The Story

War On Sleep is the latest creative venture from songwriter Eric Michaels, whose journey through Chicago's indie rock scene with Paper Thick Walls and SAYERS has led to something both deeply personal and expansively cinematic.

Paper Thick Walls emerged in Chicago with their debut album A Thousand Novels in 2011, earning over 150 positive reviews and touring 50+ cities, sharing stages with The Lumineers, Dawes, Drive-By Truckers, Company of Thieves, Joe Pug, and Smoking Popes. The orchestral indie rock project became a proving ground for the textured, layered songwriting that would come to define Michaels' work.

SAYERS followed — a Chicago-based indie rock project whose EP Diogenes Club was produced by Rob Bochnick, lead guitarist for Glen Hansard. The single "The Arsonist" received airplay on WXRT Chicago, cementing the project's place in the city's indie landscape.

Now based in Atlanta, Michaels has gathered a group of kindred spirits for War On Sleep: longtime collaborator Jacques Rene Hebert on lead guitar, mandolin, and fiddle; producer and multi-instrumentalist Ross Harrell; and a rotating cast of musicians who bring warmth and depth to every performance.

The debut single "Gold Child" arrived in 2024, followed by "Some Men" in early 2025 — which mp3hugger called "a lovely statement, put together with a warmth that makes it even more accessible." The debut EP Cool Summer was released on July 18, 2025 with a record release show at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta.

War On Sleep makes music for the wide awake — warm, cinematic indie rock that explores nostalgia, aging, resilience, and the quiet beauty in moments once taken for granted.