BEER INTERVIEW: Rob from Sleeper's Awake!
Hello again!
I have a real treat lined up for you tonight, in the form of a beer interview
with Rob Bradley, lead guitarist for
one of my favourite bands of this year, Sleeper’s
Awake. Shortly after I reviewed their latest album Trancension a couple of weeks ago, Rob added me on Facebook and it
turns out that he’s a beer geek. HELL YES! Lisa from Hold Tight PR suggested I
do another of my beer interviews which Rob seemed pretty excited about so here
it is...
But first... stream the album while you read... it's awesome:
Beer:
What’s the craft beer scene like where you
are in
If I visit Columbus, where should I go to
drink awesome beer? First and foremost, Barley’s! Like I said, they are by
far my favorite. I usually am there once a week at least drinking and playing
cards with my girlfriend Lindsey. There
are some other great ones too. Seventh Son is new but has some great stuff.
North High Brewing is great too (you can also brew your own beer there). As far as non-brewery places are concerned,
Bob’s Bar and Kobo are some of the best beer places around. Good people, good
beer. That swill slinging bastard Chris Burnsides A.K.A. “Ambrose” will probably
just tell you to visit the Budweiser plant. He disgusts all of us. From here on
out, let the term “Ambrose beer” represent everything we hate in beer; your
macro-lager, adjunct filled, cow piss.
How do you feel about the pace that the
craft beer scene in the
East Coast U.S. or West Coast beer? West
Coast. Oregon and California are front runners there. Stone, Rogue, North Coast, Sierra Nevada, Ninkasi, the list just goes on and on.
British or Belgian beer? British.
Samuel Smith’s India Ale was one of the first beers I really loved back when I
was about 21, 22. It was hoppier than anything I had tasted at that time and
was kind of an eye-opener for me. I was in college at Ohio State then so
drinking Ambrose beer was the norm but when I tried the India Ale, I was
hooked. Chris and I got into beer at about the same time so I believe we both
tried the Sam Smith.
German or Czech beer? Czech. I love a
good Pilsner every once in a while.
Cask (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cask_ale) or Keg beer? Depends on the beer. I
LOVE cask beer but I am not going to be too into a cask Pilsner. A great IPA,
DIPA, or stout on cask is awesome. One thing we really fuck up in America is
that we serve our beer way too cold! You can’t taste anything when it’s that
cold! Of course, Ambrose beer has to be basically frozen to be drinkable. I
know I look like a prick when I go to a place and request a room temperature
glass instead of the frozen one they want to give me. When you get a great cask
beer it is awesome though.
Bottled or Canned beer? A lot of
breweries are switching to cans because they seal better, protect the beer
better, etc. I have no real preference. Sierra Nevada just made a switch to
using a lot of cans. Still delicious.
Favourite style of beer? Double IPA for
sure.
Favourite British ale? I’ll probably
have to stick with Sam Smith India Ale. It’s a real nostalgic thing for me.
Favourite Belgian beer? Chimay Blue. I
also used to like Leffe Blonde a lot.
Favourite German beer? I know it’s not
too ground breaking an answer but there is a reason that people like Ayinger
Celebrator. Ambrose just loves
it.
Favourite Czech beer? I have to confess
that Pilsner Urquell is one of the only ones I have had. I have had a lot of
Czech style beers, but not many from the Czech Republic. Someone needs to let
me come visit them in Europe!
Favourite American Beer? That’s tough
but I will probably say Bells HopSlam from Kalamazoo, MI.
American or European beer? I have to go
with American just because I am limited in the amount of good European beers
that I can try.
3 Favourite breweries in the whole world? Great
Lakes, Founders, Three Floyds
3 Favourite beers in the whole world? Bell’s
HopSlam, Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster, Ninkasi Tricerahops DIPA.
What’s the best food and beer pairing? Any
beer with nachos. High class, I know.
What was your first ever alcoholic drink?
How’d that go for you? Funny story. When I was about 4 years old, my
parents took me to a wedding where they had a literal fountain of champagne.
Apparently I went up and filled my little cup up with champagne a few times
before my parents or anyone noticed what I was doing. Needless to say, we left
the wedding shortly after my parents realized what had happened.
What’s the most absurd thing you’ve done
while drunk? It was actually the day after but I was so hungover and
feeling so badly about my irresponsibility the night before that I decided, “I
need something to be responsible for to make up for this.” I bought a cat.
That’s right Lisa Coverdale; a cat.
What’s your favourite city to drink in? Portland,
Oregon. So many breweries. An alcoholic’s delight.
If Jesus turned water into beer instead of
wine, what would the beer be? Nothing Ambrose would drink.
Mandatory musical section:
I recently reviewed Transcension and it was fucking awesome. I can’t stop listening to
it! What direction are you planning on taking your next release in? Thanks
man! Glad you enjoyed it. We pretty much immediately started writing for the
next album as we tend to get very bored, very quickly. The new stuff is still
very heavy in a lot of parts but also very melodic and for lack of a better
term, kind of “pretty.” We want the new stuff to really continue to showcase
Chris’ voice. We have always felt that his voice is kind of the connecting
point for a lot of listeners. We feel we did a decent job of that on
“Transcension” but we would like to continue to push that element further. We
are also planning some out and out just crazy, super proggy, pieces as well.
And when are you going to come over to
England so I can see you live and geek out with you over beer? Very soon I
hope! There is a lot of beer out there for us to try! We probably should base
any tour schedule around towns with breweries in them.
Many thanks to Rob for taking the time to
tell us all about the breweries of Ohio, the way he became an alcoholic at the
age of 4 and for advising us not to be hungover because you might buy a cat!
Sleepers Awake can be found on Facebook
here: https://www.facebook.com/SleeperRock
And on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/SleeperRock140
Cheers!
Nate
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