Sleepyhead are a Midlands based six piece band, whose original sound is driven by strong harmonies and well crafted songs which draw from a wide musical spectrum. Melodically they lean towards 60s / 70s psychedelia (The Beatles, Mamas & Papas, Cream, The Byrds, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana etc) whilst the soulful 3 part harmonies lend a west coast sound reminiscent of the likes of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, America, Tom Petty etc. They released an EP through Incubator records in 2005 which was a development label aimed at getting new bands exposure. This resulted in the band recording their debut album - Headspace - which was produced and engineered by the revered Indian musician Surinder Sandhu (www.surindersandhu.com).
Their 2005 EP, Change of Season, racked up the accolades and later that year Barry Tome from Gotham records heard a preview of the album and used material for various compilation albums under the Birmingham Music Network banner.
The following is from a gig review of the Surface unsigned festival
"A refreshingly original direction; beautiful and tender vocals combine with an intelligent and atmospheric sound to create some exceptional tracks" "Chuddy brought some great beats into the mix. A very talented bunch, they gave an impressive performance which saw them through to the Regional Finals. Surely if they can continue to perform at this high standard it won’t be long before they start receiving the wider recognition their sound deserves."
The following is a review from a midlands based fanzine of the Headspace album:
"Reminding me very much of the early Crosby, Stills & Nash sound- so this album is highly recommended by me to anyone who loves beautiful harmony singing, class song writing, and thoughtful gentle acoustic musicianship - and a hint of rock n roll!- its such a beautiful album, that I’ve had it on repeat play for about 2 days at the moment, there’s 15 tracks on it, and for once that’s not too much, as clocking in a total time of just over 56 mins, its perfect to play whilst you get ready to go out-maybe to a SLEEPYHEAD gig?- or wherever!. Love and other demons, kicks the album off with a great bluesy-rocky sounding guitar, so its not all laid back acoustic, rather more like CSN when NEIL YOUNG joined, one song on here I’ve got to mention is GROOVY LURVE THANG, its well FUNKY, I love it and think it should be released as a cd single, it starts with a couple of lines I could well have written myself!- Janis Joplin, Janis Joplin, I think I love you, Samuel Jackson, Samuel Jackson, I think I love you- my only criticism is that at just over 2 mins long its just not long enough, and my own version is better- all 54 verse’s of it!!!. Other tracks worthy of mention are YOU TAKE IT ALL, which I’ve gotta say is so much like CSN&Y it’s untrue! And for once it’s not written by LOZ RABONE, as he allows DAVE KING to show off his song writing skills, then there’s- SOMETIMES, DROWNING, BURN AND SHINE, HOW WAS I TO KNOW, and CHANGE OF SEASON all favourites of mine. I’m gonna end this little review, by telling you all to go out as soon as possible to a SLEEPYHEAD gig and see this AMAZING group for yourself"
