June 2009 D&S Update

Holy crap are we excited for June...

First, as you probably know, we are FINALLY releasing our new album Autumn in the Evening on June 2nd! We have been working on this album for over a year and half and we are so excited for everyone to finally hear it. There is a bunch of info on the album on this site. Check it all out using the Autumn in the Evening Tag!

Once we release the album we will take about a week off... (I'm going to Hawaii bitches!) then we will start back at it by hopefully playing some shows in our home town of Monterey, California. We'll have more info on those once we confirm the dates!

We'd also like to have some more merch for you guys this month. All of you have been asking for shirts so we've been wanting to get some of those printed up. Keep checking back here for details.

That's about it for the month of June! Mostly just trying to get everyone and their brother to listen to Autumn in the Evening. Spread the word!

Autumn in the Evening Now Available for Pre-Order!

Today we released Autumn in the Evening for Pre-order. The albums will ship sometime between June 2nd and June 11th BUT if you order it now we'll give you a sweet deal ($6.99) and we will send you a link to download the songs in mp3 format on June 2nd.

Here is the link: http://thedreamerandthesleeper.bigcartel.com/product/autumn-in-the-evening-preorder

New Merch on Sale Today!

This evening we are releasing some small new merch items to our online merch shop! Five collectable postcards featuring lyrics from our new album Autumn in the Evening will be available later tonight in celebration of the album being released in less than 2 weeks time! Buy a postcard and we'll write a note to you and send it through the mail old-skool style! This is just something small we decided to do for the release of the album, more merch to come very soon! T-Shirts anyone?

Check out the postcards here: http://thedreamerandthesleeper.bigcartel.com/

Autumn in the Evening 30 Second Samples

Hello Friends!

So we have been recording this little album called Autumn in the Evening for the past year and a half... and it's coming out in a few weeks! We are incredibly excited!!! Throughout this whole writing and recording process we have kept the music pretty well locked down. Not many people have heard much, if any, of the new album. Well today we are breaking our silence... sort of... 30 seconds at a time! Below are 30 second clips of each of the songs on Autumn in the Evening. We hope they make you as excited as we are for the release on June 2nd! Enjoy!


Autumn in the Evening First Listen - 30 Second Samples

1. Across the Water


2. The Psychologist


2. These Inevitable Insanities


4. Mistakes!


5. Astronauts


6. The Break and the Wake


7. The Civil War


8. Halloween


9. Rules in a Knife Fight


10. Summer Ends Some Things


11. The Beginning and the End

Final Autumn in the Evening Tracklisting

Below is the final track-listing for our new album Autumn in the Evening. Available June 2nd from our merch store!

Autumn in the Evening Track-listing

1. Across the Water

2. The Psychologist

3. These Inevitable Insanities

4. Mistakes!

5. Astronauts

6. The Break and the Wake

7. The Civil War

8. Halloween

9. Rules in a Knife Fight

10. Summer Ends Some Things

11. The Beginning of the End

Autumn in the Evening Artwork

Below is the cover for our new album Autumn in the Evening! A beautiful photograph taken by our friend Jennifer Hogan. Check out some of her photography at http://www.middlewithane.com

Rare D&S! Camouflage Cover

We recorded this song for a tribute album for one of our absolute favorite bands, Third Eye Blind. It is a cover of their song Camouflage off of the album Blue. It was kind of a difficult task to record one of your favorite bands songs but we were pretty happy with how it turned out! Anyways, I don't think the cd is on sale anymore and it was just sitting of my computer so I figured I'd throw it up here and let you guys enjoy it...


The Dreamer and the Sleeper - Camouflage (Third Eye Blind Cover)

About The Dreamer and the Sleeper

This post is a work in progress!

We are The Dreamer and the Sleeper! We are a Pop Rock/Acoustic band based out of Monterey, California. The Dreamer and the Sleeper was formed November 2005 and is an independent band made up of two official band members: Nick Pappageorgas and Easton Broome. As The Dreamer and the Sleeper we have independently released 2 eps and 2 full length records and in 2009 formed Icarus Kids Recordings as a label to release D&S material under.

The Dreamer and the Sleeper officially began in November of 2005 while both members were still attending college in Los Angeles and Berkeley California. We recorded our first demos throughout 2006 by sending music back and forth over the internet. We released our first music to the public, a demo of Leaving the Hospital; I'm Going Home on April 23, 2006. We continued to release demos throughout 2006. All but one song, Charmer, have appeared on an official The Dreamer and the Sleeper release.

In late 2006 we began writing and preparing to record our first full length album, Fireworks. As we wrote and recorded more and more songs for Fireworks some of our earlier songs were removed from the album. These songs became the Oh, Is for Overture EP which was released on March 9, 2007. The Oh, Is for Overture EP was an extremely limited print of 50 copies and came in packaging that was hand-made by us! The EP has since sold out and has been released digitally.

On July 7th, 2007 we released our first full length album, Fireworks. We released the album for free download on the internet for a number of months before finally releasing hard copies of the album.

