sleepmakeswaves are one of the pillars of Sydney’s growing post-rock scene, having been around since 2006. Their debut album …and so we destroyed everything is just about to drop, so Cameron Barnett fired some questions at Alex (bass, synth) and Kid (guitars).

Flog: You mention on your website that Sydney has a “burgeoning instrumental and progressive/post-rock scene”. What progress has the scene made since you’ve been making music here and what would you like to see more of?

Alex: When we started gigging five or so years ago “the scene” was just two or three post-rock bands playing in pubs. Now there are about a dozen great bands that know each other and share fans. There’s a couple of small festivals for the scene each year and the music is starting to get played on radio and written about in blogs and mags. I like to think it came about through equal parts dedication and good music, and the runaway success of Sydney bands like PVT and Seekae definitely inspires us all.

Kid: All the bands in this scene really draw upon each other for inspiration. There are so many great up and coming locals out there such as Solkyri, Panzer Queen, Karoshi, Dumbsaint, Meniscus, Pirate, Grun… it's all one big happy family. Success has a flow-down effect, the way we see it is that the more popular any of us become, the better it is for our scene and so we're always out there supporting each other.

Alex: My dream is that more Aussie music lovers will catch on to what we’re doing and that press and radio will make even more room for bands doing something different to the time-honoured pop or club tune. What bands like us can offer is a necessary part of a healthy musical diet!

You’ve had some setbacks and challenging moments over the last few years, such as founding members departing and equipment being stolen. What have been the highlights so far?

Alex: Generally though we’ve been keeping pretty quiet this year, getting the record done behind the scenes, so it hasn’t been super-exciting yet. I think the best is yet to come with the album and tour. But it was amazing recording for the first time with our new guitarist Otto, who is a fine muso and a stand-up dude. And it was such a good feeling driving away from the CD duplication factory with a boot full of our new CD – a very satisfying culmination of two years working on these songs.

Kid: We're all really looking forward to getting this album out there. Recording this album has been hard work and it's even more challenging when you are still recovering from having guitars and cash stolen, but we've managed to push through and get the job done. That's the real satisfaction knowing you can still achieve your goal no matter what hurdle gets thrown at you along the way.

You constructed your own makeshift studio in Wingello, in the NSW Southern Highlands, to record in earlier this year. Tell us more about that…

Alex: For a total of eight days, the four of us and our producer worked, lived and slept in this lovely but tiny gatehouse on a guy’s property just off the Federal Highway. We did it so we could completely immerse ourselves in the creation of our record. Too often when recording you have the vibe broken by the day’s end and a drive to and from the studio. In Wingello, that wasn’t a problem – the vibe and setting ga