It’s been tough doing anything fun during a worldwide pandemic. It has certainly not been easy for an old timer like myself to discover new local bands or for the bands to get their names out there. The world is turning into somewhat of a new normal as we cautiously try to go to and play shows again. One of the new bands I am most looking forward to seeing is the Providence band Sleep Mode. I had the chance to speak remotely with singer Dan Medeiros from my remote underwater mountain island in space.

Hassle:
Can you tell is who the hell is in the band and what the heck they do?

Dan:
Sleep mode consists of 3 members:
Myself (Dan Medeiros) on vocals and guitar. Ryan McEwan on vocals and bass and lastly Alex Durand on drums.

Hassle:
How did the band come together?

Dan:
The band started out as somewhat a solo project in the fall of 2018 for myself. I planned on making about 3 or 4 rough demos to give people at gigs around Providence to try and find members. The friend helping me make the demos liked it enough to join himself. Although we’ve had a few lineup changes and I still remain the only original member.

Hassle:
Coolio. I love the name. What does it mean?

Dan:
The name of our band has no special meaning. I was in school at the time for computer science and was watching the matrix trilogy a lot. I wanted the band to be loud and noisy and thought it was sorta ironic and tied into computer lingo somewhat.

Hassle:
Where has Sleep Mode recorded?

Dan:
We recorded our first Ep with our friend Christian Rhodehamel in his private studio in Pawtucket back in the summer of 2020. We are about to head into the studio again for our 2nd Ep within the next week. This go around we’re working with Quinn Murphy from the providence hard-core band Verse.

Hassle:
Christian is great. He has been in some of my favorite Providence bands over the last 9 years and 11 months. Do you guys have any plans for touring or videos?

Dan:
We haven’t really discussed any plans for a video. We played around with an idea for a video for our song Model Citizen but nothing really came of it. As far as touring goes we would love to be on the road and playing far and wide. Although we feel like we need to play in the providence area more first before making that leap. We’re also on the lookout for another bass player soon as our current friend and bassist Ryan plans to move back to California. So we know we’re gonna have to get the new guy up to speed soon who ever that may be.

Hassle:
Dan I want to thank you so much for your valuable time to give me this deadly serious discussion. One last important question concerning the fate of humanity- who is your favorite muppet?

Dan:
Favorite Muppet would have to be Miss Piggy. Each time she does any karate moves it cracks me up.