Sleepy Age were a Christchurch indie pop band formed in 2009 by Josh Burgess, who had been developing home recordings while touring with Bang! Bang! Eche!. Within just five weeks of their formation, the band won the RDU Round Up competition, launching them into the Christchurch live circuit with a momentum that belied their newness. Early lineups featured Will Edmonds (also of the Insurgents and God Bows to Math), Josh Black, Hayden Williams, and Charlie Ryder — Burgess’s collaborator from Bang! Bang! Eche! — among their number.
The band’s melody-heavy pop drew on an eclectic range of influences, from the abrasive drive of Die! Die! Die! to the songcraft of Randy Newman. They opened for The Cribs and Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü, and played the Sounday 2010 and Chartfest 2010 festivals. After Will Edmonds and Hayden Williams departed, Mathias Dowle joined on drums and the band settled into a three-piece. They released a debut EP free on Bandcamp in September 2010, also pressing a limited edition acetate 7″, before heading north to play Auckland.
By mid-2011, Sleepy Age had released a second 7″ — the single Décor — on Christchurch label Gold Sounds. At the time of the release Josh Burgess spoke of plans for a European tour and had SXSW 2012 in their sights, reflecting the ambition of a band operating in a city still recovering from the 2011 earthquake. Burgess and Ryder later carried their songwriting partnership into Yumi Zouma, the intercontinental indie pop group they co-founded with Kim Pflaum, which went on to international recognition.
Charlie from Bang! Bang! Eche! formed the intercontinental pop-group Yumi Zouma with Josh Burgess from Sleepy Age
James Dann, AudioCulture, 2019
Members
- Josh Black (bass/keyboard, A Flight To Blackout, Neil Robinson, Sleepy Age, The Blow Charlie)
- Josh Burgess (guitar, Bang! Bang! Eche!, Yumi Zouma)
- Mathias Dowle (drums)
- Will Edmonds (Insurgents, God Bows to Math)
- Charlie Ryder (guitar, Bang! Bang! Eche!, Yumi Zouma)
- Hayden Williams (drums, A Flight To Blackout, Neil Robinson, Sleepy Age)
Discography
- Fuck Yr Friends EP (2010, self-released)
- Décor Single (2011, Gold Sounds)