Image: Architects - Whiplash [Official Music Video, YouTube], Sleep Token @adamrosssi [Instagram]
Following the announcement of a major wave of bands for the Download Festival, including three headliners, the rock and metal community has had plenty to talk about. Alongside Green Day and Korn - both established and celebrated bands for decades - Sleep Token was announced as a headliner. Not everyone agrees with this choice, arguing that the band lacks the experience for such a position and has only gained significant attention since their viral song “The Summoning” went viral on TikTok in 2023. However, Architects are fully in favor of the decision and have made their support clear.
Architects on Sleep Token in an Interview
In a conversation with NME, Architects openly expressed their support for Sleep Token as a headliner, stating they fully endorse the decision and have even shared their thoughts with colleagues at Live Nation.
“I’m very happy for Sleep Token. I’m very proud of them.”
- Sam Carter, frontman
Guitarist Tom Searle elaborates further:
“My first reaction was ‘How much are they paying Green Day?’ I’ve had these conversations with friends who work at Live Nation – when are you going to give KoRn, Deftones and Limp Bizkit their shot at headlining? It’s 20 years late! But Sleep Token absolutely should be headlining… I’ve said to those friends, ‘You would be idiots not to [book them].’ KoRn must be looking at it going, ‘Oh, we’re finally headlining Download, only took us 20 years! Who are Sleep Token? They’re already headlining it?!’”
Architects were also asked about Sleep Token’s rapid rise to success beyond the Download Festival. According to Tom Searle, it’s remarkable given the fast-paced nature of today’s music industry:
"I don’t know how they’re processing it. I was speaking to a promoter, and he’s not seen a rise like it since Slipknot in the early ’00s. The fact that their biggest tune is a six-minute prog song ["The Summoning"] is extraordinary in this day and age, when songs [apparently] need to be succinct and get the listener’s interests in the first 30 seconds.”
Although the two bands don’t appear to share a close friendship, Architects consistently speak highly of Sleep Token. Sam Carter described Vessel, the singer of Sleep Token, with these words:
“The singer is such a nice guy, he’s so quiet. At the end of tour, we’d come into the dressing room and he was so gentle in nature.”
