Getting to Know… Sleeping Around | Interview 🎤

On the 125^th interview on The Musical Hype, we get insight into the New York-based band with the awesome name, Sleeping Around.

“What makes us unique is our audience range is wide because both millennials and Gen Z can relate to the sound and bring about an air of nostalgia.” Millennials and Gen Z CAN co-exist – that’s definitely a WIN Sleeping Around! The New York-based band is the subject of The Musical Hype’s 125^th interview! Ricardo Rodriguez, Jarl Balgruuf, and Ledian Gal make Sleeping Around, well a thing… rather a band! So, without further ado, let’s let the band speak for themselves on Getting to Know… Sleeping Around: Interview #125!

Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with Sleeping Around, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

We are a balanced mix of the Nu-Metal legends we grew up with like Slipknot and Linkin Park as well as a dose of artists like Lil Peep and Juice WRLD. What makes us unique is our audience range is wide because both millennials and Gen Z can relate to the sound and bring about an air of nostalgia. Our shows are a mix of wild party and an epic mosh pit, it’s all love and good times.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your Sleeping Around form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

We’ve all been jamming together for almost a decade in different bands and musical projects but Sleeping Around didn’t come into existence until 2016. We played maybe ten shows in a few months but then due to some tragic family events I disbanded the group and wasn’t until 2020 that we decided to come back together and take this music shit seriously. I think the vision has always been to let as many people as possible know they aren’t alone, and that other people feel like they do. I want to heal people with our music as cliche as that sounds.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?  

No not really, the only real change was the amount of people we wanted to reach. Before music was just my journal and a tool of self-expression, I didn’t care if there were ten people in the audience or a hundred. However, now I want to do it big, play festivals, etc. and in that way, we can help the most amount of people possible.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?  

Slipknot, Linkin Park, Lil Peep, Lil Tracy, BONES, and Juice WRLD. I’ve always been different and a bit of an outcast so the whole Nu-Metal genre really appealed to me when I was young. I went through a lot of bullshit after high school and fell into a hole of depression and I felt the only people who truly understood me were the artists from the sad boy Soundcloud wave.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.  

Not crazy per se but once after one of our most heavy songs, we followed it up by a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to The Moon”. Everyone was so confused but I like messing with the audience like that and keeping everyone on their toes.

That’s pretty cool! Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

We haven’t released it or even properly recorded the song, but it’s called “Headache” and it’s very close to my heart. I was very suicidal at the time and numbing out 24/7 and I suppose the song was a way for me to let out those emotions in a healthy way and to come to terms with all the shit hands life had dealt me at the time.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

I probably enjoy stock trading as much as I enjoy making music hahahahaha. Two completely different things but hey I get bored easily.

Closing things out, what is Sleeping Around currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

We’re currently working on a music video for an upcoming release and other than that we’re just trying to get as many singles polished and stream ready so that we can keep hitting our audience every month with new material. We do have a song with a pretty big underground artist based out in LA but we’re gonna have to keep that quiet for now 😉 

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Photo Credits: Sleeping Around, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype