SLEEP TOKEN's First Interview is WILD!

I can't believe so many people didn't know, or didn't assume, he was British. Just seemed so obvious to me as you can hear Vessel's accent clearly in all of his vocals.

If Sleep Token ever reveals their real faces, I'll be genuinely upset
And for anyone telling me to look up their real identities, I don't want to. I quite enjoy the mystery of the band

“He’s super British.”
Lol I mean, have you never heard Vessel sing? I think they are all VERY British lol!

First time I saw Sleep Token I went for food before the show just up from the venue. There was about 5 British guys there eating food too sitting next to us. Didn’t think much of it but my mate who was previously pretty prominent in the local music scene recognised one guy as he was a local tour manager who often worked in that scene. He had suspicions but later confirmed with us that he was managing Sleep Token during that tour and it was definitely them sitting next to us. Very cool they have that ability to just be normal outside the gig. Very weird to think I was sitting there next to such a massive part of my life

feels like someone is summoning us

Cool to see those that know the identities of Vessel and II, not spoil it for those that don't wish to know. Somewhat wholesome in a way.

Homie utilizing pauses in his speach so that he dont hard spam "uhms" when talking. Also lets him articulate what hes saying better. What a god.

As a huge Drumeo fan, I went right into this because of how amazing a drummer II is AND the first thing that struck me was how much restraint it took on Brandon's part to let II finish every thought and not intersect because of the voice-altering that needed to be done for this interview. Also, the production for this one is quite astounding.
And I feel personally attacked: (i.e.: 7:37) at 41 years of age I know the playback speed function!

Vessel and II were the first original members of Sleep Token so it makes sense that they have such synchronicity with how the flow of the music goes.

“Brit Vader” 😭 That chatter got jokes. 😂

4:26 Nik's commentary is spot on here. That's because Vessel and ii do all the songwriting.

It’s still so crazy to me that this little niche band I found like 5 years ago turned into the world wide phenomenon they are now. Nazareth just randomly showed up in my recommended and I’ve been a fan ever since.

II is insane. Love the band, hope the next record's gonna be fire!

II is one of the most intelligent and intuitive drummers ever to bless us. The Gospel, Jazz, and Blues syncopation is so smooth and has been tooled to fit and it’s amazing

***Nobody shocked to find out the drummer of a UK based band is British***
Nik:

I adore his drumming, it’s so creative - I’ve already started using some of his techniques from this interview in my tracks and it’s made them WAY better. Also, he sounds south west England boy to me as a native hahaha

7:21 respect for the mudvayne shoutout they have an underrated rhythm section

You gotta give massive credit for Sleep Token to still somehow be anonymous in the age of the internet

Two’s little eyes darting around are killing me 😂

"I grew up primarily playing metal."
Corekid confirmed.

II's drumming has always stood out to me. He had an awesome solo when I saw them live 🤘♥️

II has such a cool style of drumming, mixing metalcore with trap and gospel chops is just super cool to me. All my favorite styles thrown together. He plays so fluidly and the improvs are super rad as well

Bro it was a sick interview
Also the whole band in British 😂

I lost my mind when this came out. I listened to it over and over at work. The interview and the playthroughs are simply amazing.

Omg i cackled when II started playing drums at 1.5 speed 🤣

I'm so stoked to see Lani got the chance to make their newest masks. It's fucking killer how much he's grown so much in the last 5 years.

From the lyrics in their songs to the way he articulated what he had to say... these cats are scholars!

As a brit, i am proud

as a drummer it's so funny to watch nik try and understand drum terms

I watched this live. Was awesome. Was cool to see he plays the electronic parts on the pads.

I just wrote a paper on their influence on the metal genre and they do this interview right after I submitted it

I really want the vocalist and the guitarist interviews.
Tho the II's interview came just in time, since I was recrerating the Atlantic drums.

So cool to watch this whole interview and great commentary as always Nick. Also, for the split second you had 'Rain' playing at 1.5x speed I realized that it's just a slowed down, darkified dance song. I played the whole thing at 1.5x and it was amazing lolol.

What I like about this band is the use of electronic drum and base. It is so cool that drummer talks about being a fan of the genres.

Never said the word "like" and no "um" every word chosen deliberately

I read it here on someone's comment that with a little research you can find out who they are.
When you find II's identity and still have doubts, his drumming style gives him away! He's absolutely one of the best drummers ever.

04:50 Which is where I see the EDM influences come in - vocals and drums the focus, unified bass/synth parts holding it down in back (except in Sleep Token, they use downtuned guitars and bass)

Honestly, I could listen to him talk for ever.

Some drummer did a reaction forever ago that said his style reminded him of a church drummer. Thats wild

He's so well spoken!

One of the newest drummers to me, and what a find! II is a master at the drums. Unbelievably solid and tight.

One of the only people I've ever heard give props to Matt from Mudvayne. Dude should be known as one of the top 10 of all time after LD50

When the drummer said he was influenced by gospel and Deftones, it wasnt surprising as much as it was surreal, this is a band that is blurring genre's in the best way possible!

You can tell he knows a ton about drumming and is very dedicated to his art. I guess that's why he chose Drumeo to interview him. Incredible player as well. Imo the most talented member of the band.

He shout out Thomas Pridgen. He’s one of my favs too. I actually got to take a couple drum lessons from him when I went up to Oakland. Dude is a really cool guy.

He's definitely playing his character in the interview... choosing his words and his actions and gestures accordingly. Which is cool, keeps the mystery going for his fans.....

This band is pretty good, you should consider to give them a reward in your Nik N. Metal Awards.

Drum and Bass call out! I swear D&B influence always get metalheads into techno. It got me when I was a kid with Dieselboy

the drummer and singer are the song writers in the band as far as i know which is why those parts line up so well

I feel like before Sleep Token II was really well known in the UK metal scene by musicians. I've never met him, but I know for a fact that II and I have quite a few mutual friends, all of whom are musicians.

This will be the top comment

RLRLK RLK - He is explaining a drum pattern that he uses, doesnt matter what you are hitting(lending familiarity to the pattern for listeners over time) but its linear phrasing so none of them are hit at the same time.
"Boots" and "Pants" beat from house music comes to mind as an example(KRLR KRLR)
In the example its kick, hi-hats(for me I use right hand), left hand on snare, right hand on hi-hats again, repeat neverending.

His english is so pure like from those tapes what we were listening at school when we tried to learn english

Sleep Token is incredible band, would be good If they stay the way they are.

I'm pretty sure that II and Vessel are the primary songwriters for Sleep Token. Vessel creates the melody and probably lyrical pattern before drums, which allow II to really syncopate with the lyrical pattern rather than the commonly done guitar pattern. The heavy guitars are like you said, Nik, a supporting role.

II is one of the best and top drummers in the industry right now. He’s extremely talented, very diverse and knowledgeable. Voice reminds me of “General Kanobi quote 😂”

The fact that they are British is straight forward and available on the Wikipedia.

7:21 MUDVAYNE MENTIONED 🔥🔥

I’ve been saying it for so long. They sound posh/well spoken . Especially the way vessel says certain words

It wasn't a secret that Sleep Token was from the UK, was it? I'm pretty sure most articles about ST mention it. 😂

My bet its that II is Johanne James, you can see older videos of Johanne James doing solo's and you can see the influence of British Drum and Bass in there. The speach pattern is also a bit similar and the hand gestures, Johanne loves doing hand gestures while talking.
But honestly this is just a guess from a 30min search on the internet with known British drummers that are into more heavier types of music.

I guess I'm confused as in why ppl are so freaked out by who these band members might be. Do a little digging online at the right music site and you can find out who they are. It's already been given away. But I do love that mess have no clue. What a great job at keeping it quite, I hope they keep it going for a long time

You could easily tell vessel was British too by the way he pronounces some of the words while singing. Perfect example is how he pronounces “caught” in Alkaline

Not only are they a brilliant band, but they are very clever. I’m sure one day they will reveal themselves , way in the future, but honestly , the mystery is great& I think it was a genius move on their part.WORSHIP❤

Syncopation between the drums and vocals. They got that straight out of the Archspire handbook lol!

