Sleeping At Last - Ryan O'Neal
http://www.sleepingatlast.com
by Kelvin Oliver

CS: How long have you been a Christian?
RYAN: well, i have been raised in a Christian home all my life, but my faith became more solid and understood when i was around 15 years old, i'd say..

CS: Where do you see the band in five years? Ten? The future?
RYAN: our hope is to continue to write music that means a lot to us for as long as possible. and still finding ways to perfect our craft.

CS: How long have you been together as a band?
RYAN: about 7 years now.

CS: Who, or what, are your biggest musical influences?
RYAN: some early influences for me were sunny day real estate, radiohead.. and in recent years, billie holiday, nina simone, nat king cole.

CS: What is the latest news on your group? Any new CD's to be released soon?
RYAN: well, we just released a new record called "keep no score" this summer. we're really excited about it! and this fall, we're planing a US tour as well as another US tour in the spring of 2007. all in support of our new record.

CS: What does your groups name mean? Where did you come up with it?
RYAN: sleeping at last means finding rest and calm in a messy world. we were in a book store, and as a joke, i said "the next page i turn to" in a poetry book i was reading, "will be our band name.." and it was "sleeping at last". we ended up liking it.

CS: What's a band could you not live without?
RYAN: hmm, that's a good question..i don't know if there's really one band i couldn't live without..i like a lot, but..

CS: Do you ever worry about getting caught up in the world of show biz? That success will change your group?
RYAN: i think it can be very easy to forget why you're doing what you're doing, in any creative career choice, when success or pressure start pouring in. but thankfully, in our case we have amazing people around us to keep our heads and hearts checked. we're very family oriented, my brother Chad plays drums, and our mother manages the band. and our bass player dan, is pretty much our brother as well. and each of us have great support from our girlfriends (and in chad's case, wife)

CS: Do you write your own music? Where do you get ideas for your music?
RYAN: yes, we write all of our own music. we aim to write music that is as honest and personal as possible..our music is our thoughts, our opinions, stories, hopes, prayers, dreams, etc.

CS: When did you feel called to perform in a group like this? Have you felt God's hand guiding you towards this all along?
RYAN: shortly after we started playing music together, we all knew this is what we wanted to do with our lives. and thankfully as time went on, we felt more and more encouragement. we've been very blessed and we believe that God is responsible for that.

CS: How much time do you spend practicing as a group? How much time do you practice individually?
RYAN: oh,.we rehearse most days of the week, when we're not touring..and individually, we all play around with music all the time.

CS: What is the biggest thing God has done during one of your concerts/gigs?
RYAN: i'm not sure if i can pick out one time or one thing...but being able to do what we love and to write music that seems to offer hope to strangers at our shows, is a huge gift..being able to talk with so many people is a huge gift!

CS: How would you describe your music style?
RYAN: hmmm, we're never very good at describing it, but it's definitely more gentler and more quiet than most rock bands, but still is rock music, i think..?

CS: Who, aside from Jesus, is or has been the biggest influence in your life?
RYAN: definitely my mom. she's not only an amazing mom, but she's been an amazing manager as well and been sleeping at last's manager since we started. she's an incredible person and has impacted my life more than anyone else!

CS: Do you have any advice to give to the youth of our world?
RYAN: love eachother! that's what living is about. it's been said a million times before and it's a strangely simple plan of action (and even more strangely hard to live out sometimes), but it's the only single thing that you cannot give/receive too much of.

CS: How long did you have to wait to get a record label?
RYAN: about 3 years.. i think. and then we signed with interscope records, who released our "ghosts" album.

CS: What is your musical background? Did you take lessons to gain the musical skills you have now?
RYAN: no, none of us ever took lessons, we each taught ourselves.

CS: Anything else you want to add? Do you have any suggestions or comments directed to the youth of this world?
RYAN: thanks for asking and thanks for reading!