First three albums (1992–1998) Jon Stewart met
Louise Wener at
Manchester University in 1987 in a political philosophy class. They played in a number of bands at university, including jazz outfit the Lime Street Blues Band, then after graduating in 1988, moved to London to seek gigs. Wener later wrote that "we sounded not unlike
the Sundays, but as time went on our music became increasingly influenced by US bands such as
Hole,
Nirvana and, most especially, the
Pixies". They advertised for new band members in
Melody Maker ("Bass player and drummer wanted. Influences The Pixies and The Partridge Family") and recruited Diid Osman and Andy Maclure. Wener solicited interest from record label representatives by sending out a fake
NME review, a move she called "pure cheek and cut-and-paste fakery." At one point, the band called themselves
Surrender Dorothy, after the smoke trail in the sky from the
Wizard of Oz movie, but abandoned this idea after discovering that several other bands had done the same thing. They subsequently chose the name "Sleeper" after the
Woody Allen film
Sleeper, and also because the word has a number of different meanings (a spy, an unexpected hit, etc.). In 1993 Sleeper signed to
Indolent Records, a subsidiary of
RCA Records, and released three EPs and singles before their breakthrough single release, "
Inbetweener", which notably featured UK TV personality
Dale Winton in the promo video. Prior to the release of "Inbetweener" Sleeper had been the opening act for
Blur on that band's tour to promote the
Parklife album, and became closely associated with
Britpop as a result. The band's debut album release
Smart was certified gold by the
BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies. It was followed by the platinum-selling (over 300,000 copies) release
The It Girl which yielded four top 20 hit singles "
What Do I Do Now?", "
Nice Guy Eddie", "
Sale of the Century" and "
Statuesque". Sleeper recorded a
cover of the
Blondie song "
Atomic", which was used in the film
Trainspotting, after Blondie refused to allow the use of the original version. "Statuesque" also features in the movie and its follow-up soundtrack volume. The band’s third album,
Pleased to Meet You, released October 1997, was a UK Top 10 hit and certified silver, though had fewer sales than the previous albums; the band split in March 1998 after a tour in which venues had been cancelled or downsized due to lower than expected ticket sales.
Post-split (1999–2016) After Sleeper split, Wener and Maclure recorded material for a new project, aimed at a more mainstream market and featuring a guest appearance by
George Michael. However, the project was not completed at the time, and Wener went on to have a career as a novelist. Her fourth book for
Hodder & Stoughton was published in 2008. Wener also features prominently as an interviewee in John Dower's feature film documentary on Britpop,
Live Forever (2003). Stewart moved to Los Angeles, California, where he played with West Coast band UFO Bro and contributed as a
session guitarist to
k.d. lang's album
Invincible Summer (2000) and
Melanie C's album
Reason. After returning to the UK he became Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Music Business and a lecturer in popular culture and music history at the
British and Irish Modern Music Institute in Brighton, where his former students include
The Kooks,
James Bay,
Black Honey,
The Xcerts,
Kate Walsh and
Luke Sital-Singh, as well as members of
As It Is and
Miss Vincent, amongst others. Stewart also wrote a monthly column for
Guitarist magazine from 2002 to 2010, and gained a PhD in Music from the
University of Southampton in 2018. In 2019 he joined
The Wedding Present as guitarist during their thirtieth anniversary
Bizarro UK and EU tour. Osman subsequently went on to become a session player with
Parlophone records band
Dubstar and later became an artist manager, with bands including
Infectious Music outfit
My Vitriol,
Hell Is For Heroes on
EMI and
Atlantic Records band
The Glitterati, and helped writer-producer
Justin Parker sign to
Sony Music publishing. Maclure later ran a "Punk Rock Karaoke" enterprise with DJ
Steve Lamacq. A greatest hits compilation, with a tracklisting selected by and artwork designed by the band themselves, was released on
Sony/BMG in 2007. Their first two albums were reissued as deluxe versions on 29 November 2010, with second discs of B-sides and live tracks. By 2014, Wener and MacLure had formed another band, Huge Advance, although they only played in and around their residential suburb of
Crouch End.
Reunion (2017–present) Sleeper reformed in 2017 to play in four British cities in July and August, as part of the Star Shaped Festival, alongside other Britpop acts including
Space,
Dodgy and
The Bluetones. These dates saw Wener, Maclure and Stewart joined on bass by new member Kieron Pepper, previously known as live drummer for
The Prodigy from 1997 to 2007, and were followed by an eleven-date headline tour of the UK in spring 2018. In the summer of 2018, Sleeper announced that they were recording a new album in collaboration with their old producer
Stephen Street for release in early 2019 and that this would be accompanied by another headline UK tour. Lead single "Look at You Now" premiered on
BBC Radio 6 Music on 4 December 2018, while presenter Steve Lamacq announced the title of the new album was
The Modern Age. During 2020 Wener and Maclure compiled unreleased material from previous recording sessions, including the George Michael collaboration, with new material as the basis for a new Sleeper album
This Time Tomorrow, released on 14 December 2020. In 2021, Sleeper were credited on "Bad Things", an R&B-laced indie-pop track by Greater Manchester based band
The Lottery Winners. The track features vocals from
Louise Wener and can be found on an eight-track EP by The Lottery Winners called
Start Again. The band toured the UK in Spring 2022 performing their 1996 album
The It Girl. The Lottery Winners were the support act. In 2023 the band undertook a UK acoustic tour as 'Sleeper unplugged'. ==Image==