When I found out that SLEEPER were touring, I was there. No ifs, buts or maybes, I was THERE.
Having seen them play a few times in the past, once back in the heyday of Britpop where they supported an even bigger band from the Britpop camp, in Bristol on their 2022 tour where they celebrated 25 years of ‘The IT Girl’ and last year at the ‘SHIIINE ON’ festival in Minehead (Butlins has never looked so alive in mid November!) The thought of watching them play a paired back set containing many of their classics that had been pushed through the re-work sonic sausage machine was enticing, so much so, I trudged up to The Phoenix in the heart of Exeter city to have a gander.
Arriving earlier than usual, we were surprised to see a full bar and terrace at the venue, people had clearly made the same decision to get there early to get a good spot once the doors opened. There were many people ‘of a certain age’, by this, I mean my age, people I have seen at Exeter shows for many years so it was good to catch up with them as well as meet some new fans who had made special trips from North Devon and even Cornwall to catch their heroes.
With no support act, the evening was split into two sections, let’s call it ‘Act 1’ and ‘Act 2’, the former consisting of a bunch of tracks and the latter where the band take questions from a box that was on the merch table throughout ‘act 1’ and the intermission, followed by another bunch of tracks.
They took to the stage and received a massive welcome from the Exeter audience, it’s been possibly 2-3 decades since some of these people have seen the band so it was no surprise that they were excited for the evening ahead.
They admitted that they had trouble locating the venue, after one go on a popular mapping tool, they ended up at a Chinese takeaway called ‘The Phoenix’ which clearly wasn’t where they were performing and after a quick phone call, they were on their way to the correct destination. I mentioned that they were performing a stripped back set which included electric guitar (Jon), acoustic guitar, keys and bass drum (Andy) and vocals/tambourine (Louise).
Kicking off with ‘Lie Detector’, Louise explained that the song was written about how women were often reduced to stereotypes and cliches, especially in their early days when Louise would often be interviewed by male presenters and was made to feel like an object (just check YouTube for any mid 90’s interviews with her and you’ll see what I mean!) Louise’e floaty, ethereal vocals were sublime, with the occasional stab thrown in to prove that NOBODY puts a lady in the corner…
‘Nice Guy Eddie’ sounded a lot less punchy than its original but the reworked version sounded a lot more emotional, allowing the listener to tune in on a completely different wavelength altogether.
The track ‘We Are Cinderella’ was recorded at George Michael’s studio in London and Jon told an interesting story about John Lennon’s piano that was in the studio when they were recording the track. George had purchased the ‘Imagine’ piano at auction for a cool £1.4m, it wasn’t the white piano in the video for the song but a natural wooden version which was used to write the song. Whilst in the studio, Jon had fallen in love with the piano and after playing a couple of songs on it (including a killer version of chopsticks) he decided to give the piano a hug (why wouldn’t you?!) He had metal buttons on his shirt and as he went in for the hug, he realised that he had put a long scratch down one side of it. He immediately told a studio engineer and he said that he wouldn’t mention it as, by the time George returned, he’d more than likely be very stoned and he wouldn’t even realise. So, Jon said nothing and George was none the wiser. Years later, Jon must have mentioned it on social media and a couple of days later, he received a message from someone who worked at the auctioneers when the piano was sold. He told Jon that when they were packing the piano to be shipped off to George’s studio, they dropped it from a height of 4 feet which caused a lot of damaging, requiring a 4 week rebuild ahead of it reaching its new home. If you happen to be in Liverpool, you can see the actual piano at the Strawberry Fields Museum, keep an eye out for the scratch which was caused by Jon from Sleeper!
Ahead of ‘Statuesque’ being played, Louise told a story about how they recorded the video for the song in Los Angeles whilst being driven around in an open top limousine. Everyone was ‘very stoned’ courtesy of a guy they never knew the name of but referred to him as ‘The Weed guy’. Jon liked ‘The Weed Guy’ so much, he remained in LA for a couple of years and used to frequent his company on a regular basis.
‘What Do I Do Now’ sounded impeccable in its delivery and it came with an amusing story about a certain Elvis Costello covering the track for a B-Side of one of his own tracks. After a chat on the phone, Andy sent Mr C a copy of the album and what followed was a reworked version of their tarck with his trademark twists included. They offered to cover one of Mr C’s tracks and ended up recording ‘The Other Side of the Telescope’ which appeared as a B-Side on the Statuesque CD. This led to an invite from Mr C’s people to accompany them on a tour across AMeric and off they went. Who did they bump into in L.A.? Yep, ‘The Weed Guy’ was there to make their trip even more enjoyable!
After a 20 minute intermission (just enough time to recharge your drinks and have a wee), it was time for ‘Act 2’ which was kicked off with Louise taking to the stage solo to perform a track called ‘Alice in Vain’ which she dedicated to anyone who has ever been through any form of bullying. The song was super stripped back with just Louise’s voice and the delicate sound of her Fender Telecaster.
She was then joined by Jon and Andy who had been looking through the questions from the box on the merch table for any that were fit to be read out on stage, these included responses from the trio covering a myriad topics including;
Bringing your dog on tour so it could get a walk and be let out now and again so it didn’t do its business in the house
Playing at the ERC in Torquay followed by a dip in the sea after the show
Scones - Jam first….(lots of boos on that one)
Pizza with pineapple….(more boos on that one)
Blur or Oasis…don’t think they reached consensus on this!
The biggest twat from the Britpop era (Louise admitted she used to keep a list)
Has Louise ever tasted Alex James’s wine (she said that he was NOT on her list of biggest twats!)
Inviting people back to their hotel after a show (many came…)
Snowboarding - This led to a story about where they were whisked away to the Alps to have a go at snowboarding, followed by recording a session in a ski lodge. They were joined by Roni Size, a Bristol based DJ who had his full band with them. They decided that after the snowboarding session, they would leave the venue wearing all the ski gear and were promptly followed by the production team who were keen to retrieve their costly clothing!
‘We Should Be Together’ was a track that Louise recorded with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, she explained that she had written the song after a chat she had with the late, great Terry Hall from The Specials but left it too late to record it with him. This was followed by ‘Inbetweener’ which sparked stories about the recording of the video in a South London supermarket that had been closed down for this purpose ahead of being joined by Dale Winton (Supermarket Sweep/The National Lottery) who starred in the video. When asked why Dale Winton, Louise explained that every student in the UK know who he was and with him being in their video would increase the potential sales and see it reach a much higher chart position than it would have done sans Mr Winton.
‘Wave of Mutilation’ made an appearance on the setlist, a track by Pixies that the band all fell in love with, this saw the Exeter audience really come to life with a singalong during the choruses of the track. The evening ended with ‘Sale of the Century’ which saw another sing-a-long midway through.
With 15 tracks performed, lots of questions and amusing banter, the evening was a real success and I can see why they decided to take it on the road. To see the band play the tracks in a stripped back manner was a real treat and added a new dimension to the music. I caught up with them after the set to thank them for coming to Exeter and asked if there was any new music in the pipeline, this prompted a wink from Louise and a suggestion that they may be more new tracks coming in the future, best keep your eyes on their socials for more information as it lands.
Words by Steve Muscutt
Pics by Julian Baird
