Sleep Token has been dominating the discourse lately, much like The Last of Us. Today, we’re gonna take a peak behind the curtain at the identities of the members.
Take Me Back to Eden is out now and you can order your copy today.
Additional info by Bryce Hively.
Starting at the top, we have Vessel aka Leo George Faulkner (ex-Blacklit Canopy.) We found this video of Blacklit Canopy performing (his bandmate is Gemma Matthews) and you can get a clear shot of Leo’s actual face behind the mask he wears as Vessel in Sleep Token. You can really hear the early stages of his vocals compared to now. Leo’s name is in the ASCAP Repertory along with Adam Pedder.
Pretty hard to deny when our source is the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. You can find more info about his other various projects right here. Leo was writing blog posts while BC was still in their infancy. He also composed an ambient soundtrack for a short film called, The Kiss.
Blacklit Canopy performing "Patient" at Sofar Winchester on February 4th, 2014.
The duo also formed a short lived side project, Aurora Jazz, which was -checks notes- an outlet for jazz covers. Their cover of At Last by Etta James can be seen below.
We are a jazz standard cover duo consisting of a trained pianist and vocalist. We play everything from Frank Sinatra classics to jazz covers of the latest hits.
You can find even more proof in Vessel’s lyrics on Take Me Back To Eden that reference his old band, Blacklit Canopy. For example, during a section in Ascensionism:
I can offer you a blacklit paradise
And during the bridge of Euclid:
These ancient canopies that we used to lay beneath
Adam Pedder's drum playthrough of Ø, recorded in October 2017.
III aka Dave Ball. The picture below was taken by Sleep Token’s photographer, Adam Rosssi (Adamross Williams). Specifically, it was taken on Jan 7th, 2023 while on tour with Architects at the Mitsubishi Electric Hall in Düsseldorf, Germany. The person who gave him the hat is Northlane’s guitar tech. We included the tour poster to cross-reference. It’s worth noting III/Dave both have Charvel tagged in their respective profiles.
Below is a picture of him playing the Verti Music Hall in Berlin, Germany. Once again, a city/venue that’s on the aforementioned poster.
Espera
It looks like the backing vocalists have revealed themselves via this Instagram post from @espera.bgvs which can be seen below. Lynsey Ward (middle) is a vocalist and keyboard player from Tamworth, England. She's best known as the vocalist and keyboard player for the band, Exploring Birdsong.
Ex-Members
The info in this section was provided by Dan Morgan. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
First up - Annina Melissa.It's a well known secret in the UK scene that she was the original pianist/keyboardist and did backing vocals from 2016-2020 (although she didn't go on the US tour with them, Sam Kubrick was a session player for that show). She was also briefly in She Must Burn (the same band Adam Pedder was in) but she left She Must Burn to focus on Sleep Token as the band gained momentum.You can hear her voice in the BBC Maida Vale Session with Sleep Token.She also writes and produces cyberpunk music under the name Razorchild.
She is now a music designer and composer for video games. From the outside, it looks like she had the opportunity to work on games for Creative Assembly and that collided with the tour. She worked on Warhammer 3 as a musician along with singing for the campaign map and performing the female warrior screams. Annina also performed on Total War: Warhammer III:
Here's a picture of Dave Ball (he’s holding the birthday girl sign) celebrating Annina’s birthday (this is from her public facebook profile). She's quite small; you can compare her height with Sleep Token pics from 2017, 2018, 2019.
And another photo of Annina hanging out backstage (wearing an artist wristband) with Loathe at Download Festival, where Sleep Token played in 2018. Both bands played The Dogtooth Stage.
The other original member was Jasper Lyons.
He was the lead guitarist and with Sleep Token the same amount of time as Annina Melissa 2016-2020. He's got some guitar clips up; it definitely matches the Sleep Token style. He also didn't go on the US tour for whatever reason. Jasper owns the Eastbourn Music Collective and plays in a band called Treasurer. Here's an old photo of him and Dave Ball; both on the left.
Posted
AuthorJordan Mohler
TagsSleep Token, Dave Ball, Adam Pedder, Sam Kubrick, Rhys Griffiths, Leo Faulkner, Blacklit Canopy, Take Me Back To Eden, Vessel, Annina Melissa, She Must Burn, Jasper Lyons, Sundowning, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, Vesselettes, Lynsey Ward, Paige Phillips, Mathilda Riley, Espera
