motel void

SLEEP CLUB is the solo project of a singer-songwriter Matt Jones (The High Lines).

MOTEL VOID: ‘Music I write when I can’t sleep’ reads in your Spotify bio. So I suppose your first single ‘It’s Not So Bad All Alone’ was written at night. How do you deal with this ‘insomnia’ problem, does it still bother you? How does it feel to write music in such state?

SLEEP CLUB: Yeah I’ve sorta struggled with it on and off for most of my adult life. Ironically, I wrote “It’s Not So Bad All Alone” in a spree of days following a few particularly bad sleepless nights. Mostly at night when I can’t sleep I just walk around the neighborhood listening to music.

When I decided to start recording as SLEEP CLUB, I had gone basically 6 days without sleeping more than an hour or two per night. It feels pretty god awful to write or do anything after an episode like that. It’s hard to function in daily life and do mundane things like sending work emails while trying to sound normal.

Thankfully after the episode that created SLEEP CLUB I went to see a new doctor and they’ve got me on some solid new meds that have been helping to keep things under control. After like 3 days of not sleeping, I really start to feel a certain mania coming on, which is definitely something I’m not keen to re-visit.

MOTEL VOID: As I already mentioned, It’s Not So Bad All Alone is your debut single, will it be part of your debut album? Or will you release more ‘insomnia’ singles anytime soon?

SLEEP CLUB: I think for now I’m going to stick to the single route instead of an album focus. I’m not sure what my music will sound like as I develop it further, other than I know I want to keep the process fun. I’ve been recording solo music my whole life but never entirely confident in releasing anything because I never felt like I had found “my sound”. I think I’m honing in on it now which is rewarding.

I’m hopeful there’s no more songs driven by such insane insomnia / mania, but the silver lining of that experience was that it was sort of freeing to be able to make such a strange sounding first single start to finish and have it quickly find some niche success.I was always nervous to release music that reflected mental health problems, as I find that sort of thing can be hard for me to talk about, but so far making the first step to release this single has been super cathartic. I also saw it on the David Dean Burkhart youtube channel yesterday, which is insane because I find like all of my favorite music there and having a song up on that channel is a rad affirmation that maybe the music will resonate with some people.

The next single will be a bit heavier than “It’s Not So Bad All Alone”. Quite a bit more Deftones / The Neighbourhood influence in it, which is exciting. I don’t really know how to sing the way I want to, so figuring that out is going to be the key for refining the sound of this next song.

MOTEL VOID: You also play in a band called The High Lines. You only released 3 tracks in 3 years but they are pretty successful on streaming services, gaining around 100k streams on Spotify. You recently began recording your debut album, when is it due?

SLEEP CLUB: We’ve been grinding away at this first album, which will be a 5(ish) song EP for what seems like an eternity now. We’re closing in on the final steps now; it’s nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I still think we’re maybe 3 months out from release. We’ve got a new single pretty much ready to launch, but we’re debating whether it belongs on the EP as well, or as a true standalone single.

MOTEL VOID: I’ve read that the album should sound different than the singles you’ve already released. Will they be part of your album? How would you describe the sound of your band’s debut album?

SLEEP CLUB: None of the current High Lines singles will be a part of the EP, as they’re quite a bit different than the sound we’ve worked on for the new material. We’re really proud of the EP because I think it shows a lot more dynamic range than what we’ve already released. I’m not really great at describing the new songs, but when I sent the opening track to a friend she said that “at the beginning of the song I felt nervous, and then I felt like I was falling in love, and then by the end I felt like I had to drive off a cliff”. I think there’s a lot more progression and range of emotions in these songs, which is reflected both in the themes of each song, but also in the instrumentation. It’s going to be potentially a lot heavier and more shoegaze inspired than some might expect, but we’ve really woven in lots of pop elements to keep the songs easy to sing and remember, which is really what we love.

MOTEL VOID: Do you have enough time for both projects? What is your priority at the moment?

SLEEP CLUB: The High Lines is composed of my favorite people in the world; working with them while we have the time to do so is always going to be the priority. I’m not in college, but the rest of the band is, so we’ve got sort of a ticking time bomb until they all graduate and then real life takes over. That happens in about a year, but we’re jointly hopeful we can at least go another year after their graduations, which gives us maybe 2 more years of solid time to write and play shows. After that, SLEEP CLUB may become the priority for me, but truthfully I’m so spoiled by the level of musicianship the other members (Connor, Thomas, and Logan) of The High Lines bring that it’ll be very difficult for me to form a band with anyone else after.
As far as time commitments go, I work for myself as a photographer, so I’m grateful to be able to make time for both, but The High Lines will win out 100% if I get crunched for time.

MOTEL VOID: You’re based in Boulder, Colorado. How would you describe the current indie music scene to someone who has never been to Colorado? Do you have any favorite local venues and artists?

SLEEP CLUB: Boulder is sort of a weird spot to be a musician if you’re not in something like a Grateful Dead Tribute band or a folk band. There’s a ton of opportunities for bands like that out here, but if you’re anything else like us there’s really only house shows, and The Fox Theatre. But The Fox does a great job at giving local bands the opportunity to play a big stage, which is super fun. We had a High Lines headliner show there and it was such a rad experience. For me house shows are a ton of fun, but they also feel pretty strange because most people there are quite a bit younger than me. I’m also not particularly social, and close and packed crowds at houses can be quite anxiety inducing for me, so I typically play our set, and then dip. I’m trying to get better at socializing at the house shows though, because the people that come out are so supportive of the band and it feels sorta rude to keep playing and then pack up my guitars like right away.
I can’t really imagine playing SLEEP CLUB songs at a house show or at a big venue like the Fox, so for this project I think Denver would really be the closest market it would make sense to book shows in. My favorite venue in Boulder / Denver besides The Fox would be The Hi-Dive in Denver. It’s such a sick spot and the acoustics sound great. I have yet to play there, but it’s high on the list.

As far as artists in the Boulder area it’s tough to pick a favorite, but high up there would be Pool Sharks (such shreddy guitar playing), and On The Dot, who we’ve played with a bunch. On The Dot might be composed of some of the best players in Boulder, so I’m always a bit blown away by the stuff they’re writing.