More luck than brains. That’s what I call this whole escapade. We were in the last year of high school, hell, we were actually in school when N got a once-in-a-lifetime message: “You have a band, right? I need you to play on a gig in two months. In Prague.” Of course, he replied positively. You’re not saying no to such offer. Of course, he didn’t have a band.
I was the first one he asked to join. Between the two of us, we could handle the guitar, bass, and vocals. We needed a drummer. And a place to rehearse. At first, we called V. He said that he won’t play with us, because we don’t have any real gear. Fine, fuck you then. We only knew one other drummer, O, who was also in posession of a suitable basement, which we could use as a place to practice. Unlike V, he was positive on doing this with us, even if we didn’t have the “real” gear.
One hour after the offer, we had a band, a practice room, and we were keen on making a dent in Slovak scene. Only thing that was missing, was a name. And music of course. That evening, we got very stoned with N, and we met with O in the basement to brainstorm. After a heated discussion, we settled on Sleep Seeker. That made sense. We all knew how sleepless nights feel. When you are trying to catch a glimpse of sweet dreams, while the mind is racing and anxiety paralyzes you.
A band, a practice room, and a name. We were almost there. How about some music? We met for our first practice the next afternoon. Although we were clueless on what to play, we knew we wanted to play something… As we toyed with some riffs, and I improvised some lyrics, we suddenly had our first song ready. Was it good? Well. Good enough, considering it didn’t exist just an hour ago. Prague seemed within reach.
Next day in school, another friend of us, A, said he wanted to be in the band as well. Three was enough for us, but as we considered it, we invited him to the next rehearsal. We played him the first song, he took the bass, and caught on pretty fast. It all somehow clicked. N on guitar, A on bass, O as the drumer and me as the vocalist. A full band.
In this assembly, we practiced for the next two months, almost every day. We composed five songs until the gig in Prague. As the day finally approached, I borrowed a car from my mom, and we packed up the instruments. Four friends together, on the road, in a band. We were full of ourselves.
We played the concert. People enjoyed it, and we did as well. We stayed in Prague for two more days, and we enjoyed the city. It felt almost like a tour. After we returned, we wandered about our purpose. As long as we had a goal, we were moving forward. But now… Now we had to find another goal, another reason to go on. It was late November, and we needed another concert to look forward to. This time, we didn’t wait until somebody else created it for us.
There was one club which was had quite a legendary status in our city. We wanted to play there with N ever since we went there the for first time. We were sure that this was the opportunity. Without knowing anything about it, we made a concert there. We called it Homecoming. Although we didn’t get the management part quite right, it was fun. The last band on the swet list was a Reggae band. We shared a spliff with the singer, and danced to the tunes of “Under the sky.” We managed to fill the whole club with people, so much that the owner was surprised. Things started to move a little bit more on their own after this. More people from the local scene recognised us, and we got two more gigs booked, pretty much right after Homecoming. Both were regional, quite small, but still. We were there. On the first one, we became enemies with a local metal band. Fun times. On the second one…
We split up. You see, we started with a clear goal – to play in Prague. After that, our aim became more and more vague, and the concert-to-concert thing wasn’t enoguh to keep us together, I guess. Each one of us wanted a different thing, and each one of us thought he was the heart and the brain of the band. At least I did. I know that I acted like a dickhead the last few weeks, and most importantly, I was fucking up my vocal cords with my bad screaming technique. This meant that our last concert, I almost didn’t go through the whole set. The others plotted with another friend to replace me, they even arranged a practice with the guy. V told me about it right after the last gig, but we were all used to his lying and exagerration, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Anyway, he was still bitter about the fact that we started a band without him… Turns out this was the one time when he told the truth.
After the gig, we met in a small local bar, where we wanted to discuss our next steps. The power dynamics changed. It felt like the others were all sitting on the opposite side of the table. They told me I should write texts in English only, and some other things, which I honestly don’t remember. I was heavily on the defense, as I felt a change of tides looming. Nothing explicit was said, but we all knew. They did for sure. The meeting left a lingering bitter taste in my mouth, and we didn’t have a single practice after that.
That one afternoon in the small bar which we all loved was the end of Sleep Seeker. In a way, it was also an end of friendship. Each one of us had their own life ahead, and even though we kept in touch after, it wasn’t the same, mostly. Turns out naming your group chat “Backstabbers crew” might have a reason.