De nieuwste release van While She Sleeps is een specialeke: het is namelijk een samenwerking met niemand minder dan Simon Neil van Biffy Clyro! Een liedje dat gaat over de moeilijkheden die vaak komen kijken bij de mentale gezondheid, met een focus op de ervaringen van gitarist Sean Long met anxiety.
“The song ‘NERVOUS’ is one the band has been talking about ever since its first demo. It’s completely infected us since the start and we all knew instantly that something really special had happened. I would go so far as to say it's the single most important song I’ve ever written in my life. It’s born from experiencing the pain and suffering generated by acute anxiety but also finding a way out from that, which whilst in such a dark and terrifying place felt like the biggest pipe dream imaginable. I felt like if I didn't write this song then someone else would have. It feels like it needed to be manifested into this world ASAP. I truly believe it's going to resonate with people on an extremely personal, deep and meaningful level because I feel like it came from a place beyond what we may call ourselves and I feel the song is much bigger than our band.
I’d like ‘NERVOUS’ to be viewed as more of a spiritual request rather than just a song to enjoy. I'm talking about a particular emotion in this song but the idea is transferable to any negative or troublesome feeling. It’s about accepting your emotions, fears, pains, anxiety, depression - not only accepting them but owning them and becoming one with them completely. It’s about being proud of all our emotions. The song is literally telling you to BE nervous, be scared and be in pain. By this I mean a lot of our pain comes from the idea that there's me on the one hand and the pain on the other. So when the pain arrives this “me” is somehow trying to get away from said pain. When we really think this through with clarity we inevitably see its a futile endeavour. The moment we realise this, we can stop fighting and running away and we can begin the healing process by feeling the emotions as if we wanted them to be there in the first place. Once you stop fighting and pushing the feelings away, you realise that most of, if not all of, the pain was caused by this attempt to split ourselves in two. Most of the pain was caused by the fear of the pain itself and the attempt to get away from it. It can actually be a good thing to feel these emotions fully and experience that journey of acceptance. If we just sit a little longer with the pain, fully go into the dark, feeling it with every cell of our being, there is a chance of something miraculous to occur for the individual. What do you have to lose? This is what ‘NERVOUS’ is about.”
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Some bands play it safe when it comes to taking their next steps. But then, While She Sleeps have never been “some band”. The Sheffield quintet have made a career of confounding expectations, beit through a blend of crushing metal, guttural hardcore and arena-worthy hooks, or how they’ve carried themselves over an explosive 13-year career 2017’s You Are We was a testament to self-belief and determination; crowdfunded and released on the band’s own Sleeps Brothers label, it earned award nominations from Metal Hammer and a Best Album win at the HMAs, as well as landing them in the top 10 UK charts. Now, they look to build on that success with the release of 4th album SO WHAT? With You Are We wrapped up, the band decamped to their self-built Sleeps Audio complex where spent 5 months recording the next chapter. Produced by Carl Bown SO WHAT? promises another defiant step forward. It’s punk, it’s heavy metal, and it sounds unlike anything you’ve heard from them before. It’s the sound of While She Sleeps reborn Set for release on Sleeps Brothers in collaboration with metal mega-label Spinefarm SO WHAT? sees While She Sleeps working with a major for the first time since 2015’s Brainwashed and the band are at pains to point out this won’t mean compromise in their vision. With a bigger platform to get their music into the world, 2019 is shaping up to be the year of While She Sleeps. For a band who’ve spent over a decade redefining modern metal it seems the best is yet to come.