The way he shuts off the hihat with his foot to silence it... 100 % Chris turner style

II is prince Harry! He has publicly started he is a fan of metal/heavy metal. This is the main reason he left the royal family, bet.

I know this is a year late. But I went to the sleeptoken gig in Birmingham 2 days ago, and Chris turner was sat behind me :D. He let me out of my row at the end of the show, I said thank you and I am a big fan and shook his hand. Which BTW was incredible soft.

I’m surprised you didn’t know they’re British 😮 if you watch their live concerts they yell sometimes and you can hear they’re from the UK. And online it says they’re British

After this interview so much of the dynamic variety on their albums makes sense. From the UK dance seen to mudvayne to gospel. Throw nothing out.

01:46 I think we knew that...right?

George Daniel from the The 1975 is also a British drummer who is very syncopated and groovy with chops for days and is very influenced by British dance/garage music, and once mentioned taking ideas from metalcore in an interview. Has a very deep voice and talks slowly, just like II. Mid 30s and definitely uses RUclips to learn a lot. Scheduling wise would work out with the tour dates. Just a theory 🤷

This was absolutely 100% professional as to be expected by someone like II, and Drumeo pulled out all of the stops to make this an incredible incredible insight on where he pulls his influences, and now that you see where he pulls his influence from you can hear it in the music so easily and it makes so much sense. I saw this the day that it came out and I was blown away because this was professionalism at its best!

His eyes are so far apart. No way he's human. 100% it's Anthony Hopkins

I feel like his responses were deliberately slowed down in post :O

It's secretly Craig Reynolds. Stray From the Path is a front for him being in Sleep Token

I just fucking loved that he copped to having rnb and gospel influences in his playing and name dropped Eric moore specifically cuz I totally hear that in his playing.

The filter on his voice, sounds like General Grievous. “General Kenobi, you are a bold one”. 😆
I’m sure Brits can narrow his accent to a specific region.

the ultra wide Nick + silence at 2:54 nearly killed me.

lol when i watched the interview myself i sped up at THE EXAKT SAME Spot and ran into 1.5 rain, was funny Nik did the same

Found out about Sleep Token from the channel '3rd eye drops' and wish I knew about them sooner. Great band, energy, lore and music. Definitely reminded me of some Opeth all, a few Animals as Leaders djent and electronic passages.

This boy got drummer of the year for a reason

Knew they were British from the vocals in their songs 😂 didn't expect such a THICK accent, tho.

are we gonna ignore that Nik looks like the drumeo guy?

Dude I’m 55 and I use the RUclips speed control all the time. In fact, I’m always showing the speed control to my students who don’t know about it.

As a drummer myself he is one of my favorites!! Apparently Britain likes Star Wars too and we’re like you know what let’s turn that into an AI voice and give it to a human haha

He’s too well articulated this man is a Bond villain

That was awesome and I'm just starting to listen to their music

The token "what are your influences" question puts me to sleep.

They will be unmasked like every masked band eventually.

There's a Japanese band called "Seikima-II" that has stayed (mostly) anonymous for years. Their interviews are wild, almost like a Japanese GWAR where they say they're literal demons from another plane of existence. They have some bangers!

People have done some insane sleuthing and almost definitely discovered the identity of most of the members of Sleep Token. Even still, I respect that despite that, they have not revealed their identities themselves.

After watching the interview, Sleep Token just seems like a bunch of rebel classical players that got together in a goth batman band

The voice over just reminds me of the dragoon from Starcraft. Love the Protoss.

The chris turner conspiracy had me rolln 😅

Bro is really if Abe Cunningham decided to be a gospel drummer. Unreal🔥

You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.

Not surprising, but their drummer seems like a really cool intelligent dude. Very interesting!

i just discovered Sleep Token and II has already become one of my favorite drummers

Well obviously you can say that it isn’t Chris, because he would never be able to not have his hunched over "signature" pose xD