Pray for Sleep is a Rock/Metal band from Columbus, Ohio. Formed while members were in area high schools, they first gained notoriety performing at Rock on the Range, 2018 edition instead of attending their high school graduation ceremony. It was their 4th live show ever. Building on this success, they sold out legendary Columbus venue, The Basement later that summer. Donating 100% of the proceeds to Nationwide Children's Hospital #OnOurSleeves campaign to combat mental health issues and fund the nation's first mental health focuses facility. Members Grant DeCrane (vocals), Hayden Kissler (guitar), and Reno Houston (drums) came together over their love of music and overall goal of helping others with their music. The band writes about different struggles they, or people they know, have been through like anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts or other mental health issue. They strive to be a positive influence on their fans and community by making sure people know they are not alone in their fight.
Thank you for taking this interview! What has 2022 been like for YOU as artists? 2022 has been a lot of ups and downs for sure. We obviously are just getting off of the pandemic train so we were still adjusting to normal life again. Simultaneously we have been writing new music as much as we possibly can and have a ton of cool opportunities coming up, such as Inkarceration Festival, and are extremely grateful for everything we get to do! Can you tell us how you've transformed from the beginning to now as an artist? When we started this band we always knew we wanted to do it as a career. We have practiced many hours and are always grateful for what we get to do, which is play music for others and hopefully let them know that we struggle the same way they do every day. We are getting closer each day to our goals and seeing big things like festivals with our name on the roster is so amazing and just makes us want to push harder. How did you come up with your latest project? We are currently writing an EP about mental health as we usually do but this time it will sound exactly how we want. Our listening tastes and playing styles have evolved in ways that we want to portray through our new project and talk about more struggles we think people can relate to, specifically the different stages of grief. Where are you from originally? We are all from Columbus, OH Where do you live now? We all 3 still live in the Columbus area. Do you think where you live impacts how your music is made? In a way, yes. We have all 3 been through alot of challenges in life like everyone has and that's what we like to talk about. I wouldn't say our hometown has had a big impact on it. It has more so been the people around and situations we have been through in the past. Thankfully we all 3 have amazing friends and families that have helped us get through it all. What was the inspiration to make music your career? All three of us have been musicians for a very long time. I (Reno) have played drums since I was very young and always felt drawn to the stage and performing for people. The circumstances of us 3 meeting the way we did was very cool and felt like the perfect time and now all of us get to make this career together and it's been an amazing time. How do you want to shape your career? We obviously want to make music our career but we are equally as focused on helping others through our music. So as long as we are continuing to help others and encourage people through our music we are happy. Do you work on a tight timeline always or do you go with the flow when it comes to your music? I would say that depends on what we are working on. We get together once or twice a week to practice or write normally but when we go into the studio we have done everything from 3 days every few weeks to basically a whole month in the studio straight. We are more go with the flow but if we have a timeline or deadline we need to meet we stick to that. How did your latest title of your music come to be? From the beginning we have had a focus on mental health and our album was kind of a culmination of a lot of ideas. We talk about everything from suicide to addiction in those lyrics and we are proud of how it turned out. As I said we think our sound is changing slightly from that album but the core ideas are the same and we will always be so happy with that album and how it turned out. Is it hard to let go of the music when it is done? I wouldn't say so. We are always excited to release new music so whenever we get to do that we are very excited to show everyone and play it live finally! Do you feel an emotional attachment with your music? Absolutely. A good amount of our lyrics are based on personal experiences either of us or our friends and family so we have a strong emotional attachment to everything we write. How would you describe your music in one word to someone who hasn't listened to it yet? Sad Where do they go to listen NOW? We are on all streaming platforms and have music videos on our YouTube. Everything can be found on prayforsleep.com What has been the best fan reaction to your music? We actually have a few people who have messaged or come up to us and told us how our songs help them or how they relate to them and that always makes us extremely happy and grateful to get to do what we do. Is there anything exciting coming up for you? We have some awesome opportunities to play the Audiofeed festival in Illinois as well as Inkarceration here in Ohio coming up in July and we are extremely excited. Are you performing the song anywhere LIVE? Our unreleased song "Gamorrah" is one that we have been playing recently and will be playing at those festivals coming up! Give us all your socials and links so fans can link up with you! Thank you for this interview! Thank you again for thinking of us! Here's how people can find us: Instagram: @prayforsleepband Twitter: @prayforsleepbnd Facebook: Pray for Sleep Website: prayforsleep.com