In October and November of 2007 we recorded a special holiday EP which we aptly called The Holiday EP. The Holiday EP was released on November 30, 2007 and was made up of holiday inspired original D&S songs, plus a cover of Wham's Last Christmas.

Almost the entire course of 2008 and a good portion of 2009 was spent writing and recording our new full length album. An increased desire to play our music live forced us to change how we went about writing our songs and essentially how The Dreamer and the Sleeper operated as a band. These new songs were recorded with both of us in the same studio at the same time, something we had not done with our previous recordings. Many of these studio sessions were broadcast live over the internet via Ustream.tv.

We released our second album Autumn in the Evening on June 2, 2009. This was the first album officially released under our own record label Icarus Kids Recordings, named after Nick's graphic design studio and day-job Icarus Kids Design Studio.

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #008

Asked by Cory Harris: When will there be a bull mountain reunion?

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Answered by Nick: For those of you who don't know Bull Mountain was a pop-punk band that Easton, Ray and I played in with help from our friends Josh Agloro, Thomas Hugo, and Robert Ruiz.

We played together as Bull Mountain for about 2 years in 2003 and 2004. We were pretty terrible but had a great time and played our instruments almost as hard as we partied. It was a really fun time but there was nowhere near the amount of dedication and time we have put into The Dreamer and the Sleeper. Think of it as The Dreamer and the Sleeper's ugly teen-aged self. :)

Bull Mountain is dead. :)

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #007

From Daniel Farrera: Does the artwork/promo pictures mean something? I see you both standing over broken wood and in other photos you seem waiting for something on the street. Does it really mean something, or are those pictures just... simple promotional pictures?

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Answered by Nick: The photos taken in the wooded setting were intended for our album art and Autumn in the Evening specific promo stuff. The more urban photos were taken just as promotional photos.

The more urban photos were taken by our friend Valerie Brower in the area once know as Fort Ord that is now the CSUMB campus. We really like these photos and use them for show promo's and stuff like that. So for these photos no there is not a specific meaning (that we know of!). On a side note it was VERY COLD and VERY WINDY when we took these!

The photos for the Autumn in the Evening artwork were taken by an old friend of ours named Jennifer Hogan. Here website can be found at: www.middlewithane.com She is the photographer who shot the cover art of Autumn in the Evening as well as the beautiful photo featured on the cover of Fireworks. I wouldn't say that the photos have a meaning so much as they fit a certain theme that we were trying to portray with the artwork as well as the music of AITE. I asked her if we could use the photo you see on the front cover and then she matched the style of that photograph for our promo shots. I really liked the photo for the cover for a number of reasons. I thought it fit perfect with the Autumn theme we had going for the album but also had hints of Spring and Summer. I thought this went along with the music really well seeing as we had written an album during the Autumn months about the Autumn months but it still had that D&S Summer vibe to it. I could go on and on about how much I like that photo but that was the basic thought behind the decision and the theme of the promo pictures!

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #006

Asked by Chris Seibold: What bands have influenced your music and writing style the most?

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Answered by Nick: I feel like I really grew up listening to what I can only really describe as sort of 90's alternative and pop rock. Growing up neither my family nor my friends at the time were ever that into music. So what new music I got was what I heard on the radio. I grew to really love bands like Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows.

When I was about a sophomore in high school I really got into the whole pop-punk scene with bands like Fenix TX, New Found Glory, Midtown, Blink 182, Rx Bandits and Eve 6. I had always loved music but these were the bands that really made me want to be in a band and actually play music. Although of these bands may not have directly affected the sound of The Dreamer and the Sleeper I would feel silly not including them in this answer because they inspired me to want to both listen to and make music of my own.

I would say the songs I write stem more from the previous artists I listed. (Third Eye Blind, Counting Crows, etc.) What I loved about these bands in particular was their ability to write absolutely beautiful slower songs and have them blend perfectly on an album with their huge radio hits. If you want examples of these types of songs see Third Eye Blind - Darkness, Matchbox Twenty - The Difference, or The Verve Pipe - The Freshmen. Yeah, Third Eye Blind's Jumper was on the radio 20 times an hour but it was these slower, down tempo songs that always really hooked me. I don't think it is as apparent on AitE, but if you look back at the songs that I wrote for Fireworks and Overture I think it is pretty apparent that I was inadvertently trying to mimic these types of songs. Some examples are songs like Kid Icarus, Villains, and Oh, Adrienne. With these songs I was really trying to take that sound that Easton and I had somehow come up with and turn into these sort of, hugh pop ballads. I'm not sure if this is how they come off or not. So I would say that these bands have most affected my personal writing style and, even if it is inadvertently, affect the types of songs I strive to write.

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #005

From Ben Knight: When you write songs, what inspires you? What is your personal writing process?

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Answered by Nick: For me personally, I don't think I have the most efficient writing process. I have like 100 songs that are unfinished. Basically the songs I finish are the ones you hear on the albums. And those usually take me 4 or 5 months to finish. I am a relatively SLOW writer. I don't ever really sit down to write a song either. It's always when I'm just dicking around on the guitar and I find something that sounds cool. I find that I struggle to write complete songs more than Easton does. But I think this is another reason why we've been able to work so well together as musicians. Where one of us lacks the other tends to pick up the slack. I consider Easton to be a song writing machine. You could literally give him a topic and he could write you a full on, bad ass, acoustic pop song within about 24 hours. He may not admit this but trust me, it's true.

