MakeaStar.com: Welcome to the finals. Did you ever think you would get this far? 

Matt: Music is subjective. Everyone's got their own opinion of what's good and what isn't, that's part of the beauty of art.  Winning a contest is out of your control, but creating art that you're proud of is what every artist should feel compelled to do.

MAS: What do you think it is about your song “Oceans” that it has gotten into the finals?

Matt: It's a song that everyone has lived.  It's universal.  Everyday that we drag our bones to work we can remember a time when the most stressful thing in our life was if the girl in the yellow sundress "liked me"... or "liked me, liked me". 


MAS: Have you been getting any e-mail from Fans? The Industry?

Greg: It's been great to hear from friends that we haven't talked to in many years, who have tuned into the contest. We’ve also received emails from new people that are just being turned on to our music.

MAS: What is the response to your song and your sound in general?

Matt: The response to this song has been very positive and everyone seems to relate to it. In general our sound is pop, with a subtle undertone of "pissed off-teenage boy, wanna be poet".

MAS: What do you think about MakeaStar.com's Industry review service?

Matt: It's great to give unsigned artists a platform to be heard.  Again, music is subjective, but it's nice to know that you're on the right track.  We wanted to hear the perspective of someone that's been around the industry.

MAS:  What about the equal voting power being given to Fans and the Industry in the contests?

Matt: The balance of power is always a good thing.


MAS: Was getting into the contest your primary goal or were you more interested in the industry review?

Greg: Honestly, we entered the contest looking for an unbiased perspective on our song. The review was helpful, but being selected for the contest was a great side benefit.

MAS: How did you develop your sound? Is there a primary songwriter? Is it collaborative?

Matt:  Our sound developed once we figured out what we couldn't do.  Part of a songwriters challenge is trying find the balance between what you like to write and what you are good at writing.  I would love to be as adventurous and ambitious as Pink Floyd, but when I pick up a guitar and start singing, it comes out sounding like me.  So once you become honest with that balance you can develop your sound.  I would say that I am the primary songwriter. Greg takes the crap that I write and makes it sound good.  Neither of us would or could do this if it wasn't a collaboration.

Greg:  Our sound always seems to reflect our lives at the time.  Early on it was harder, edgier music.  We were just starting out as adults, and trying to figure out life in general.  Now days, life has taken a completely different spin, with more responsibilities, and different pleasures.  The music is more confident and self assured.  We are definitely a team that is stronger together than separately.  Most songs start with a basic idea from Matt, and my part is to develop that idea into a full strength song, with instrumentation that supports the idea.  "Oceans" was an exception, I wrote the general song idea and the music, and Matt added the vocal melodies.

MAS: Any influences you care to mention? What have other people compared you to?

Matt:  Let's keep in mind that I grew up in the 80's, so my earliest influences were bands like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, U2, and The Cure. As time went on I became really attracted to more experimental acts like Radiohead and Catherine Wheel. Vocally, I have gotten the Simon LeBon reference more than a few times.

Greg:  Boston, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd were my early influences, followed by Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains.  Later I mellowed and my influences changed to bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket, U2, and REM.  Our latest influences have been the British rock sounds of Radiohead and Catherine Wheel.

MAS: What do you think may set you apart from other Artists in your genre?

Greg: I think our music is completely sincere. We do it because we love to create music. It's an outlet for our frustrations, our passions, and the stories of our lives.  It's about creating music that we can play on my family room stereo, and at the end of the song, smile and say, "that's really a great song".

MAS: It’s obvious that your recorded material is great, how about your shows?

Greg: Our live shows were always lots of fun.  We never had enough money to invest in solid equipment, so our shows were plagued with guitar chords that shorted out, effects pedals that lost power, and broken snare drum heads.  Our highlights are playing at the “South by Southwest” music conference in Austin, TX, and winning a Battle of the Bands in Virginia.

MAS: Are you playing anywhere anytime soon?

Greg: No, these days we're a band without a band so to speak. The music is all performed and recorded in Greg's home office/recording studio. Our lifestyles don't currently seem to be cut out for live shows.

MAS: Have you released your music already? If so how, where and when? If not, do you plan to in the near future?

Greg: We had self released 3 CDs under the band, grey.  Sometimes you can find a CD on Yahoo or Amazon, but they're very few and far between!  So far the Sleepwalker material is available only on our official website, www.thesleepwalkersessions.com.  We do plan to expand that in the near future, to include the digital music sites on the web.

MAS: Where would you like to see your music take you?

Greg: In general, the same place it's taken us so far.  It keeps us together as friends, helps us share new music, and is a great outlet for expression.  Of course it would be the fulfillment of a long time dream to have a song make it to commercial radio, or otherwise hit the big time.

MAS: How realistic is that goal in terms of the immediate future?

Greg: Who knows? We enjoy creating our music, so the rest doesn't really matter much. The sky's wide open, who knows when a break might come.

MAS: What one band would you like to follow in the footsteps of down the road to success?

Greg:  That's a tough one.  I would say a band like the Counting Crows.
They have made a great career making exactly the music they want to, have a
very dedicated following, and the respect of their musical peers.  Their radio releases don’t at all represent their material.

Matt:  I would have to say The Catherine Wheel. They’re not a band that was nearly as commercially successful as they should have been but that’s not the reason that we do this anyway. They were a band that constantly challenged themselves and their audience. Every song on every album was an adventure, painting a landscape that invites the listener into their world for just a while.

MAS: Any inspiration behind your band name or was it pretty much a straight forward thing?

Greg:  I'm going to have to let Matt answer that one. He comes up with the band names.

Matt:  The band name “The Sleepwalkers” actually came from my wife. When she was a small girl she had the most frightening experiences sleepwalking. She would wake up in the neighbors’ yard most nights. I believe she even woke up on her roof once, but you’ll have to check with her on that one.