Sleeper Agent – Project Greenroom

Sleeper Agent
Project Greenroom Interview w/ Alex & Tony

You guys have been out on the road supporting your debut album, Celabrasion, with Circa Survive. How has this tour been going?
Alex: Playing the new album has been really great. Lots of kids know it now, so we are seeing a lot of them sing along.
Tony: We definitely had to work hard for their crowd though. It’s Circa’s crowd. We are all joined in the fact that we play rock music, just different kinds of rock music. I think a lot of these kids do not know what to do with us.
Alex: But I think we’re winning them over, as we’ve learned.
Tony: The guys are great, it’s probably one of the better tour experiences we have had so far.
Alex: We have so much fun with them; they’re such great guys. To me a successful tour is—yeah, you base it off how you perform—but it’s also the friends and connections you make. We’re touring with bands that have been doing this for years. It’s a welcome experience.

Earlier this year you guys went out with your friends Cage The Elephant. What did you learn from them on your very first tour?
Alex: Any time we tour with Cage The Elephant, it’s awesome. They are like family—not like, ARE family.
Tony: It was kind of unfair because they were holding our hands for our first touring experience. Then we got on with other bands and it was like, “Oh, it’s totally different.” We learned a lot though. They had their team members telling us what we did wrong after every show.
Alex: You learn the ropes and start to pick it up as you go. It’s not anything too big, just little things like ethics.
Tony: Like finessing your craft. Our first show with them we were so nervous. But now it’s just like breathe in.
Alex: I think we have become so much tighter in how we play, because that’s what you do when you tour; you get better as a band.

Your fanbase seems to be getting larger by the minute.
Alex: A fanbase is something that no one can take away from you. As long as you are working towards building that, they will always be there.
Tony: It all depends on your live shows, and your online presence. If you have both of those going nonstop, then you are sure to win over somebody.

How important is social networking to you guys?
Alex: I know a lot of our fans by name just by doing that. That’s how we got one of our t-shirts designed. One of our fans sent us a shirt design, and we just talked to her online, and ended up making the shirts.
Tony: I think it makes them stick along longer, too, because there is an open dialogue between the artist and the fans.
Alex: It’s like a sense of ownership over the things you like. Not that they own us (laughs) but it’s like a friendship label. But yeah, it’s been really great; our fans are really awesome.

On Celabrasion, you worked with Jay Joyce. What did he bring to the table?
Tony: He took it to another level.
Alex: He’s just become a good friend of ours. I miss him all the time; we don’t see him often.
Tony: He made it heavier, faster; he got that energy that we needed.
Alex: He knows how to be blunt with us, like, “Ah, this isn’t working!”
Tony: We look up to him, so any criticism is listened to.
Alex: Yeah, we don’t take offense to it.

Did recording in Nashville inspire you guys at all?
Alex: Eh, we live like an hour from it, so we’re always there.
Tony: We have just as many friends and family in Nashville, as we do in our hometown.
Alex: Yeah, we are probably moving there as soon as things fall into place.

Does having a female and male perspective allow your lyrics to reach a wider audience?
Alex: I think it’s all about interpretation. Some people might, and that’s why they might be into us, but it’s still about just writing catchy, good songs; whether it’s one person singing it or two.
Tony: I never wanted to be a frontman (laughs). It’s also good for us because we have a backup.
Alex: Like if I start coughing or gagging in the middle of a song, Alex can just keep singing.
Tony: It’s like having an accountabili-buddy.

Sleeper Agent is part of Mom & Pop Records, which has an incredible roster. How does it feel to be part of their label?
Alex: It puts a lot of pressure on you at times when you’re with a label like Mom & Pop, because you get all the attention. Sometimes it may feel intrusive, but you know they are just trying to get the best out of you.
Tony: We have a lot to live up to.
Alex: It’s definitely a challenge, they raise the bar and give you a lot of means to be successful, though, and to them it’s not just about record sales. It’s about how can we get this out, and in what different ways can we introduce you to a new audience. They’re wonderful; they take it upon themselves to just help our career.

Celabrasion was recorded over a year ago. Does that mean you guys have some new songs brewing?
Tony: Yeah, I’ve got a lot. The only thing that is not finished is lyrics, because I was thinking I’d just wait and see how I feel. We have a rig set up so we can document everything. That way when we go out for six or seven weeks, we don’t forget it.
Alex: When we get back from a long tour, there’s like a week of just relaxing. After that everyone starts to get hungry, and we start working again.

Do you think all this touring will have an effect on the lyrics?
Alex: We’ll see. A lot of bands do that. The first album is about wanting success, the second album is about what it’s like to have it, and the third album is about how you hate it. The fourth album is usually like three long years of a breakup, and it’s just about lies of how you’re young and fun again (laughs). Plus, the fourth album you record it in separate studios.

The “Get It Daddy” music video has you guys beating up piñatas. Any childhood memories of a piñata you had?
Tony: Unfortunately, these were not filled with candy, just shredded paper.
Alex: I remember my sister’s party it took them a half-hour to figure out how to break the piñata!
Tony: My friend was always joking about wanting a pig piñata, so we spent a whole evening making one. We all got disoriented from the spray adhesive, but we got it done, and she liked it.

What would be your ideal piñata stuffer?
Alex: We wanted to put raw meat in the piñatas for the “Get It Daddy” video, but that would have been a little creepy (laughs).
Tony: Money and those little airplane bottles of liquor.
Alex: Put checks for my rent in it.