Halifax band rocks all night

From left to right: Trevor Murphy, Aaron Wallace, Jeff Pineau and Josh Pothier. photo courtesy of Richard Lann

They’re just four guys from Halifax who like rock out and party till dawn.  The band’s called Sleepless Nights and it was started roughly five years ago by vocalist/guitarist Aaron Wallace.

It started out as a slow three piece folk band, which gradually turned into an eight piece orchestral-pop ensemble and has recently found its stronghold as a four piece alternative band. Wallace’s fellow band mates include bassist/vocalist Trevor Murphy, drummer Josh Pothier and keyboardist Jeff Pineau.

In October, the band toured in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes to promote the release of their new EP and they are already planning to release two more EP’s within the next six months. But that doesn’t stop them from playing shows outside of Halifax in the meantime. Even with other job commitments, they enjoy being on the road.

“The best part about being on the road is making new friends and seeing old ones. Not to mention playing to new crowds and making new fans,” said Murphy. “You also get to spend days and days in a van with your best friends, so – that’s alright too.”

They’re playing their next show at their home away from home: the Capital Bar and Complex here in Fredericton on Saturday, November 28^th.

“Fredericton generally treats us better than our current hometown (Halifax) in terms of attendance and excitement. We know that whenever we play in Fredericton, there is no doubt that we will have a great show with a great audience. The Capital is one of the best bars in the whole country, and they have a great staff that literally treats us like rock stars,” said Murphy. “Plus everyone in Fredericton is super nice, the city is great, and our label/management is based there so we have no shortage of friends and allies.”

But even though most of their Fredericton shows happen at the Capital, the band has other memories from here as well. This past year at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival they got to open for London, Ontario rapper Shad. According to Murphy, that’s one of the biggest names they’ve gotten to open for.

While they have made a name for themselves, at least in the Maritimes, they still have high hopes for the future.

“Success would be not having to work day jobs and have playing rock n roll to pay the bills. Nothing lavish, I would just like to not have to stock shelves at a grocery store to pay my rent,” explained Murphy. “Also, being remembered would be nice. I would consider myself successful if in 20 years people still listened to our records.”

You can check out some of their music at http://www.myspace.com/thesleeplessnights

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Posted by Corinne Frost on Nov 27, 2009. Filed under Features, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.