On the first night of Easy Sleeper’s “A Sacred Way of Living Tour,” the indie band asked listeners to dress in something sacred to them, whether that was a pair of pajamas, their favorite shirts or the long black robes the band arrived wearing onstage. It was clear that Easy Sleeper was ready to learn their listeners’ exclusive ways of being.
Their debut record, “A Sacred Way of Living,” was completely self-made. The tracks were written, performed and eventually produced in a ten-month span leading up to its release on Aug. 31.
Composed of Douglas Guttenberger, Alex Lubeck and David Poznansky, Easy Sleeper formed in 2019 within the Washington D.C. area. Each coming from a different initial band, they found themselves offering unique and essential elements to the table. As they progressed through the Washington D.C. scene, the group decided to take on Los Angeles, where they recruited producer and guitarist Michael Caddigan to complete the band.
Carrying influences from their individual backgrounds — both musical and personal — they came together to create something that reflects a combination of their skill and hard-earned wisdom.
Together the band has found “collective strategies for dealing with the things [they’ve] gone through and seen and experienced in [their] adult lives,” Poznansky said, describing their work as a dichotomy of Guttenberger and Poznansky’s songwriting.
Poznansky said the band’s reflections have been put on tape for listeners to “fit it into their own framework and see what they hear and what lessons are there for them.”
“I’d like to think we’d be a band in any time period,” Lubeck said, nodding at their five-year journey together as a group.
Easy Sleeper’s music is self-produced and promoted through the band’s Instagram, YouTube and “The Easy Sleepers Podcast,” where they talk organically about their lives and upcoming projects, drawing in audiences to their charisma and subsequently, to their music.
The community they have built has grown into something much larger. It has allowed the four musicians to find a collective of independent artists, photographers and other creatives who have a genuine drive to launch impactful projects into the music world.
“There’s a whole constellation of people surrounding every DIY scene,” they said. “No one’s making any money yet, so everyone we meet is there because they love it.”
With eight shows on their tour, Easy Sleeper stopped by the KCPR studio sporting their sacred black robes on Oct. 2 to jam for a Burnt Dog Session.
Since then, the band has been taking time off before returning to writing. Whether Easy Sleeper is actively performing or not, their union can be described as a genesis, one which they plan to continue for future albums. Easy Sleeper’s “A Sacred Way of Living” invites people to listen comfortably — as Lubeck says — wherever that may be.
Credits:
Article & Interview – Marley Logan
Opening Graphic – Ryan Nolan and JP Boiler
Videography – Kathleen Dunbar, Bailee Isackson, Dillan Yee, and Riley Petrocco
Audio Engineering – Sam Kohn, Evan Cork, Madeline Colbert, Ty Connelly, and Teagan Dees
Video Editing – Aidan Dillon
Production – Madeline Colbert and Evan Cork
Audio Mixed – Isaac Harris and Sam Kohn
Audio Mastered by Sam Kohn
