Sheffield’s contamporary metalcore flagmen While She Sleeps are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their seminal EP The North Stands For Nothing with an exclusive pressing of the original vinyl. The 8-track EP from 2010 holds a fundamental place in the band’s career, establishing them as one of the most exciting and promising English bands at the time, shaping their unique blend of heavy and melodic hardcore, and paving the way to the four Top 40 albums that followed ever since.
The anniversary repressing was launched on 1st January on limited 600 copies of the gold and red splatter vinyl, with one side etched with handwritten lyrics. Originally available on the While She Sleeps’ official website, the LPs sold out immediately but you can keep checking the band’s social media channels in case more copies are ordered due to popular demand.
The North Stands For Nothing is the third EP in the band’s career following their first steps with And This Is Just The Start (2006) and Split with the Andwhitestars (2009), and the one to transform While She Sleeps from a hobbie and side project into a full-time music act. The EP was recorded between January and April 2010 in their home studio ‘The Barn’ in Sheffield, with mastering by Tim Turan from Turan Audio in Oxford, and officially released on 26 July through Small Time Recordings.
The North Stands For Nothing was almost entirely a self-made project produced by guitarist Mat Welsh with composition, arrangement, lyrics and artwork all done by the band. The EP featured While She Sleeps’ first two music videos of the monumental tracks ‘Crows‘ and ‘Hearts Aside Our Horses‘, fan favourites to this day and a highlight of any of the band’s energetic concerts.
With the addition of vocalist Lawrence Taylor the year before and ever since beginning to work on The North Stands For Nothing, the band has maintained its original line-up consisting of the founding members Mat Welsh (rhythm guitar), Aaran McKenzie (bass), Sean Long (lead guitar) and Adam Savage (drums). Heavily toured and promoted, the EP paved the way for the Sheffield quintet to becoming one of the most influential and sought-after acts in the European contemporary metalcore scene.
Earlier in 2020, in response to the widespread criticism of devaluation of music by streaming platforms and record labels, in addition to the difficulties imposed on music acts due to the COVID-19 ongoing restrictions, While She Sleeps made a stand and launched their innovative sustainable business model. Based around the Patreon public support platform, the band established the Sleeps Society virtual club, revolving around four tiers of monthly membership granting their followers a wide range of benefits and exclusive content. Since its inception on 15 October 2020 and following the update two weeks later, While She Sleeps have more than passed their initial goal of 500 members, with the highest paid ‘Revolution’ tier all sold out and currently standing at 2071 total members and almost 142 unique posts
Alongside the society launch, the metalcore heavyweights debuted the title single ‘Sleeps Society‘ as their first and only release for 2020. Following the standalone track ‘Fakers Plague‘ from December 2019, these are the only two songs since the release of their fourth album So What? in March 2019. While She Sleeps have confirmed they are currently working on their fifth record, also called Sleeps Society and set for premiere on 16 April 2021, done entirely with their fans’ and members’ support.
