Oh Sleeper No Surrender Interview

Oh Sleeper No Surrender Interview

Taperjean Records is proud to announce the inaugural No Surrender Tour 2011 featuring two of the most exciting heavy acts, Oh Sleeper (USA) & The Chariot (USA).

The tour will storm from Toowoomba to Perth, with capital and regional cities in between. Texans Oh Sleeper are returning on the back of a successful Australian tour in September 2010. From playing stages across the globe with the likes of Underoath, Bring Me The Horizon and Every time I Die, it is evident through their live performances and albums that Oh Sleeper are masters of their art. Australian fans will have the privilege of being one of the first to hear tracks from the bands as yet untitled third studio album which is slated for a mid 2011 release.

Joining the bill is Georgia's finest The Chariot, whom will be bringing their intense live shows to Australia for the very first time. Having released their critically acclaimed 4th studio album "Long Live" which has fans and critics singing the bands praises. However it is the bands live show that shall forever live on as the beating pulse of the band's heart. The sheer force of their thunderous live renditions while maniacally pouring their entire physical being into each note captivates and jolts an audience into awe and utter appreciation. It is this experience, undeniable and unavoidable by anyone attending their show.

Rounding out the bill, Brisbane's pop punk upstarts I Am Villain have been confirmed as the national support for the tour. Having formed in spring 2009 the five piece have been turning heads with their dynamic brand of pop punk and have began touring relentlessly having supported the likes of Mest (USA), Fireworks and most recently an East Coast tour with The Mission In Motion & Stealing O'Neal.

No Surrender Tour 2011 Featuring: Oh Sleeper, The Chariot and I Am Villain Friday April 22*: Easter Festival, Toowoomba QLD (all ages)
Tickets available www.easterfest.com.au

Saturday April 23: The Gaelic Theatre, Sydney NSW 18+ w/ City In Crisis + Resist The Thought
Tickets available www.moshtix.com.au

Sunday April 24**: Strawberry Jam Festival, Perth WA (all ages)**
Tickets available www.strawberryjam.net.au

Tuesday April 26: Harp Hotel, Wollongong NSW 18+ w/ Mary Jane Kelly & Totally Unicorn
Tickets available www.oztix.com.au

Wednesday April 27: The Bended Night Club, Bendigo VIC 18+
Tickets available at the door

Thursday April 28: The National Hotel, Geelong VIC 18+ w/ Rise From Ruin
Tickets available www.oztix.com.au

Friday April 29:The Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne VIC 18 + w/ In Trenches & Of Whisper
Tickets available www.moshtix.com.au

Saturday April 30: Fowlers Live, Adelaide SA (LIC / All Ages) w/ Nazarite Vow & Graveyards
Tickets available www.moshtix.com.au

** The Chariot & I Am Villain not appearing
*I am Villain not appearing

Interview with Micah Kinyard

Question: What's next? Tour/Album/Single?

Micah Kinyard: We are recording at the moment; we've been in Virginia for a week now, tracking some drums and we'll be here for the next four weeks tracking the album.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Micah Kinyard: They're two totally different things, so different! I know this is a really straight answer but I love the writing process and what goes into recording but nothing quite compares to getting on stage and performing live.


Question: What is the story behind the bands name?

Micah Kinyard: Oh Sleeper. It is actually from the Book Of Ephesians, passage 5:14 that says "Awake oh sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine upon you." When we formed the band our bassist Lucas Starr came across that verse and brought it to us where we read over it and looked into it. We did go through a bunch of other band names too but when it came down to it we related to that passage the most because we were all at a point where we were about ready to give up on music and the passage spoke to us in saying 'wake up and get up and do what's in our hearts to do' which was that we all wanted to start a heavy band and get out there and push a message out there to as many people as we could.


Question: You write your own songs; what's your inspiration?

Micah Kinyard: I love writing conceptually where the songs play into an overall story in the context of an album. Whenever I start writing a song I always like to iron out what the story of the album will be first and then figure out where the song is going to be in the album which tells you at what chapter the song is going to be in the overall story of the album. My main goal is to write something that is relatable, aspiring, uplifting and encouraging or something that will give someone the strength to get up and press on through whatever struggle or hardship they're facing. I want to show someone that there are other people out there who are going through the same stuff and a lot of people out there can relate or to not feel alone in what they're doing. That is where my inspiration comes from, my main overall goal when I sit down to write a song is to do that because I really feel like if you are not writing music for a purpose further than bringing fame to your own name then you really have no place in writing music; there is so much other stuff that can be done with the platform.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Micah Kinyard: Oh man! I listen to everything. I love listening to storytelling music like folk music and I am a huge fan of Ryan Adams, Counting Crows, Mumford and Sons, David Brothers - I love all those guys. I definitely have a big love for the energy, technicality and chaos that comes along with heavy music. My influence in there would be Mashuga, Dillinger Escape Plan, Death Tones and Everytime I Die. I also love the well thought out rock like Dredg (they're one of my favourites), I really love Glassjaw and bands like that. I feel like all of those bands have something in common, I don't feel like any of them sat down and pegged a genre or a sound - they set out to make their own sound and each one of them is pioneered in their own way to do that. I believe that a mountain of inspiration has been had and conjured from the bold steps that they made and that is the same thing that I want to do with my own music.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Micah Kinyard: Give up? I don't think it is possible for me to give up music. I know I won't always be in a band but I know I will always be creating music and loving music. I will always dive into it to further music or be apart of music or support it and there are so many different ways you can do that and in some way I will always be apart of music. If I tried to go a year without anything musical I think I would wither away.

Before I joined the band I was a screen-writer in college and I wrote scripts all throughout high school and college. Even now I am a member of the band I still work on a couple of books to go along with our past two albums. When it really comes down to it writing is my big love of music, I love getting together with people I respect who share a love for music and try to make something new. It is really awesome to see in music and art in general you can collaborate with different masters of media in terms of music and writing, you can really come up with some cool stuff. The way that music influences a movie is huge and picture can enhance music in the way the lyrics impact the music. It is really beautiful when you dive in and try and use as much of it as you can.


Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Micah Kinyard: Wow! I don't know if it necessarily just happened but I think what really pulled me in was heavy music. I grew up not being exposed to heavy music at all, I wasn't really exposed to it until I was in high school and I heard bands like Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Korn, all the heavy music that was making it to the radio or making it to MTV, I heard that music and thought 'wow, I have never heard anything like this before' and I started diving into it and listening to Death Tones, Mashuga, Everytime I Die and Dillinger. It was an awakening for me in what was going on in a new expression of energy, I was addicted to the energy, I related to it because it really showed me how the right music could pin point anything you are going through, during the day. I loved the high that heavy music gave me.

Once I got a taste of heavy music I wanted to get involved in it and I played in a few pop bands then moved to rock and the rock bands began writing heavier parts and I realised that they were my favourite parts. By the time I met these guys (Oh Sleeper) they asked 'have you ever thought about singing in a band?' because I played bass for about eight years; I thought about it and said 'I don't know, I can scream, I guess…' and then they asked 'what type of music would you like to do?' and I responded 'only heavy!'

We (Oh Sleeper) got together and gelled and here I am.


Question: Do you have a website fans can visit?

Micah Kinyard: www.myspace.com/ohsleeper


Interview by Brooke Hunter



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