Following their sold-out London date at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in December 2017 and a small UK tour in March and April this year (another sell-out!) Britpop favourites Sleeper have announced more live shows for 2018 and details of a brand-new album. After hibernating for 20 years (where did the time go!?) Sleeper are well and truly back on the road, performing live with original members: Louise Wener (vocals, guitar), Jon Stewart (guitar) and Andy Maclure (drums) are newly joined by Kieron Pepper previously of The Prodigy (bass).
Forming in 1993 as Britpop’s cork well and truly popped, Sleeper are synonymous with that time, enjoying huge critical and commercial success in the mid-90s and in just five years the band achieved eight Top 40 singles across three Top 10 albums with well over 1,000,000 sales.
A support slot with friends Blur and the release of hit single ‘Inbetweener’ heralded the start of an important journey for the band and their debut album Smart became one of the first albums associated with Britpop. Their second release The It Girl featured four singles and airplay chart hits ‘What Do I Do Now?’, ‘Nice Guy Eddie’, ‘Sale of the Century’ and ‘Statuesque’. Their music also featured on the soundtrack of seminal British cult movie Trainspotting and Sleeper then went on to release their third album Pleased to Meet You in 1997. Sleeper adorned front covers across the music press and appeared numerous times on key music shows of the time like TFI Friday, Jools Holland and Top Of The Pops: an episode of which Louise Wener presented. Together, the band played the main stages of Reading, Glastonbury, V Festival, along with sold out touring across all of the UK and a support slot with REM at Milton Keynes Bowl.
Sleeper’s music is characterized by astute, observational lyrics and big, hook driven melodies. With this headline UK tour in November, new album to follow and huge affection for the band across the media, 2018 is the year Sleeper awakes.
