Interview with Sleep House
Sleep House photographed by Cami Liberty @camiliberty
Sleep House consists of Nick Gardyasz (lead vocals), Adam Mink (lead guitarist), and brothers Evan (bass) and Nick Marcinko (drums). Forming in 2016, the band has almost a decade's worth of experience, starting during their teen years and leading into their adult lives. Sleep House is one of the greatest bands to come out of the local South Jersey/Philadelphia music scene, as they are constantly looking for new ways to add to their music and improve upon what they have already accomplished. Whether it be auxiliary percussion, keys, or an electronic element, Sleep House is innovative and always progressing in their sound. I had the fortune of sitting down with the band to discuss their music, upbringing, and what the future looks like for Sleep House in 2025.
This interview took place on December 27, 2024
So obviously I'm here with Sleep House right now. So, if you all want to introduce yourselves and the instruments you play.
[Nick M] Hey, I'm Nick. I play the drums for Sleep House.
[Nick G] I'm Nick. I sing in Sleep House.
[Adam] I'm Adam. I'm guitar in Sleep House.
[Evan] I'm Evan. I play the bass.
Okay, so obviously you guys formed in 2016. You had your first release in 2018. Could you guys give me some more background on exactly when and where the band started and how you guys met?
[Nick M] Yeah, so we started, it was our freshman year of high school for the three of us (Nick M, Nick G, and Adam). I moved to Medford, New Jersey and I went to the same high school that Adam was at. First week of classes, I had a study hall and one of my friends introduced me to Adam and this little group we had. Couple weeks kind of went by like just like chit chatting, like, you know, nothing crazy. Eventually he found out that I was the, I played the drums, and he told me he played guitar. He wanted to start a band, and he was writing songs and everything. I was super stoked on that, and that's how we linked. Adam knew G Money because they went to middle school together and they had a band for a couple years, so they already had that connection. And then when it came time for rehearsal, the one dude who was supposed to come in and play bass for us didn't show up, so I went up and I asked Evan if he could shred a couple of songs and learn some songs for us. He was only like 12.
[Adam] He barely knew how to talk. The little guy.
[Nick M] Yeah, he couldn't talk for months. It was a problem.
[Adam] We were teaching him how to speak. No, louder, louder.
[Evan] That’s crazy. That’s crazy.
[Nick M] Yeah, once the four of us got down in my basement to rehearse it, it just all clicked like immediately. Just felt, I don't know, just felt like, yeah, this is it. So here we are.
Starting in 2016, you had those few years together, but did COVID and shutdown kind of impact you guys pretty badly as a band?
[Nick G] Around that time we were writing a lot of songs for, that was our EP High Tide, and COVID hit like exactly when we were like turning 21, and exactly when we could play at all these great Philly venues, and we just couldn't because of COVID. So, we just had to bunker in the studio and work on the songs. Which was great because we're very proud of High Tide and like [“Skydiving in Dubai”] and all that, but unfortunately, we couldn't play those songs until COVID came to an end, like, well, it's not over.
[Nick M] It never ends.
[Nick G] Never mind. Well, when stuff finally got back to normal, it felt great to play shows again. So, yeah, so that's basically it.
So, were you all interested in pursuing music from a young age or was it something that found you later in life?
[Nick M] I'd say like for all of us, we were always kind of infatuated with music to some extent. Whether it be like a certain artist or song, or a show, or like what our parents would listen to. Evan and I's dad, he was a musician, and he played in a lot of bands. So, like I remember being a kid crawling out of bed middle of the night to go hear rehearsal because I just wanted to be around it. I thought it was so dope. I don't know, like I never had to think about what I wanted to do in life. I just knew since I was a kid, like this is, this is awesome. This is the coolest thing. I just knew I was going to be involved in it somehow, some way. And yeah, like I'd say the same for these guys, knowing a bit about their backgrounds. We're kind of always surrounded by it.
[Adam] We always wanted to play.
[Nick G] Yeah, we all grew up with The Beatles, playing “Beatles Rock Band.” That’s where it started. That’s the roots.
What was the first song that you guys wrote together as a band?
[Adam] “Talk.”
[Nick G] We wrote a song called “Talk” and I think we started writing it first rehearsal. We just like-
[Adam] We had it before.
