Some wounds don’t disappear when the circumstances that caused them are finally behind us. They linger in memories, influence our relationships, shape how we see ourselves, and sometimes resurface when we least expect them. For alternative metal band SLEEPWALKER, that complicated relationship between past experiences and emotional healing takes center stage in their song “Phantom Pain.”
The concept of phantom pain extends beyond physical sensations. It can represent the emotional weight of grief, trauma, addiction, depression, and the experiences that continue to affect us long after we’ve moved forward from them. Through deeply personal lyricism and an unconventional musical approach, SLEEPWALKER explore what it means to carry invisible wounds while trying to understand who we are beyond our past.
In this interview, the band opens up about the inspiration behind “Phantom Pain,” the complicated relationship between emotional numbness and genuine healing, and the personal experiences that can find their way into songwriting without us even realizing it. The conversation also explores the band’s identity, their refusal to conform to traditional songwriting expectations, and their desire to create music that gives listeners a sense of connection and belonging.
When discussing the meaning behind “Phantom Pain,” the band reflects on how trauma can continue influencing someone years after the original experience has passed. They explain that moving forward doesn’t necessarily mean moving on emotionally. Grief, for example, doesn’t follow a schedule. Someone can return to everyday life after losing a loved one while still carrying the emotional weight of that absence. As SLEEPWALKER explain, we can become attached to pain even when the circumstances that originally caused it are no longer part of our lives.
That idea becomes even more personal when the conversation turns toward the loneliness of carrying experiences that other people cannot see. The band shares an honest perspective on navigating life after addiction, homelessness, and losing family members who have turned their backs on them. Those chapters may belong to the past, but their emotional impact doesn’t simply disappear. They describe how difficult it can be to build relationships with people who weren’t present during those darker periods. Sometimes, explaining who you are means having to explain everything you’ve survived just to help someone understand your reactions, insecurities, or outlook on life. There’s an exhausting feeling that comes with constantly providing context for wounds other people never witnessed.
As the band puts it, “The wound might eventually heal, but the scar remains as a constant reminder of what happened.”
It’s a powerful way of looking at recovery. Healing doesn’t mean erasing your history, and surviving something doesn’t mean you are no longer affected by it. Sometimes, the hardest part is learning to accept that certain experiences will always be part of your story without allowing them to define your entire identity.
The conversation also explores the difference between emotional numbness and actually processing what we’ve experienced. SLEEPWALKER acknowledge that people can become so accustomed to difficult circumstances that they begin to mistake unhealthy patterns for normal life. Looking back through the perspective of time and hearing other people’s experiences can sometimes reveal just how much we accepted without questioning it.
They also discuss how depression can become a cycle of self-sabotage, where temporary distractions and dopamine hits offer momentary relief without addressing what’s happening underneath. For the band, “Phantom Pain” is ultimately about recognizing those patterns, challenging our own beliefs, and accepting that personal growth sometimes requires admitting when we’ve been wrong.
Interestingly, the song didn’t begin with a clearly defined lyrical message. SLEEPWALKER explain that their creative process often starts with the instrumental composition. Rather than immediately deciding what a song should communicate, they spend time sitting with the music, understanding its atmosphere, and allowing its emotional direction to guide the lyrics. The band reveals that songwriting can sometimes uncover personal feelings they weren’t consciously trying to express. Looking back at lyrics days later, they occasionally recognize that they’ve written about something deeply personal without initially realizing it. That was particularly true with “Phantom Pain,” which gradually developed into a reflection on their feelings toward faith, even though that wasn’t the original intention.
Beyond the emotional subject matter, the interview also offers insight into what makes SLEEPWALKER who they are as musicians. For them, their identity extends beyond alternative metal, genre expectations, or a particular musical structure. At the center of everything is human connection. They want listeners to find something meaningful within their music, whether that’s an experience they recognize, an emotion they’ve struggled to articulate, or simply the reassurance that they aren’t alone.
The band emphasizes that they don’t want to lose that connection as their sound continues evolving. Musical influences can change, arrangements can become more experimental, and songwriting can move in unexpected directions, but the honesty behind their music must remain.
That willingness to experiment is also a defining part of their creative identity. SLEEPWALKER aren’t interested in forcing every song into a predictable verse-chorus-breakdown formula. “Phantom Pain” itself challenges those expectations through its unconventional structure, unexpected vocal arrangements, and melodies that don’t necessarily follow the obvious direction. As the band explains, they aren’t afraid to write a seven-minute song if that’s where the music naturally takes them. Rather than worrying about what a song is supposed to sound like, they would rather follow their creativity wherever it leads.
