Sleeping Giant | Awake & Conquer
Written By: Jameson Ketchum

ast November, I was privileged enough to join The Wake Tour beginning down in Dallas, TX. What I saw there was nothing short of amazing. Sleeping Giant, a driving force with the heaviest of breakdowns and an unmatched live show, headlined the tour with their very unique brand of hardcore and a message with a purpose. Sleeping Giant preaches hope, repentance and forgiveness while keeping the brutal beats constantly coming. But this is no ordinary inspirational band. For the past several years, Sleeping Giant has been taking their message of love to the underground, screaming, pleading with anyone who is within shouting distance to awake and realize their own potential as a Christian in a dark and broken world.

With a new record coming out this month, the boys from Redlands are poised to plead with you once again. However, the making of the new album, entitled Sons of Thunder, proved to be a difficult one. With vocalist Tommy Green living in Utah and the rest of the guys residing in California, schedules clashed and a brush with the elements kept the recording process interesting,

“I was in Utah and they came out twice and recorded vocals in my basement”, Green told us recently. “My family and I were essentially without a home for the entire process due to a roofer screwing up on our apartment and flooding our house so we were living out of suitcases for like eight months not knowing where we were going to end up, and a family at our church let us stay at their empty place, so the guys came out and we did it up out there.”

Green feared that the end product would suffer due to the distance between the band members and a feeling of disconnection. But after a first listen, Green was positive that this was the honest record that he had wanted to give to us; a raw, stripped down album that ended up being exactly the type of worship that God had put on his heart to make. Construction disasters and distance worries aside, SG was able to produce their most fierce tracks to date.

Always the self reflecting poet, Green pulled from himself for the new material.

“I write who and what I am for the most part, in love with God and absolutely sick in love with Jesus for all that He is to me and has done for us. I am a worshipper, but this record came from a deep place of pain and frustration and rage and serious injustice I see everywhere.”

And we would expect nothing less from Sleeping Giant. Since 2006, these guys have been known for their intense shows, super heavy breakdowns and willingness to spread the word of God without a relenting bone in their bodies. When you talk with Green, the first trait that jumps out at you is his passion… about everything. He hurts when he sees man hurting. He sees the brokenness in the world and he longs to tell people that there is more and that they themselves have the power to awake and change things, both in their own lives and the lives of others.

“We release the goodness and love of Christ and it transforms. It changes minds and thoughts so we do not waste away spiritually, emotionally, or physically. It is about revolution. This place is not permanent, so Sleeping Giant rises up worshippers to sing the knowledge of God and call out to those who need God and know that really, we were made to live forever.”

As for their live shows, expect a full on worship service with tribal like dancing and a call to arms each night. Standing in that arena in Dallas was unlike anything I had ever seen before at a hardcore show. People were falling to their knees, praying and crying out for answers, for something, for God. Green was the perfect man to guide them through the beginning of their journeys. His passion for the craft, his rage against the injustices and wrongs that man has done against God, his pleading with the crowd to search for more all came together into one beautiful set of songs that, I’m sure, changed lives that night.

“We could just play the heavy stuff and act like the whole point of our existence isn’t all about Jesus, really we could play the game. No.  Music was made by God and is made and meant for God. We play our music because God loves us and gave us the passion for sound and music, but we gave it to Him. Top to bottom, anything else spells compromise.”

Green went on to tell us how easy it would be to slip into the snares and traps of becoming a “normal band” but he believes that their most important goal is to ignore the possible fame and to remain pure in the eyes of the Lord. “Worshipper is an identity that you are once you step into relationship with Jesus.” This identity is apparent any time you see SG take the stage. “Our main goal is to be with God, to know God more and make God known. We want kids to see the kingdom of heaven in their midst; worship, glory, power and love.”

On The Wake Tour, I witnessed healings firsthand. People, who may or may not have believed in anything before they came that night, came to the stage after Sleeping Giant’s set and asked for prayer for healing and they were all healed instantly. I had never seen anything like this let alone musicians who cared enough to not only stick around for hours and hours after a show, but actually put their arms around their fans and pray with them. This is the type of thing that sets Sleeping Giant apart from their peers. This is the type of thing that has gotten Sleeping Giant to where they are today. They are at the point where they can confidently cry out to their crowds, “Arise sleeping giants!” And we will all listen and begin our journeys.