[Nick G] Yeah, this guy was writing songs even before.
[Nick M] He was cooking it up.
[Adam] I was saving that one. I was saving that chord progression. I was like, “When I get the four three other guys together,” and it never came out.
What did it, like what was the inspiration? What did it sound like?
[Nick G] The inspiration was definitely like Coin. We were definitely into Coin and Catfish and The Bottlemen. Those were our main inspirations going into the band, so it definitely sounded like that for sure.
[Adam] We had a very linear look at writing a song where it was just like, “Oh, I like this song. I want this song.” So, we were just like, trying to find the best way to like recreate that song into our version and it didn't work out. It was a good start.
[Nick G] We figured it out.
[Nick M] Yeah.
Why does music matter enough for you guys to continue pursuing it in this specific form?
[Nick M] Music kind of has that ability to where you listen to a song, and you think about the specific time years ago when you were just walking on the beach or it was just playing in the background, but now it's ingrained in you, and you have great memories from it. I don’t know. Music is like the great connector in a lot of ways. People who play music. People who don’t play music. Maybe they don’t play, but they just listen to music. You can get involved in it in so many different ways. You know like wanting to make music that kind of captures that feeling, and you know could be that [feeling] for us or for other people. It's brought us four together. Honestly, we just have a great time making music together, and we really care about what we make. I don't know, we're always trying to push ourselves, and it keeps us coming back. Whether we're in the studio or playing shows, it's just what makes us happy.
[Adam] I think, yeah, the power of song like what you were saying is a big thing with that. A lot of the bands that we like together, like The Beatles, a lot of their songs are very generational. A lot of the music we like has been around for 20 years or so. We like music that kind of likes to linger. So, I think something about just like the power, like you were saying, reminding you of a different time, or even inspiring somebody to do like kind of what we wanted to do when we were young and write a song like that, I think is a big motivator to, you know, why we want to keep doing it. And because we still feel that way about songs that we hear.
Is music a part of any of your day jobs or is it just something that you guys do on the side?
[Nick M] I started working at a music store recently. I don't know, never thought I would end up in one, but it's been great because it tests my knowledge of what I know as far as like, “How do you tune a drum kit?” And like I'm showing people how to do it, so it's like, I'm getting kind of the reps in and using a lot of the things that I've learned after playing for all these years. Being around all these instructors from different walks of life, different parts of the country. Some people played in big band orchestra stuff in Germany, some people were on the road for 30 years and hearing their stories and some of the hardships and also the good times that they had, it excites me because they're giving me a little piece of the pie for the future. They’re kind of giving me a light to follow as far as where do I want to go with music?
[Adam] I think we also just kind of, we've kind of always loved doing the band and like even with school, it's always been kind of our passion besides what else we're doing in life. So, I've always thought that, you know, we kind of use it as our way to kind of let out whatever we're all going through, whether it's what we're working with our real job, or whatever we're doing, we kind of use it as our outlet. We want to work in music, and we wouldn't ever think that it would be work. We'd just be getting paid to have fun and do what we've been doing. I think it's a good motivator to kind of just have our own lives and then we kind of come together and it kind of pushes us to let out whatever we're feeling.
[Nick G] But the goal is to play shows for a living.
[Nick M] 100%.
[Nick G] Because that's the best part of it, I feel like, because writing songs and being in the studio is great and that's what makes the shows, but the end result for me is almost like the shows [themself]. That's how everyone gets into music. Going as a kid to your first show, whether it be like, for me it was Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Wells Fargo Center, shout out. Being able to play shows for a bunch of people and connecting a bunch of different people, like that's the goal.
So, getting into the actual music that you guys make, I'm interested to know what genre you guys would consider yourself as.
[Evan] I feel like it's alternative-indie-pop-rock. Somewhere in there.
[Adam] We're inspired by so many artists nowadays where there is no genre. I mean, there's artists that we like, like The Strokes where it's like, you know what you're getting, but then like, you know, shout out Mk.Gee, of course, like artists, like new artists coming out and new music we're inspired by. I think we kind of like when it doesn't really fit, like when you can't really explain what you're hearing. You're just like, “I just like what- I like that vibe.” kind of. Yeah. It's like, I don't know.