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q and A Series #004

From Priscila Damacela: Tell me exactly what you were doing when you came up with the name The Dreamer and the Sleeper and why did that name stick?

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Answered by Nick: I was reading Edgar Alen Poe for a class in college. I don't remember which poem it was, and I don't think it specifically said "The Dreamer and the Sleeper" in it. But the idea came from that. I called Easton and said, hey, want to be called The Dreamer and the Sleeper? He said yes. And that was that. Sorry! It's not very exciting.

I will say that I have always been really comfortable with the name. When people ask me what my band is called and I say "The Dreamer and the Sleeper" it feels comfortable to say. I hate it when a band name is really awkward to say. In college I recorded a CD under the moniker "Heart is a Hand Grenade". I still cringe when I say that name... I don't really know what it is, but The Dreamer and the Sleeper just fits us!

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #003

From Ben Knight: What type of recording software/equipment do you guys use? What is the most challenging aspect of recording?

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Answered by Nick: We both have pretty much the exact same set up in our home studios so we can start a song in one and finish in another, or send files back and forth. PowerMac G5 running Cubase 4. Presonus Firebox Firewire recording interfaces. MXL vocal mics. KRK Rockit 6 monitors. And for synths we use Native Instruments Komplete 5. For electric guitars we usually use Guitar Rig 3.

I'd say the most challenging aspect of recording for us is TIME. It takes a lot of time to record our songs. Siting in a room for 10 or 12 hours can be difficult sometimes even if we have a blast doing it. Also, some days we will be so psyched to start recording and for whatever reason... the magic just doesn't happen. We spend a few hours and get garbage. We have learned to deal with these days though, now we try to move on to other things, go over other songs on the acoustic guitars or whatever. I'd say our recording process got way less stressful once we learned that we aren't going to get great recordings EVERY TIME we sit down to record.

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #002

Asked by Myspace User from Portland, Oregon: What is Leaving the Hospital, I'm Going Home about? I would be interested to hear what themes you think are present in your songs; I know what *I* think they are about but I'd like to hear the band's thoughts.

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Answered by Nick: I like to be very careful when answering questions about specific songs and here is why: Personally I hate knowing what a song is "supposed to be about". I think it totally ruins the experience of listening to a song and completely disconnects the way the listener relates to a song if they hear what the artist "meant" in writing it. I know this isn't what you are asking here but I just want to explain why I answer these kinds of questions in a vague manner! :)

What I will do is give you the circumstances in which I wrote the song, and in this particular case I think they are kind of interesting.

I wrote the majority of Leaving the Hospital while I was actually in the USC's hospital in Los Angeles in 2006. I have to spend time in there every so often to receive IV antibiotics for a lung condition I have. In there the movie The Thin Red Line was on tv like twice a day for some reason. That's where I picked up the war theme at least. It seemed like a good metaphor for the stuff that people deal with when spending long periods of time in the hospital. I don't think I could even tell you how exactly I came up with that metaphor but I do know while I was writing the song it made perfect sense! The lyrics for this song really came together fast which is rare for me. Everything really clicked!

I wrote it as sort of a thank you to my girlfriend at the time for being there for me through the tough time. I have noticed since then I have been able to sort of dedicate this song to a number of different people. And when I say 'dedicate' I don't really mean saying "this song is for you!" Its more of a private, internal kind of dedication. I fell that in a situation like this you can pretty easily see who in your life truly cares about you. So for me this has sort of become the theme of this song, even though that wasn't fully intended when it was written. Certain people have really surprised me over the years and so I feel like this song is made for all of them. And even though it was originally written for a girlfriend I've been able to relate this song to completely different types of relationships over the years.

Also, this is sort of the song that helped to form The Dreamer and the Sleeper. At the time Easton and I were working on acoustic, solo music projects. I was having trouble working out the bridge for Leaving the Hospital so I sent it to Easton. About a day later he sends me back the song with the bridge you hear in it today. I think we were both pretty amazed at how well it worked out and we just sort of went with it from there!

The Dreamer and the Sleeper Q & A Series #001

From Miles Boinest: Does Autumn in the Evening have a different feel that Fireworks? Do you guys have any new musical influences that have affected the new album?

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Answered by Nick: I would say that Autumn in the Evening has a very different feel to it than Fireworks but the general sound of our band has not changed much. I think we still sound like the Dreamer and the Sleeper, at least I hope we do. hah.

Fireworks was definitely recorded to sound good on a cd, Autumn in the Evening was written specifically so we could play it live as both a full band and as an acoustic set. A lot of the songs on Fireworks are really tough to play live acoustically without changing the entire song. (See: Villains, Kid Icarus, Kiss Kiss) On Autumn in the Evening we still have those types of songs, we just worked out how we were going to play them live first. Basically our whole writing process reversed. So I think that has a lot to do with the different feel of the two albums.