Sleepercar
By Lara
Sleepercar
So where do I begin with this one… Well Sleepercar they would be a band out of Texas who are on a North American tour right now and will be playing our wicked city on May 31st 2008. Through some serious internet connections and having some friends in the right places at the right time I was able to get Jim to answer a few questions for me. Have I mentioned I love my job… seriously. So Enjoy and find out about Texas’ one and only Sleepercar.
BSW: When and how did you become interested in music?
Jim: When I was a little kid and the weather turned bad in El Paso, my sister and I would play records all afternoon, sometimes we would take my dad's guitar and keyboard and make little concerts where we would pretend to play with the records - so I guess very early on I was performing. When I was 12 years old I took up the bass guitar and started playing in very, very bad punk rock bands
BSW: What are your musical influences?
Jim: Influences really come and go for me, early on it was big band, Benny Goodman sort of things, before that I loved my parents Billy Joel records, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin- I got into punk rock as a teenager, it influenced a lot of my life honestly- I found Americana/country a little later in life, it all rolls into joy for me though, any music almost, I am not a snob about it
BSW: Does anyone else in your family play music?
Jim: My mom's brothers have had a band since high school pretty much, my dad was in a band in high school, I have always been around all these elements, my grandparents had a honky tonk session in their front room on Friday nights
BSW: Where do you see the band 5 years from now?
Jim: I haven't the slightest idea
BSW: What else do you do besides play music?
Jim: I run a little record label called civil defense league - I work on my house, I love to build, break, fix things, I like to learn
BSW: Why did you decide to write Wasting My Time?
Jim: The riff came to me in a session where I was recording the drums for some other songs with Matthew- I wrote that song in about 10 minutes, showed it to matt and he sort of improved though the take and it is what it is
BSW: What is that song about?
Jim: I think it is about a bitter lover who has given up on his girl, she drove him to craziness and he is saying it is done, it is total fiction
BSW: What does it take to play a song like that?
Jim: Imagination
BSW: What is special about that song?
Jim: I think it just has a sass to it- people seem to connect to the sort of abandon it contains
BSW: Why did you choose this music genre?
Jim: It chose me. I listen to what it had to say and I tried to follow honestly.
BSW: How did you come up with your band name?
Jim: My grandfather passed away in 2003 and as a tribute to him I called my new project Sleepercar. A Sleepercar is the car on a train that one can live in, he grew up for a time on these as his father was building railroad bridges in remote locations around the southwest of America- I come from a big railroad family.
BSW: What inspires you to do what you do?
Jim: I don't know what makes me continue to walk the path but I do and I am happy as hell about it.
BSW: How do you describe your music to people?
Jim: West Texas
BSW: When did you first know you wanted to be a musician?
Jim: When I was expected to attend a university for engineering and I wouldn't apply because I wanted to be in a band.
BSW: Is there a place to purchase your CD and other merchandise?
Jim: http://sleepercarmusic.com/
Now is that not totally cool? I would love to tell you about all their tour dates but for that you’ll have to check out their myspace. Again they play Winnipeg on May 31st. Always remember “Without music…Life is silent.”