[Nick M] When we're making music, we're not focused on a genre. We're just solely focused on the song itself. It would probably be like indie-rock, indie-pop, but then you got like some cuts that are a little bit slower than others. Some that are a little bit more like funkier than others. If we had like a, like a fucking like- Oh sorry. I didn't mean to curse.
[Nick G] Woah.
[Adam] Hold up.
I'm canceling the interview.
[Nick M] If we had a song that had like 808s and G-Money rapping, but we really liked it, then we might do it.
[Adam] Yeah, and I think going off what you were saying with like us wanting to have like, you know, we want to play. I think we think about that a lot when we're writing where we're like, “Well, we need slower. We need like more chill songs. We need higher energy songs.” And we're inspired by all that different music, so we're always kind of thinking about the live show too. I feel like even when we're writing or making like an EP.
You guys have a very chill sound that manages to be interesting at the same time. I was wondering though, do one of you play the keys at all? Because I feel like I've heard it in some of your recordings.
[Nick M] I don’t know it kind of varies, but he’s the, yeah.
[Adam] I do play keys. We actually have a jazz song jazz version of one of our songs where it's like instrumental on YouTube. I'm on keys like you're (pointing to Nick G) on like a jazz guitar. So yeah, we all dabble. We all kind of play whatever we’re playing. I think you're like (points to Evan) aren't you playing like a shaker? Somebody's playing a shaker.
[Nick G] Yeah, we actually had like a piano feature from one of our friends in high school.
[Nick M] Yeah, shout out Joe. Joe Weiss.
[Adam] And he was shredder.
[Nick G] Yeah, and so you can hear like before the last chorus specifically, he was like ripping and it was awesome to have him in the studio.
No, that's actually funny you guys say that because I was going to say in “This Time.” So, you're saying a shaker. Was I wrong? I thought I heard a tambourine in there too.
[Nick M] There was a was a tambourine in there. I do love that tambourine track. Yeah, I can't get enough of it that last chorus.
How important is adding external instruments, whether they be acoustic or digital to your music. And when I say external, I mean, like excluding guitar, bass and like the drum set, obviously.
[Nick G] Our favorite thing to do, I'd say, is taking the song and rather than making like a four-track rock song where it's just us four, we like to elevate and try to show some production that we get from our inspirations like Frank Ocean or Mk.Gee or anything like cool production out there. We love to try to put that in our songs, so we try to do that a little bit at least.
[Adam] I think that's what's cool about our process is we're very separated in the way that we write songs. Where it is very song focused at first, it's about the song and we're jamming it, and then we get sick of it because we've been playing it live and jamming it at its core so much. Then we get excited to do the production side, it's kind of nice having that separated because we know the song is there. So now we're like, “All right, now we can just go crazy.” Yeah. Go crazy. Sometimes too crazy.
[Nick M] Sometimes you got to strip it back.
[Adam] Sometimes we got to go back, yeah.
So obviously your last EP, Forever Joy, I think that's a really great example of your guys' sound as a band. I think I might have read, you guys started that in like 2021 and then it sort of made its way through different parts of your lives. Can you tell me more about that process of making the EP?
[Nick M] Yeah, it was, I'd say for us, it definitely took longer than expected. But I don't think it was any of our own faults. There was just so many, like we were all like, we just graduated high school, like adjusting to adult life, college life. I don't know, lots of like hardship moments in our personal lives really shaped that record in a lot of ways. I don't know. If we could do it over again I don't think we would have wanted it to take that long, but for some for some odd reason it had to happen that way. And I'm happy. I'm happy looking back that it did, because I feel like it really did put kind of like a last chapter on those first like, you know, like our teenage years as a band. I think we learned a lot from that record production wise and just you know, kind of watching our sound mature. Like I said, it was the last chapter for that half. Starting with “yolo” and like what the future has to come I think is like the next, I don't know, it's like the next wave for us as a band. So, yeah. It sounds like the closing chapter of a movie or something. Yeah, definitely like going on.
[Nick G] It felt like the ending chapters, and it really taught us, like from now on basically we're really motivated to really write a bunch of songs and really try to make it quick. And I mean, every song is different because you can't control it obviously because some songs can get out of control, you never know. But that's really our goal. It is to try to like optimize the process and optimize the band. We have written a bunch of songs after Forever Joy, and we're really trying to make it like a new fresh band basically. It feels really good, so we're excited for this next step.
