4 chosen / 2 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
JAM WITH SLEEPMAKESWAVES Come along to our rehearsal studio in Sydney and hang out with us for a couple of hours. If you're a muso, bring your musical instrument and have a jam with us, we might even write a new song together! Or you're welcome to just experience one of our standard rehearsal sessions, ask us anything about our gear, play one of our rigs or Tim's drum kit, whatever tickles your fancy! Rehearsal is in Sydney and subject to band's schedule. Max 2 hours.
1 chosen / 4 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE VIP 4 LYFE PACK For $500 you get put on the guestlist for every. single. sleepmakeswaves headline show. Come watch us play and then drink beers (or lemonade) with us. Any time. Any place. Yep, you still get the digital download of the new album and the acoustic EP.
2 chosen / 3 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
LIMITED EDITION FRAMED ARTWORK PACK You will receive the following - Exclusive framed high-quality premium print of the album artwork, signed and numbered. Only 10 will be made! - All items in THE VINYL PACK above. (artwork is currently still in development, pledgers will be updated as artwork is finalised)
0 chosen / 10 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
KID'S GUITAR PACK Be the proud new owner of Kid’s custom Fender Telecaster Baritone Blacktop guitar, modified to Kid’s specifications, from Fender Australia. You also get the digital download and acoustic EP! Available after the recording process is completed. Signatures optional.
0 chosen / 1 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
THE "SLEEPMAKESWAVES IS PLAYING AT MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE" PACK For five grand we come to you, anywhere in Australia, bring our guitars and blow your socks off with an hour-long live set of acoustic interpretations of our songs. Bring along all your friends and we'll have ourselves a party! Comes with a digital download of the new album and the acoustic EP. Date & location TBC through consultation with sleepmakeswaves management and tour schedule.
0 chosen / 2 available
Est. delivery is Mar 14
WE WILL PLAY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! An exclusive show for you and your friends at a real venue anywhere in the world we can physically get to. If overseas, we’ll do it on our next international tour promoting the album, sometime in late 2014/early 2015. You get tickets for you and your friends, meet and greet with the band, signed album, t shirt, hoodie, poster, digital album download, acoustic EP, your name in the album liner notes, signed limited edition vinyl and one hell of a story to tell!
0 chosen / 1 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14
UNIQUE TEST VINYL OF OUR FIRST EP When we produced vinyl for our "In Today Already Walks Tomorrow" EP, we were sent a test copy which contains a different track-order to the final product. There is only one of these test vinyls in the world, making it the most unique and exclusive copy of sleepmakeswaves vinyl ever!
1 chosen / 0 available
Est. delivery is Jul 14