It was only a couple of days ago when British metalcore band While She Sleeps flew into the Lion City. The band tore St James Power Station down with their epic performance on Sunday, leaving us all in complete awe. Were you there? If you weren’t, don’t sweat it! The band promises to come back to play in the near future. According to Adam Sav, “Sav” (Drums) and Sean Long (Guitars), “this place is like paradise, we’d love to live here one day that’s for sure!

Opening the show is none other than two of Singapore’s very own bands, Exhibitors and Tomorrows Ever Ending. The two bands hyped up the crowd and killed their sets where they left us all in awe.

One of the best parts of the concert was most definitely the part when Lawrence Taylor “Loz”  (vocals) climbed the lights scaffolding during one of their songs. It’s a norm for Loz to do this during his show, but it shocked a handful of us, and of course we feared for his safety. Soon after he climbed midway, he jumped into the crowd and they carried him all the way back onto the stage.

As predicted, they played Four Walls as their last song. The way the fans sang along made our hair stand on ends.

Thanks to Inokii, we managed to steal a few moments with the band before their set. Unfortunately, Loz was unable to join us as he had contracted a virus and had to recuperate before playing the show. But Sav, Sean, Aaron and Mat Welsh (Guitars) still managed to tickle our funny bones while answering our “serious” questions.

I’m not joking, they surprised us.

“What’s up with the wigs, guys?”

“What wigs?.. This is our actual hair!”

Yeah right..

The band shared with us how much they love touring in Southeast Asia, where our music scene is very well dedicated and true to the heart. While She Sleeps came from a place where music is somewhat separated with not much live music going around their hometown and therefore, amazed at how our music scene is. “It’s probably the best experience for the band to travel this far to play shows for people who know who we are. We love the East!”

The name While She Sleeps can mean anything in the world and that’s how the band wants it to be. Their lyrics work the same way, it could mean something to you and it could mean a completely different thing for me. For the band, While She Sleeps means that whether or not they’re in your face or “gone”, they’re still there.

The famous question everyone has been asking have also been answered by the band.

“Who is ‘She’?”

“She is mother nature for us.”

The band shared with us how their newest album, Brainwashed, was heavily influenced by their individual lives and their experiences since their last album, This Is The six. The tracks from Brainwashed dives into their personal experiences more compared to their standard expression through lyrics from their other tracks.

While She Sleeps wanted to create the kind of record that says the things people were always afraid of saying themselves, but that does not make them the masters of our feelings. Humbly setting the record straight, the band shared with us how they have always wished to show their fans that they’re no strangers to pain and how we are all not alone. “We want to show them that no matter how much sh*t that’s been shoved down your throat, we want you to know that we understand.”

“We are not where we are right now without all the effort and focus that we’ve put in and that’s something that everyone’s capable of doing.”

While She Sleeps are always keen on checking out the local music from other countries during their tour because they have always believed in local bands. According to Sean, local bands reminds them of how they used to start out and how they got to wherever they are from supporting their town’s bands and attending local shows. “It’s important for promoters to keep doing that (promoting local bands) because without these bands there will be no bands! Every band’s been a local band.”

That’s really heartwarming to hear from a big British band, isn’t it?

“Are there any local bands you want us to check out?”

“Wormrot!”

“Emily In Denial!”

The list of band names just went on, and the band was more than happy to take it all in.

Before we ended the interview, While She Sleeps gave us all a little advice that made us love them a lot more.

“You are your own God. You are it. Do whatever you want, nobody can tell you that you can’t do anything. Because you can.”

What an amazing concert! It is only their first show in Singapore and it is definitely not going to be the last.

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank While She Sleeps for the interview and Chan from Inokii for the invitation and coordinating the interview.