Ultimately, this conversation highlights something important about SLEEPWALKER: their music isn’t simply about creating a particular sound. It’s about giving complicated human experiences somewhere to exist. “Phantom Pain” examines the parts of ourselves that remain affected by the past, while reminding listeners that growth is possible even when healing isn’t straightforward.
Through vulnerability, experimentation, and a commitment to honest storytelling, SLEEPWALKER continue building a musical identity rooted in shared experiences. And perhaps that’s what makes “Phantom Pain” resonate so deeply: sometimes, knowing that someone else understands the weight you’re carrying is the first step toward realizing you don’t have to carry it alone.
The Interview: SLEEPWALKER on “Phantom Pain,” Emotional Healing, and Musical Identity
The term “phantom pain” describes a sensation that persists even when the original source of the pain is no longer physically present. As a metaphor for emotional suffering, it raises an interesting question: can we become attached to pain even after the circumstances that caused it are gone? What does “Phantom Pain” mean to you personally?
“To me, Phantom Pain is about how past experiences and trauma can shape and mould us, sometimes years after those events have happened. I genuinely believe we can become attached to pain, even when the circumstances that caused it are no longer part of our lives.
Take grief, for example. Just because someone appears to have moved forward after losing someone doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve stopped hurting or fully come to terms with that loss. Life continues, and we’re expected to keep moving with it, but that doesn’t mean the emotional impact simply disappears. I think that’s something many people struggle with. We learn to live with certain experiences, but they can continue to influence how we think, feel and perceive the world long after the original situation has passed. For me, that’s what Phantom Pain represents: the parts of our past that may no longer be physically present, but still leave a lasting impression on who we are.”
Sometimes the most difficult wounds to confront are the ones we can no longer explain to other people because the event has passed, the relationship has ended, or the person who hurt us is no longer in our lives. Does “Phantom Pain” explore the loneliness of carrying something that nobody else can see, especially when the outside world expects you to have moved on?
“Entirely. I think this is one of the central themes behind Phantom Pain, and I’d like to draw on some of my own experiences to explain what I mean.
I’ve lived through addiction and homelessness as well as the loss of family members who have turned their backs on me. Those darker periods of my life don’t simply disappear because I’m no longer in those circumstances. Sometimes, when my mental health takes a downturn, those memories can come flooding back and make me question who I am as a person. I’m sure that’s something many other people can relate to in their own way.
I think one of the hardest parts of moving forward is navigating relationships with people who weren’t present during those chapters of your life. You can almost feel as though you have to explain your entire history just to help someone understand why you are the way you are, or to prevent them from seeing you in a negative light without understanding what you’ve been through.
There’s a loneliness in feeling that you constantly have to provide context for parts of yourself that other people have never experienced. I suppose that’s what the title Phantom Pain represents so well. The wound might eventually heal, but the scar remains as a constant reminder of what happened. Just because those experiences are behind you doesn’t mean they stop being part of you.”
Do you think people sometimes mistake emotional numbness for healing? Someone might stop talking about an experience or appear to have moved forward, yet still carry its effects beneath the surface. How does “Phantom Pain” explore the difference between genuinely processing something and simply learning how to live around it?
“Absolutely. I think this is something a lot of people experience, myself included. We can become so accustomed to our own darker life experiences that we start to normalize things that perhaps should never have been normal in the first place. Sometimes it takes speaking to other people later in life and hearing their perspectives to realize that certain things in our own lives shouldn’t have happened the way they did, but because it’s all we’ve ever known, we don’t necessarily recognize that at the time.
Take depression as an example here and how people can become so deeply caught up in their own emotions that they almost become volatile. I think when that happens, you can reach a point where you become comfortably numb within your own depression, to the point where you can even find yourself self-sabotaging the things around you, almost chasing temporary dopamine hits rather than addressing what’s actually happening beneath the surface.
For me, Phantom Pain is about coming to terms with things, accepting defeat where necessary and recognizing that our own beliefs aren’t always correct. That doesn’t just apply to faith, but also to our ideologies, how we perceive other people and how we view the world around us. It’s about recognizing that we’re all part of this world and that we’re capable of growing beyond our experiences, rather than remaining trapped in what could have been, or what we think should have been.”
