SLEEPING GIANT

Wake Up Call

Comprised of some industry survivalists, heavy rock super group Sleeping Giant launch an epic DVD at Rocket Room this Friday, November 25, with support from Brutus, Nevsky Prospekt and The Lethals. PATRICK MARLBOROUGH chats to lead guitarist Jimmy Thompson about the past and future of this leviathan of a band.

Jimmy Thompson is surprisingly pleasant to talk to. Indeed, he is delightfully candid and friendly. There seems to be a gap between the softness of his speech and the heavy-hitting sound of his music. But that gap quickly disappears as Jimmy reveals his knowledge of the music industry and what it is to be in a band.
Sleeping Giant formed in late 2010, and the DVD is their first official launch of any purchasable music: “I guess it’s a bit odd, launching a DVD before anything else,” he begins. “We never really planned it out too well. It just happened. The Bon Scott tribute gig went really well, the recording of this DVD came together really well, so we thought, why not release it?”
That’s not to say that the band is shying away from studio recordings. “We are almost semi in the studio,” Thompson says. “We are working with Michael Hobbs from Green Room and End Of Fashion, he’s already recorded drums for us. I’m going to start on guitars soon, Leigh [Miller] is doing bass… it’s such early days at the moment that I feel silly talking about it. It’s all fresh, it’s all new, it’s all fun and I want it to stay that way.”
Thompson is an old-hand. He made it big with Melbourne outfit Full Scale and then ‘got lucky’ and met Page Hamilton, striking up a friendship that would see him play with American alternative metal titans Helmet for just under two years. “My first gig with Helmet was supporting Guns N’ Roses in Iowa, in front of a crowd of 12,000,” he boasts.
Thompson cites his experience with Hamilton as an important part of his musical education. “He’s got a masters in jazz and he knows his shit inside and out. He’s one of the nicest guys in rock I had a lot of fun touring around, but I reached a point where I realised I had other interests. I realised I wanted to play my own music. I went back to uni and completed a computer science degree,” he laughs, “then I thought to myself, what am I doing?”
It was about this time that Thompson began jamming with Chris Webber from Crawlspace. “We jammed for a good two years,” he informs. “Eventually we began the gruelling process of auditioning singers, until we stumbled upon Christian Parkinson from Battlecat. He had a voice from hell. Then we found Leigh Miller from The Lethals.”
The gig that has become the DVD was a great experience for the band. “The crowd were so receptive,” Thompson says. “They were all AC/DC fans, I think we are a bit heavier than AC/DC but as long as we played well and had fun, they were sure to love it. It felt good.”
Finally, Thompson reflects on the Perth scene. “It’s going great. The new mix of bands is blowing my mind. But I’m proud to see bands like Brutus still kicking around after all these years. A few chats have been going down about the old bands coming back and teaching the young whipper-snappers what it’s all about.” He laughs again, “It’s only tongue in cheek.”