Spotlight on the band of the month: WAKING THE SLEEPING BEAR

We're back with a new interview, this time presenting the French metal band, Waking the Sleeping Bear! On the occasion of the release of their new album, Adrien, the band's singer, took the time to answer a few questions for us. Discover the full interview below!

Hello, Waking the Sleeping Bear! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can you quickly introduce your band to our readers?
Hi there! Thank you very much for this interview proposal, we're really happy about it! To keep it short, we're a metal band from Franche-Comté. We practice a hybrid style between 90s neo-metal, rap, industrial, and many other things, all mixed in our own way, and sung in French. Since we don't really know what to call it, let's just say we do fusion metal, it's probably the most appropriate term!

How do you manage your band in such a particular context?
I think the most important thing is to be able to adapt constantly, and to always have a plan B or even a plan C for each project, because possibilities can disappear overnight. You need to be able to bounce back, be resourceful, and do things on your own. And if you don't know how to do them, take advantage of this global pause to learn, or to get closer to other actors in the scene who might be able to help us. In general, I think the worst attitude would be to put your project on hold and wait for things to happen. It's better to do the opposite, as if covid had always been there and move forward! As far as we're concerned, with WTSB, I'd even say that the period has been beneficial for us, we found ourselves in the right place at the right time for certain opportunities and we took advantage of the absence of concerts to develop a bit on the internet. What we couldn't do in grand style, we did "home made" and it worked! I think that's the mindset of most bands right now and in the end, it's beneficial for the audience, because it generates a lot of content. And this "handmade" aspect gives it a really sincere and authentic feel, I think.

You unveiled your video for "P*rno Future". How did the shooting go?
Well, as I was telling you earlier: homemade! We borrowed a green screen, two lights, we set up in a basement, and go! In one day it was in the can! After that, of course, there was a lot of post-production work to make it all visually interesting - that was the most tiring part of the job - but the advantage is that we managed to make a video with almost nothing, without compromising our message, and we're rather proud of that! In retrospect, I almost see it as adding value to the content, because the artisanal and local aspect is always something we've more or less claimed, as a group of good pure-bred country boys, we're kind of obliged, you understand!

This track is from your new album, released at the end of May 2021. How long did you work on it?
Officially, it's a project that took us a little less than three years, if we start counting from the release of our first EP "Jungle Urbaine" (in October 2018). However, in reality, the work on some tracks began much longer ago. We're quite stubborn, and when we believe in the potential of a track, or a riff, we rework it until we're fully satisfied. For example, in the album, the track "Des heures" is the final version of a song that we've remodeled at least 10 times and that we've been carrying around for at least 7 or 8 years! Same for the break in "P*rno Future". That riff had been in the works for many years, at least 5 or 6! So it's hard to estimate the real birth of this project, but we can say that we've been working on its final artistic direction for about 2 and a half years, roughly.

How does your writing process usually unfold?
This is a question that comes up often, and one that we have a bit of trouble answering, because it's a stage during which we experiment a lot. None of the tracks on the album were composed in the same way, in fact. In principle for the instrumentals, one of us comes to rehearsal with an idea in mind or already written (it can be a melodic line, a loop of samples, etc.), and then we improvise around this idea, validating things as we go, let's say. But it remains very variable: some tracks on the album were composed by a single musician, for example. The timelines are variable too: some tracks (as mentioned above) took several years to reach their final version, and others were completed in a few hours... We try to vary the composition experience as much as possible because we find the result is more interesting when we step out of our comfort zone. The only constant is that I always wait to have a well-developed instrumental before I start writing my lyrics, it helps me structure my writing. But again, it's a habit that's just waiting to be shaken up, and I'm curious to see what would happen if we reversed this process!

Can we talk about your album artwork? What does it represent?
This artwork was a long process because we wanted it to convey many things, and it wasn't easy to synthesize all our ideas while keeping an impactful and aesthetic visual. Conceptually, it's an artwork that represents both our highly contrasted music and the album's theme. It's a rather dystopian metaphor of the future, with this tentacular city to which I wanted to give the appearance of a monster - hence the "door" at the center of the image, which can evoke either a threatening presence or a mouth. It's contrasted with, on one hand, the desert landscape around it, and on the other hand, the baby and its teddy bear in the foreground, who are alone on the only road leading to this city. One can then imagine that the city represents the future, and the road, a sort of inevitable "destiny". And the baby is us, humans on an individual scale, becoming aware of the danger without being able to do anything about it. There are many possible subtexts and interpretations in any case! I wanted the cover to evoke a kind of fear, a danger, but without ever showing it to leave room for people's imagination.

Let's talk about merch. You turned to us for the design of your new t-shirts and hoodies. Can you talk about your experience with Distrolution Merch?
It's very likely one of the best experiences we've had in designing our album merch! For our textiles, we were looking for a bit of a "needle in a haystack" because our budget was very limited, but we still wanted to work with a French company that was human-sized (our little local chauvinism coming out!) and with which we could communicate without delays about manufacturing, technical details, shipping, etc. In short, we searched for a long time comparing various offers where either the price or the advice was lacking, and in the end, with Distrolution Merch, everything was very simple: super quick contact via the site's chat, clear answers, low and precise prices... We almost found it suspicious haha! In the end, we're really delighted with the result of our hoodies and t-shirts, and we won't hesitate for a second to work with Distrolution Merch again because after comparison, the service is quite impeccable in all aspects (price, quality, and contact).

In general, is there a merch item that you attach particular importance to? If so, which one?
Personally, I love band t-shirts because I've noticed that it's often a medium on which artists let loose a lot. The possibilities are endless and as a graphic designer myself, I always have dozens of ideas for visuals that would be improbable anywhere else, but that we could totally embrace on a t-shirt! It makes me laugh! As a musician, the ultimate fantasy is clearly vinyl, but for now with WTSB, we don't yet have the means to press a series... In any case, we're eagerly awaiting the day when we can finally release one because it's really amazing to have such a beautiful object in your hands, and with your music on it to boot!

The final word is yours!
We'd like to give a huge shout-out to all the people who have followed and supported us during the creation of our album! Huge thanks to Distrolution Merch for their work, and for this great interview as well. And big up to all the people who will read it, of course!

band photo: Corentin VACHER