When a song explores something psychologically complicated, do you begin with a specific personal experience, a feeling you can’t quite explain, or an abstract idea that gradually develops a story of its own? How did “Phantom Pain” first take shape?
“Although a lot of our songs draw from personal experiences, we don’t necessarily set out with a specific topic or message in mind. More often than not, the ideas develop naturally throughout the writing process. Quite often we’ll have a song written instrumentally before I start thinking about the lyrical direction. I’ll take some time to sit with the track, assess the atmosphere and the emotions it evokes, and then consider what kind of subject matter might complement that feeling.
When it comes to the lyrics themselves, a lot of what I write draws from my own experiences, sometimes without me even consciously realizing it. There have been occasions where I’ll revisit something I’ve written days later and recognize that I’ve actually been expressing something personal without initially intending to. It’s an interesting relationship with songwriting because we’re not always choosing the subjects we want to explore. Sometimes they just find their way into the music.
That’s very much how Phantom Pain came together. It didn’t initially start out as a song about my feelings towards faith; that wasn’t something I’d consciously decided to write about. As the music and lyrics developed, the subject matter gradually revealed itself, and it naturally evolved into what the song became”.
When you strip away the genre labels, the stage presence, and the expectations that come with being an alternative metal band, what do you believe sits at the very core of SLEEPWALKER? What is the part of your identity as musicians that you would never compromise, regardless of how your sound evolves?
“For us it comes down to connection and shared human experiences. We’re not in the business of simply making songs that sound good; we want our music to make people think, question things and really take notice of the themes and emotions within our lyrics.
Of course, not every song we write has to carry an incredibly deep or complex meaning, and that’s something we’re conscious of. But I think most of us in the band connect with our own music on a much deeper level when there’s an emotional anchor behind it, something that gives the song a sense of purpose beyond just how it sounds.
At the very core of SLEEPWALKER, I think it’s about building bridges through those shared experiences. We want our music to create a sense of belonging and provide a safe space for people who might otherwise feel isolated or alone in what they’re going through. Regardless of how our sound evolves, that’s something I wouldn’t want us to lose. Musical styles can change, influences can develop and our songwriting can grow, but that connection with people and the honesty behind what we create should always remain.”
Alternative metal gives you a broad musical vocabulary, but I’m curious about the elements that make a song unmistakably SLEEPWALKER. Is your identity rooted more in the atmosphere you create, the emotional weight behind the music, the way you structure songs, or something that is difficult to put into words?
“I’ll be honest, I think it’s a little bit of everything you’ve mentioned. Lyrical meaning and atmosphere are huge parts of our identity, but in reality I think what really makes a song unmistakably SLEEPWALKER is our willingness not to conform to any particular musical standard. Take Phantom Pain, for example. Its structure is quite unconventional compared to what you’d typically expect from a song following the usual verse, chorus, verse, chorus and breakdown format. We’re not opposed to that structure at all; if it works for a particular song, we’re more than happy to use it. But we’re equally comfortable experimenting with something unexpected or taking a direction that might feel a little unconventional.
That also carries over into our vocal arrangements and melodies. I’m not particularly interested in always taking the obvious route with vocal phrasing or writing melodies that people might instinctively expect to hear. Sometimes an unusual melody, an unexpected change in delivery or a vocal arrangement that sits slightly outside the norm can bring something completely different to a track.
At the end of the day, we write what we want to write and how we want to write it. If we wanted to make a seven-minute song because that’s where the music naturally took us, we’d absolutely do that. We don’t want to feel restricted by expectations of what a song should sound like, how long it should be or how it should be structured. I think putting ourselves in a creative box would be one of the worst things we could do as musicians. Our sound should be allowed to evolve, experiment and occasionally surprise people. For us, that’s a big part of what being SLEEPWALKER is about.“
“Phantom Pain” is a reminder that healing isn’t always visible, linear, or something that can be measured by how well someone appears to be doing. Some experiences leave marks that follow us into entirely different chapters of our lives. Through this release, SLEEPWALKER give those complicated feelings a voice while continuing to embrace the freedom to create music without boundaries. For listeners who have ever struggled to explain their past, questioned their own healing, or felt alone carrying something nobody else could see, there’s something particularly meaningful in what the band has to say. Sometimes, the experiences we struggle most to put into words are the ones that deserve to be heard.
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