Interview & Story by Jennifer Boylen
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Now Playing: Sleep State – EP
Currently: About to start filming a new music video
When a band knows exactly what they want, it’s hard to even attempt to slow them down. From gigs as a duo to solo spots on prime time TV, the members of Sleep State have come together to create something unforgettable.
When frontman Troy Ritchie made guitar and synth demos on his own time in 2013, he knew he wanted a band to collaborate with him and bring those tracks as far as they could go. He and keyboard player Michael Haua had played in bands before so initially they played out these new songs as a duo. But at one of their very first shows, Parker Jackson had gone out to see Beach Club, the band the two were opening for and he knew immediately Sleep State was something he wanted to be a part of.
“Right when they started playing, they didn’t have a drummer and they just blew me away right when they started their first song,” Jackson shared.
After one jam session, the duo had gained a third member and later recruited David Greenwood, who had played in the other band that same night. Fast forward to Sleep State today– complete with four members and an EP that includes two of Ritchie’s original demos.
In the midst of all their full-band endeavors, Ritchie was a contestant on the 2014 season of The Voice, landing himself a spot on Gwen Stefani’s team. He sailed through a few episodes and has definitely seen the benefits of participating in such a competition. Not only does Ritchie now focus more on his vocals after being on the show, but also his voice has improved immensely thanks to the extensive vocal training he went through while participating. On top of that, being immersed in the lives and musical taste of other contestants broadened his own musical preferences, allowing him to pull influence and inspiration from genres he otherwise probably wouldn’t have.
“Just being around that much talent at one time lights a fire under your ass,” he admitted. “It definitely motivated me and it’s also been a good affirmation that I’m at least doing something right if I made it onto a handful of episodes.”
The quartet is based in LA and has quite the California vibe, although their sound isn’t influenced solely by the west coast. They pull a lot of inspiration from classic American music like rock and Motown, and their sound is consistently exactly the type of indie-pop they set out to create.
“We’ve really tried to stay true to that [sound]while maybe accommodating different trends,” Greenwood said. “However I would say that LA as a city has more influenced the way that we tend to present the music. We try to accommodate environment in the visuals rather than the audio. We’re trying to really let the music speak for itself because we feel like we’re onto something that we want to try to stay true to.”
Their newest upcoming song, “Making Up The Rules,” is unlike anything they’ve released before. They will be working with the producer who took part in their first video for “Tether,” and the band is very excited to debut it. With “Tether,” the video features a warehouse, skateboards and exploring LA. This time around, “Making Up The Rules” will feature lots of animation and is expected to be a very interesting visual take on the song.
“The song is just a fun, upbeat song. It’s super catchy and it’s definitely different than what we have on the EP in a good way,” Jackson said.
It may be brand new to the public, but it was one of the first songs Sleep State wrote and being able to finally share it with fans is a great feeling. They’ve been hinting at something new on social media for a while, but they are more than ready to jump into campaigning for its official release.
“The EP was just kind of to get our music out there and let people know what we sounded like and we’ve had ‘Making Up The Rules’ written for probably a couple years now. For some reason we just didn’t add it to the EP, [and]I think we all agreed that we regretted not having the song on there,” Jackson said.
Sleep State may call southern California home, but they are steadily reaching their musical arms out further and further. With slots on a Starbucks playlist and TV spots on shows like Teen Mom, they’ve seen tons of feedback from fans all over the world. Whether fans reach out via social media or the band simply watches the globe light up on their Spotify streams, this kind of exposure is self-fueling– the more word gets out the more opportunities they continue to have.
“We all really appreciate being able to reach out to people around the world,” Haua said. “It’s just a great feeling to be able to reach out to those people with just a product we put out there and built up from the ground.”
After Ritchie unfortunately broke his wrist earlier this year, Sleep State is just about to start jumping back into shows once he is fully recovered. In the meantime, keep a look out for the release of a “Making up the Rules” soon.
