Sleep Riots is the forthcoming EP from Adelaide artist Thom Lion, written during a tumultuous time in his life following a loss in his family, and influenced by countless disturbed nights.
“Whenever there is flux going on in my life I get these full on night terrors and I was having them frequently during this time. They are actually quite funny because I’ll be sitting upright asleep thinking crazy stuff like people are breaking into the house, or that I can see really big spiders, until something breaks the dream.”
Thom goes into further detail below, ahead of the album’s release on Friday July 29, and the EP launch on Saturday July 30 at Jive in Adelaide.
FIRE ESCAPE
‘Fire Escape’ came out of frustration at a relationship where I was caught between a rock and a hard place unsure whether to keep pursuing it or not. It felt like I was trapped in a fire escape (see what I did there?). As soon as I took it to the band everyone was really enthusiastic about playing the tune, which is not always the case!
It unfolded pretty easily in the studio although we did have to overhaul the drum beat twice. I was also trying to sing too perfect in front of everyone, so had to lay the vocals down when the others had left. I think the synth sounds cool.
NOVEMBER
I wrote ‘November’ a few years ago at the tender age of 19. Funnily enough it was written in the month of November. I was having a really tough month, we were dealing with a death in the family amongst some other things.
Whenever there is flux going on in my life I get these full on night terrors and I was having them frequently during this time. They are actually quite funny because I’ll be sitting upright asleep thinking crazy stuff like people are breaking into the house or that I can see really big spiders – until something breaks the dream. So theres a bit of that in there too.
The song went through a few formations in the studio but then our producer John worked his magic, stripped back the beginning and layered in some amazing guitar notes that add so much feeling to it. We just shot a film clip for this and its going to be epic, theres a bad guy played by a legit actor and he was awesome.
SO SORRY
In ‘So Sorry’ I’m genuinely saying sorry to someone after behaving like an idiot. Your chances of rescuing things are far greater if you apologise through song.
REAL LOVE
‘Real Love’ is another woe is me love song. I was sitting at the piano one night and this one just spilt out. It’s a bit of a rant but then I had to finesse the words as we went along so they could fit inside the melody, (I’ve started prioritising melody over wordiness because I’ve killed a few songs trying to fit too many words in!)
We used John’s old upright piano and backed it with layers of Wurlitzers and organs. It could totally have a rap over the verse but I’m not cool enough to feature rappers yet.
MESS AT BEST
I wrote the hook for ‘Mess At Best’ on my home piano a few years ago, didn’t touch it until a month out from recording and the words and song came out nice and easy. Took it to the guys and no one was really sure about it except for our guitarist Mark – he was a fan because he could play guitar through the whole song (typical guitarist haha).
We almost didn’t record it but John told us to give it a crack. I then came back from Melbourne and scrapped the vocals, re-did them at home to get the vibe right. Its about sometimes being a mess, even when everything appears dandy – but pleading with your loved one that its part the package, good and bad.
The film clip was shot at my sister’s emporium in Port Adelaide and features our mate Courteney who is an extremely talented, expressive dancer.
