Thornhill vocalist Jacob Charlton will always remember the email inviting his band to open on Sleep Token’s sold-out 2025 North American arena tour.
On the one hand, that’s because of what a massive opportunity it presented for the Australian metalcore expansionists — fresh off the release of their third album, BODIES, and a hypnotically viral cover of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” — to play their music for a uniquely rabid fanbase such as Sleep Token’s.
On another level, the email is unforgettable because of its blunt phrasing, the communiqué to Thornhill’s management arriving as a single sentence: “Vessel wants you.”
To be sure, Charlton and his bandmates — guitarist Ethan McCann, drummer Ben Maida, and bassist Nick Sjogren — are in demand right now. They’ve developed their own devoted international fanbase since forming in Melbourne a decade ago, and have now found favor with Sleep Token’s frontman, who’s down to bring Thornhill to some of their biggest stages yet.
“A lot of our friends’ bands have done the arena circuit. Every band at our level hopefully gets the opportunity to do their arena run, and see how they cope, because it’s a very different show to what you’re used to,” Charlton says. “I’ve heard some scary things. I think this [tour package] hits different, because we’re a pretty good matchup for Sleep Token. There are a lot of similarities in the way that we tell stories.”
“I think Sleep Token do long-format [songs] really well. And their kind of atmosphere creation through that — with the pop elements — has been a really interesting thing to bring into heavy music,” he continues, finding connection between Sleep Token’s multi-genre swirl of metal, R&B and pop, and his own band’s groove-forward, yet boundaryless stew.
“We, as a band, appreciate people that add their own influence into ‘heavy,’ because ‘heavy’ is such a boring genre without it. You need [both] a strong sense of self, and a strong [set] of influences that come from very different places for the genre itself to even grow.”
Charlton adds that he’s excited to get a behind-the-scenes look at how Sleep Token puts together the intensely artistic audio-visual experience that’s immersed countless fans across the globe. It’s something he’s been wowed by before, but while out in the crowd.
“We saw them at Radar Fest in Manchester a couple of years ago, and they were sick,” Charlton says, alluding to the masked outfit’s flair for the grandiose. “I haven’t seen the new stuff…[but] the production is going to make us feel very, very tiny.”
Sleep Token’s North American arena run with Thornhill begins September 16th at Atlanta, Georgia’s Gas South Arena. You’ll find the full itinerary here.