On Monday, Feb. 17, the House of Blues will open its doors to New Politics, Sleeper Agent and Magic Man. The Aztec recently had a chance to get to know Alex Kandel and the alternative rock band Sleeper Agent. While promoting the upcoming album, “About Last Night,” the band could not be happier to be on the road sharing their passion with audiences.
When speaking with Kandel over the phone, her insight and poise evoked such maturity, it was hard to believe she just turned 21.
“We’ve been on the road for so long with the same people; we all grew up together,” Kandel said when asked about life on the road.
Sleeper Agent’s sound has been described by Rolling Stone as “lusty garage rock with loads of retro smarts,” and has been praised by Spin and Esquire. When asked about her musical influences throughout the past decade, Kandel paused to think.
“Jay Retard definitely influenced our first record,” Kandel said. We create a high-energy experience on stage at every show and just want to give people something to dance to. After our first album, ‘Celabrasion,’ we sort of created a goofy, quirky brand for ourselves, but ‘About Last Night’ reflects us diving a little deeper.”
The six musicians transcended into their new album with determination to evolve. Their hard work is shown through the precision and deep lyricism on the tracks, yet they don’t depart from their upbeat, funky jams.
“We really pushed ourselves mentally and physically throughout this album. We never stopped working” Kandel said.
When asked about the difficulties of capturing the same quirky aesthetic of Sleeper Agent that fans fell in love with into something a little more serious, Kandel said, “We’ve always been able to write heartbreaking lyrics that come from emotional moments and turn them into something to dance to. We still see the same die-hard fans coming back because no matter what direction life takes us in, we’re still Sleeper Agent.”
Not many young bands master the craft of experimentation while maintaining a recognizable brand as Sleeper Agent has done. Catch them at the House of Blues on Feb. 17 for an epic show. If that isn’t enough, Kandel said, “You can find me at In-n-Out Burger.”
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Photos courtesy of Phil Knott
