Sleep Out
The Ruins Aren't Ruined, Just Battered
Nov 28, 2009
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney
Sound engineering by Mike Gentry
-
Welcome to Daytrotter
-
Our Way Down
unreleased
The origin of this song starts way back in 1998 when I was still just demoing songs in my bedroom and saving them for future use. Sleep Out wouldn't even start until roughly seven years later. The original lyrics described an experience I had with my brother in which we'd become stranded in Bologna, Italy while traveling through Europe. We needed to get back to our friend's house in Rosenheim, Germany. All of the trains leaving Bologna were full and we had nowhere to stay. We jumped on the last train, which left just before midnight, and joined some other stowaways in the luggage car. We were dressed in t-shirts and shorts having just been in Italy where it was extremely warm. The luggage car was not insulated which we discovered as we were making our way through the alps in the dead of night, shivering and clamoring to find warmer clothing in our bags. We arrived in Rosenheim early in the morning just as the local bakeries and a few local cafes were opening. I was freezing and decided to order a coffee to keep myself warm. I must have ordered something much stronger (in my mediocre German), as I would later find out. When we finally reached our friend's house, we waited outside until a reasonable hour (it was still freezing and we're polite, albeit foolish guys) to wake her up. My brother and I immediately crashed in the guest bedroom and 20 minutes after falling asleep, I woke up with my heart racing and my head spinning. I had not eaten anything for a day or so and was having a caffeine-induced meltdown. I eventually calmed myself by listening to Galaxie 500's "On Fire" over-and-over (on my Discman, this was 1998, remember). Having not experienced anything like this in my life, I also was convinced I was dying. We went to a beerfest the next day, I discovered drinking (at the ripe old age of 19) and my problems were basically solved. The song has a slightly different meaning now, but the base inspiration is still our European misadventure.
-
Leelanau
unreleased
A song inspired by one of my favorite places in northern Michigan. My wife and I like to take our dog camping in northwestern Michigan every summer. Lake Michigan is really clean and beautiful up there and the dunes and beaches are amazing. At night you can see all the stars that are normally hidden by the lights we're surrounded by in our hometown of Chicago. This will be on our third album which I think will be called "Black Cat Found". We recorded a version of this in June of 2009 with our friend Dylan Magierek out in Portland, OR. The Daytrotter version of this may be a bit different from the final recording, but we were excited to try it out at the Horseshack. I think this is the first Sleep Out song that doesn't have words in the chorus. I was trying to keep from getting sick in the days leading up to our session, but I knew it was coming. After we wrapped the session and drove back to Chicago, I felt really awful. The next day I had a full-blown ear infection. The first of my life and I was just about to turn 30. I like that my immune system really bucked up in honor of Daytrotter and let me get through the session before it threw in the towel.
-
I'll Take Care of It
original version appears on Not Even Dust
We "played" this song on Chic-a-go-go and there's a nice clip of the performance on YouTube. The show features costumed people and kids dancing while the band lip-syncs to their track. I had just come back from playing a weekend of shows with another band and had to rush to get to the studio to film this. I think I was pretty hung over at the time...Ben might've been too. The video cracks me up because it reminds me of a great Buzzcocks clip from a kid's TV show called "Fun Factory" in 1980. I've always loved pop music and the strange places it can take you. The first band I ever played in, Kleenex Girl Wonder, was a prime example of that and makes me want to keep playing until I'm 90. This is another example of how a 4-track demo can get turned into a rock song once the band starts working with it.
-
Not Even Dust
original version appears on Not Even Dust
This was a cornerstone piece and the title track of our second album. The original demo recording sounds a lot different than the full band version, but then that's pretty typical for us. When I wrote the lyrics and original melody for this song I was thinking about some important people in my life who aren't around anymore. This song is about putting distance and perspective between yourself and the loss of a loved one. At first it's all consuming, but over time things get better and hopefully you're left with warm memories. Kind of a downer, right? haha. It's supposed to be an optimistic view, so hopefully that translates. My guitar part in the bridge was supposed to sound a bit like a Stone Roses guitar part, but I think that it mutated into something else over time. The chorus has a really bizarre chord progression too but I think it works.
The story that Sleep Out lead singer Quinn Goodwillie gives in accompaniment for the contents of the song "Our Way Down," should have really yielded three or four songs, an EP even. It's an true life, epic, worst case scenario of Goodwillie and his brother as they traveled abroad in Europe over 10 years ago. They hopped on the last train back to their friend's home in Rosenheim, Germany, joining some stowaways in the luggage car, which wasn't the least bit insulated and that became important as the train traveled through the Alps during the overnight hours and the t-shirts and shorts that the two Americans were wearing weren't cutting it. They froze like meat hanging in a butcher's locker before finally getting to their destination and having to wait longer to get warm because of the ungodly hour and a gentleman's code not to disturb their friend as she slept. They finally got in when the morning got there and they promptly tried to sleep, but Goodwillie awoke shortly thereafter with a racing heartbeat and a fear that it was going to burst on his inside, sending him to an early grave. He finally got to sleep and the next day he started drinking. It's a recollection that should bear multiple pieces of music and page after page of lyric. It could be the plot for an Irvine Welch novel or some kind of depressing, though hijinks ensuing Wes Anderson movie - the sequel to "The Darjeeling Limited." But it's not drug-addled or demented, it's more the touching story of getting stuck in a spot and facing some adversity before all works out, sleep is caught, a good meal is eaten, the tale is recounted as high entertainment, some glasses are clinked together in brotherhood and friendship and a legend is born. Or one single song comes from it - a song that shines as a brush of glamorous, Midwestern indie rock, bred from the kinds of proud influences such as those coming from listening to Smoking Popes records while still downing enough moping, moody British rock and roll from the Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen vein to add even more spice and character to the proceedings. Goodwillie sings so melodically and warmly, getting going like the flight of kite or the falling of the mercury in a thermometer, just letting the words sweetly swim through the currents, bumping and riding as they can, making a dreamy blend of a sky full of stars and a frightening walk through the dark. There are folks getting let down and there are characters trying hard not to have that happen. The songs on "Not Even Dust," the band's latest, are songs of hopeful redemption, of people shaking their heads manically like wet dogs, trying to get their eyes to adjust and see things clearly. There always seems to be a residue that won't let things just be cool, as if the glasses can't just simply and easily be clinked in friendship and camaraderie. Some miss the train, freeze almost to death and stay lost, but the stammering tongues and the reasons for the disasters seem to come into the light in time - when the burns diminish and the swelling subsides.
Sleep Out Official Site
Badman Recording Co.
