In a genre like metalcore where so many bands fade into the back, patterns often repeating, and a lot of songs falling into a similar sound, how do you make yourself stand out? Sleepsculptor’s answer is to create intense, chaotic music that will leave your jaw on the floor. Of course many bands fall flat by doing too much. Sleepsculptor has done the opposite, taking a huge hold on the scene they’ve become a part of. I talked with Ben Pypiak and Hunter Derr, lead vocalists of Sleepsculptor to ask about what makes the band special.
What inspired Sleepsculptor and the sound you guys were going for?
Hunter: Definitely bands like the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Arsonists Get All The Girls, IWrestledabearonce. We were going for a more mathy approach to metalcore.
Danza was a metalcore giant that had a huge influence on the scene with the same sporadic, chaotic sound Sleepsculptor achieves. The band regularly covers them in their live shows, giving insanely impressive performances of Rudy X 3 and The Alpha The Omega, a song that the TDTE never played live themselves. Their cover of Rudy X 3 can be seen here: https://youtu.be/h8gE8z82Xc
The inspiration coming from bands of the same genre brought me to my next question.
Is that where you pull inspiration from while writing. Is it solely mathcore/sporadic metalcore based or do you pull inspiration from other genres?
Hunter: I feel like we most definitely pull from a lot of genres. I mainly listen to Captain Murphy and Earl Sweatshirt. Everyone else listens to some pretty niche stuff I’d say.
Do you ever worry about how your music will be received based on how unique it is?
Hunter: Nah not really I feel like we just write what we want to write and if people like it, that’s cool. If not, I don’t really mind because I make music for myself at the end of the day. Ben: It’s pretty cool to hear that people like what we make anyway.
Sleepsculptor isn’t for the faint of heart for sure. The live shows feel claustrophobic in the best way possible. The constantly changing guitar, the vocalist’s fast and angry tonal changes. It’s enough to make anyone want to get moving, and their shows certainly deliver. It’s amazing to see them move as a unit, which is difficult for bands so large sometimes. Along with two vocalists, they have two guitarists, Jake Moyer and Kuyler Massam, who offer intensely technical playing along with the classic breakdowns everyone knows and loves. To help with the fast paced performances, James Slattery as drummer, and Travis Antoniello on bass, are both well versed in the metalcore scene, both being in the Wilkes Barre local band Toothless. With so many amazing creative minds, I always wondered who took the reins while writing.
Is there any difficulty having 6 member’s input while making music?
Hunter: I don’t think so, we’re all generally into the same stuff. It’s easier to get weirder ideas. Ben: We’re all pretty connected.
Do you two (Ben and Hunter) ever disagree on where to go vocally/lyrically or does it work best when you bounce your ideas off of each other?
Hunter: Not that I can think of, we’ll usually write in chunks and then go back and dissect/ split parts up. Ben: Not really, sometimes we swap lyrics.
Their first album, Untimening, was well received, but their most recent album, Entry: Dispersal, was beyond unique.
Entry: Dispersal was different than Untimening, do you plan on leaning towards more of a drastic change with your next release?
Ben: We all decided to get pretty experimental, but not straying too far.
Hunter: It’s definitely gonna be a lot weirder than anything we’ve released yet.
Weird has turned out to be an amazing thing for Sleepsculptor. The band constantly works and writes, which explains why in seemingly less than 2 years, they have grown into a force to be reckoned with in the Pennsylvania metalcore scene. Entry: Dispersal was a fantastic album in every sense of the word, every song having the same vibe, but every one felt insanely unique. Every piece of music released by Sleepsculptor has its own personality and own breath of life, making them an absolute joy to listen to. It’s exciting to support them, and I cannot wait to see what they do in the future.
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Interview + Photos courtesy of Emily Sulkowski –Instagram| Twitter
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