We were so excited to hear that Sleeping Jesus is coming out with a new album soon and if the latest release, Ferdy, is a good representation, we can’t wait for the rest. And we’re pleased to share a sneak peek of the video!
Please tell us the origin story for Sleeping Jesus. How did you start playing together?
It started off as Nick’s project in college. He released the tunes and started putting together a band. Tyler was an initial member when things started in 2016. Andy started in as a substitute and eventually fell in. We had managed to get Seamus for a tour and it was the right fit for us. Dante was our last member who joined in 2019 as we were on a run to Austin. We’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful members over the years. But this lineup is really Sleeping Jesus now.
I love the lines in the new single Ferdy, especially a line about “lipstick over cherry flavored ChapStick,” in part because I have certainly lived that line. You just hit on so many very specific accurate and astute observations. How did you find a way to build a whole song around them?
I wanted the lyrics in the song to be extremely visual, youthful, and filled with hope. I tried to take elements from classic American tropes and work that into the song. Young love and moving out to LA really stuck with me as I was writing. The song is about running from yourself to try to find yourself.
Tell us about the video. It’s like an old school storytelling video with villains and heroes, a plot, a lot of American icons and a few product placements. It’s very funny.
We knew we wanted to make a video that had a plot to it and we knew we wanted to have a bunch of our friends involved. We brought in a cast of characters of cheeky ideas of what American culture is like from an outside perspective. We were super fortunate to have our buddy Harrison Mccormick with us and he really executed the idea that we had for the video. We wanted to really make something that we thought was fun and entertaining for us. It is always a bit of an adventure when you have to find someone who will let you and your friends hangout with their horses. We wanted to sell out to become shallow shells of ourselves dressed as cowboys.
You have been traveling a lot since your debut album Leave the Party in 2022; the follow up Hollywood Smile is coming out in November, how has the travel and touring had an impact on the new music?
We got to test drive a lot of the songs on the road before we went to record. The touring and shows molded the songs. We knew we wanted to make something that reflected the sound from a live show. We wanted to have that in mind and we wanted to explore that idea. It is definitely a different record than we have made before and that is exciting for us.
Will more singles be coming out before the album release? Do you have any shows planned?
We will have a double single in October and then we have a few release shows planned. We have a single release show on October 6th at the Icehouse in Minneapolis. Album release shows are going to be in December in Minneapolis and in Winona.
Mostly Minnesota 