[Adam] And we learned a lot about the now. We spent two years working on songs that we wrote two years ago, so we learned the importance of like you were saying, if it's good and you're inspired by it, just trust your heart with it and don't spend too much time overthinking it, tinkering it. We learned a lot from that, so it was a beneficial process.
You guys talked about The Strokes a little bit earlier, and I know you guys did play as The Strokes for Indie Night. Who are some of your personal heroes, musically, besides The Strokes and COIN obviously?
[Adam] Should we each give one?
[Nick M] Yeah, we'll each give one.
[Adam] They got to be different. No repeats, guys. No repeats. We do have a lot.
[Nick M] I mean, I guess like, it'd be wrong if I didn't say The 1975 because 1: love their music, but George Daniel really did inspire me with his style on the drums. Being able to do intricate stuff without sounding too flashy and keep into what the song's trying to provide. So, I think that would be one of the biggest inspirations for me.
[Nick G] Yeah, I feel like I'll say recently, especially Bon Iver has been a big inspiration because he's, I don't know, he's just crazy. The songwriting, the lyrics, the production, like all the way through his songs are just amazing, so it has really inspired me to just improve everything because he's like on another level it feels like.
[Adam] Yeah, it's hard. I mean I'd say a big one, but I'd say that we all mostly share this one, but Hippo Campus is a big inspiration too. Just because they're kind of like an independent, you know, indie band that doesn't really fit in a genre. They kind of do whatever they want, weird songs, and they're big on their live shows so I feel we've always looked up to them in that sense. But a lot of like solo artists like John Mayer, Bob Dylan, recently have been really big inspiration just on songs and what we were saying like the power of a song.
[Evan] I used to not be a big Strokes guy, but as of late it started making sense for me. I feel it like, I don't know. The Strokes definitely is good inspiration for sure. It's like the basis of alternative indie.
Just kind of to wrap up here, what does the outlook for Sleep House in 2025 look like? Are there any dream venues you want to play? Any songs coming out? “yolo” came out in June, I think? But yeah, just let me know what you guys are doing in 2025.
[Nick M] Sorry, sorry, clearing my throat.
[Adam] He’s excited.
[Nick M] Yeah, I'm really excited. I feel like the future has never looked brighter for us as a band. All of this new stuff that I've been hearing from like these two guys or like what we've been jamming like these past couple months, it's just, I don't know. It's really got like a fire lit under us and we're really excited. That’s kind of the biggest focus. We want to really be in the moment with our music and put it out while it's still fresh to us too, you know, so it could kind of live at the same time and there's no disconnect. We want to get a lot of it out while it's still fresh and be able to load up on shows. Maybe expand out a little bit out of Philly. Just a little bit. But yeah, we definitely want to keep all that moving and just finding little ways to get like 1% better as a band, as putting on a show, getting in the studio, just everything. Just that one notch better is what we're looking for.
[Nick G] We have all these songs built up, and it feels like this year it's going to show the work we've done the past couple of months. We have a couple of things planned, hopefully, release wise, so I feel like it'd be perfect timing to do a little tour this this upcoming year. Yeah, definitely try to go on the road a lot.
[Adam] I think we're at that point where we kind of feel like we're not mature, but we've been in the band for a while, so we've been doing this stuff a long time. And I feel like we're kind of at the point where we're having fun again and we're not stressing. We kind of have the mentality of what we did when we started, but we kind of have a little bit more of a grasp of what we're doing. So, it feels fresh and it's just, yeah, it's exciting to put new stuff out and play it.
Thank you guys for meeting with me and bearing with me through this, because this is my first time actually recording everything through this program. So yeah, it was great talking to you guys.
[All] Thank you. Thank you.
[Nick M] Shout out Riverside. Shout out Xavier. Shout out Natalie.
[Adam] Yes. Shout out Natalie.
Yeah, the first Xavier shout out got cut because I wasn't recording.
[All] Xavier! Shout out.
[Nick M] Shout him out again. Shout him out again.
He set this all up. He got me this microphone for Christmas.
[All] Aye! Woooo! Thank you.
Also, he found this program for me, so none of this would have been possible without him. So, yeah, shout out to Xavier.
Cover photo by @beherenow_co