Eventually, Loz was asked to fill in for Sleeps’ original vocalist Jordan Widdowson – who was working in a bank – for a Belgian tour.
“I remember coming back quite gutted, to be honest. I’d got a very small taste of what that life is like… will I ever get to taste that again?” When Sleeps decided to recruit a new full-time vocalist, asking a host of figures including Bury Tomorrow guitarist Kristian Dawson, Loz answered their call, a decision that took all of 30 seconds to make: “Dude, I’m your man.”
It’s a moment intrinsically linked to DN3 3HT, a Doncaster postcode which spells out the final track of their 2021 album SLEEPS SOCIETY.
“It spells out ‘The End’ [backwards],” he beams. “It’s where I left my day job, working as a learning support assistant, and fully joined Sleeps. Mat [Welsh, guitar] picked me up after my last day, ripped my shirt open, tied my tie around my head – movie style – and drove to Sheffield. Pretty much straight away, [we] started working on [2010 EP] The North Stands For Nothing.”
The road from there was far from smooth, however. Burnout and poor technique condemned Loz to three vocal surgeries, a series of “awful” experiences that even forced him to withdraw from touring temporarily.
“I blame the early metalcore bands that I screamed along to for my bad technique! I had to get a polyp removed, and it wasn’t a simple surgery,” he explains. “I had to stay quiet for 15 days straight after the first one, in silence. I remember having to write things down on note boards! I thought I’d come out of it sounding like Joe Pasquale or something, but the body is quite resilient. I’m lucky that it’s not stopped me [from] doing what I love.”
Picking the brains of vocal coach Melissa Cross, Loz’s relationship with his voice has altered since he learnt things the hard way.
“When I was growing up singing, I always thought [technique] was bullshit. If it’s not heavy as fuck, with full passion behind it, it kind of takes the reason for screaming away. But I understand now that there is an element of responsibility. People pay their hard-earned cash to see our band play. I have to sound the best I can sound. I took it for granted a little bit, I guess.”