The Sleeping

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The Sleeping was an American post-hardcore band from Long Island, New York, United States, formed in 2003. The band was founded by Cameron Keym, Sal Mignano, and Joe Zizzo from the remains of Skycamefalling. After auditioning twenty-two potential singers, they came across Doug Robinson, former singer/guitarist of the band Stillwelle.^[1] Their music has been featured in video games including Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for the Wii, Madden NFL 07, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock ("Don't Hold Back"), Guitar Hero: World Tour ("Bomb the World"), and FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage ("Listen Close"). They released their fourth studio album, The Big Deep, on September 28, 2010.

Biography[]

The Sleeping started touring before they released a full-length record. They toured on a three-song demo that was hand-printed and self-recorded. The demo sold over 1000 copies. The band booked their first tour themselves. In 2004, The Sleeping was signed to One Day Savior Recordings, a small independent record company, and released Believe What We Tell You and started touring full-time.

In 2004 and 2005, they toured with Taking Back Sunday, Bayside, Brandston, Action Action and many more.^[2] In 2006 they were featured on the Nintendo Fusion Tour along with Plain White T's, Relient K, Emery, and Hawthorne Heights. They also toured the UK on the Victory Records Tour with The Audition, Bayside and Aiden. They toured mainland Europe and the UK on the Give It A Name fest with Gallows, Jimmy Eat World and Sparta. They toured in January 2007 with Senses Fail among others. They were also nominated for 2007's MTV Mountain Dew Circuit Breakout, and finished in the Top 12.

On August 6, 2008, the band announced that after six months of auditioning for a new pianist/guitarist to replace Cameron Keym, they had recruited Paul Cadena and Christopher Evans.

The band proceeded to tour across the East Coast and Midwest U.S. with Envy on the Coast, Secret Lives of the Freemasons, and also a few concerts with The Gay Blades, finishing in late August. On October 15, they played at Eisenhower Park with Crosby, Stills & Nash along with Ryan Star, Francis Dunnery, Barefoot Truth, Jaik Miller Band, Katy Pfaffl, Melissa Reyes, Life, Arlon Bennett, and others in support of Barack Obama.

On November 7, 2008, the band announced that they were finally recording their new record on their MySpace. On November 14, they also announced that they had posted their first studio update while recording their new album at Salad Days Studio in Baltimore. They toured with Funeral for a Friend, Emarosa and This Is Hell for a U.S. tour from January to February. On January 6, 2009, the tracklist for What It Takes was added to their MySpace page. On February 17, 2009, What It Takes was released and peaked at No. 20 on the Top Heatseekers chart, garnering positive reviews. In April, the band played shows in Ontario with Bring Me the Horizon.

They also announced tour dates with Silverstein, Poison the Well, Oceana, Hollywood Undead, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Escape the Fate, Atreyu, Mest, and Madina Lake. They have also played at the Quebec City Summer Festival with Sting, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hollywood Undead, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. In 2009-2010 Sal Mignano was part owner of Broadway, a small music venue and bar in Amityville, New York. He left over disagreements with his partner over how to treat the bands. September 13–16, 2009, they played four sold-out shows in a row at Broadway in Amityville, New York. They made a video, Directed by "The Chain Gang" (Erick Sasso and Brian Wendelken), for the song "You'll Be A Corpse Before Your Time" with the footage. Bass player Sal Mignano has toured with 'hippy-hop' artist Mod Sun. Drummer Joe Zizzo has performed live with Envy on the Coast.^[3] On Sept 9th 2010 they played a secret show with Glassjaw at Vibe Lounge, a small venue on Long Island.

On January 2, it was announced that Douglas Robinson had joined forces with Fullterton-based band Archives to form a new project called "The Night."

On January 5, 2012, The Sleeping officially announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus."

On January 24, the group Archives announced that it had changed its name to "Night Verses."

According to a status update posted on January 27, Portland, Oregon producer Kris Crummett noted that he had been working with Night Verses on several tracks.^[4]

On September 22, 2016, the band announced that the original lineup would be reuniting for a final show later that year to thank their long-time fans. The show is scheduled for December 23 at The Paramount, with Reggie and the Full Effect, Folly, and Lux Courageous as the supporting acts.

Doug spoke about the potential of future shows by saying, "We aren't here planning The Sleeping's future. We are simply in the moment, and the moment is telling us to just play the hell out of this one show."^[5]

On December 23, 2016, The Sleeping played a reunion show at The Paramount in Huntington, New York. The performance included the original lineup, as well as Paul Cardenas and Chris Evans. After the performance, Doug announced on stage that they would be playing a first-come, first-served show at Amity Music Hall on December 26 in Amityville, New York. With just the original lineup, the Sleeping played their final show to an intimate crowd on December 26, 2016, at the Amityville Music Hall bar in Amityville, which bassist Sal Mignano owns.

Band members[]

Current[]

• Salvatore Mignano – bass (2003–2012)
• Joseph Zizzo – drums (2003–2012)
• Douglas Robinson – vocals (2003–2012)
• Paul Cadena – guitar (2008–2012)
• Christopher Evans – keyboard/theremin (2008–2012)

Former[]

• Cameron Keym – guitar, keyboard (2003–2008)

Discography[]

• Believe What We Tell You (2004, re-issue in 2007)
• Questions and Answers (2006)
• Connect Sets: The Sleeping – EP (2007)
• What It Takes (2009) ^[6]
• The Big Deep (2010) ^[7]

Videography[]

• Believe What We Tell You
• Loud and Clear
• Don't Hold Back
• Bomb the World
• You'll Be A Corpse Before Your Time
• Young Vibes... Don't Run Away From Me

References[]