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Sleep (band)
Encyclopedia
Sleep is a stoner doom metal band from San Jose, California
. Active during the 1990s, Sleep earned critical and record label attention early in their career. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock
band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on heavy metal in the 1990s. However, conflict with their record company had contributed to Sleep's breakup by the end of the decade.
, which was established by vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros
, drummer Chris Hakius
, and guitarist Tom Choi. Asbestosdeath expanded to a quartet with the introduction of Matt Pike
on guitar, and recorded two singles - "Dejection" for Profane Existence
and the self released "Unclean". Choi departed, and would later found Operator Generator, It Is I, Noothgrush, and Las Vegas' Black Jetts. Asbestosdeath recruited Justin Marler as replacement and the band adopted the new name, Sleep.
was released in 1991. Frequently compared to bands like Saint Vitus
, Sleep soon gained a devoted fanbase within the developing doom metal
scene. Marler quit the band soon after to take up life as a monk
, leaving the band as a power trio for the recording of their Volume Two
EP, which was released unofficially by Off The Disc Records in 1991.
The band's next album was sent to the independent label, Earache, as a demo. Recorded at Razors Edge studios in San Francisco, with Billy Anderson handling production, the tape showcased Sleep's love of all things retro, from the blatant Black Sabbath
/Blue Cheer
influences, to their fixation with 1970's-style tube amplification. The label immediately signed the band and released the tape exactly as it was received.
Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992) is widely considered a seminal album in the evolution of stoner metal. The album's release was followed by a potentially lucrative offer from London Records
, and Sleep signed with them. Around this time, Earache released its first Black Sabbath Tribute album, and Sleep contributed a cover of "Snowblind".
Under their new contract, they began work on their third album, Dopesmoker, in 1995. Much to the dismay of executives at London records, Dopesmoker was a single song more than one hour long. London Records declared the album unmarketable and refused to release it. Sleep returned to the studio and then submitted their second attempt at the new album. They had retitled it Jerusalem, re-written some of the lyrics and trimmed it down to a "lean" 52 minutes, but it was essentially the same as Dopesmoker. London Records again refused to release it. Frustrated and generally unhappy with the situation, the members of Sleep decided to disband.
in the US and Rise Above Records
in Europe.
Finally, in 2003 the original version of Dopesmoker was officially released by Tee Pee Records
. It is generally considered the definitive version of the album. An excerpted version can be heard on Jim Jarmusch
's Broken Flowers
original soundtrack.
Cisneros and Hakius later formed the experimental rock
band Om
while Pike formed heavy metal
band High on Fire
.
In 2007 a CD compilation of both 7" releases of the pre-Sleep band, Asbestosdeath, was released on Southern Lord Records.
music festival. In the shows the band performed for the first time a song that had previously been intended for inclusion on, and wrote during the Dopesmoker recording sessions and widely unheard entitled 'Antarcticans Thawed'.
On November 19, 2009 Al Cisneros confirmed in an interview with The Obelisk that Sleep will be reuniting in the fall of 2010 for some US dates. It has also been confirmed that Jason Roeder (of experimental metal band Neurosis) will replace Chris Hakius on drums.
The group are confirmed to play the ATP New York 2010
music festival in Monticello, New York this September where they will perform Holy Mountain in its entirety. They are touring the rest of the United States, playing headlining dates and festivals, through September.
Sleep embarked on a 9-date US tour shortly after the All Tomorrow's Parties festival.
On April 14, 2012, Sleep will headline the 17th annual Roadburn Festival
. A band statement for which reads “Sleep are honored to attend the Symposium of Iommic Research, Tilburg at Roadburn”. In May 2012 the band will support Slayer at the All Tomorrow's Parties
'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. Active during the 1990s, Sleep earned critical and record label attention early in their career. Critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes them as "perhaps the ultimate stoner rock
Stoner rock
Stoner rock or stoner metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, combining elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, traditional heavy metal and doom metal. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and 'retro' production...
band" and notes they exerted a strong influence on heavy metal in the 1990s. However, conflict with their record company had contributed to Sleep's breakup by the end of the decade.
Early years
Sleep evolved in the early 1990s from the band AsbestosdeathAsbestosdeath
Asbestosdeath was an American sludge/doom metal band from San Jose, California, and the precursor to the highly influential Sleep.-History:Asbestosdeath started life as trio consisting of Al Cisneros on bass, Chris Hakius on drums, and Tom Choi on guitar. Matt Pike later joined as a second guitarist...
, which was established by vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros
Al Cisneros
Al Cisneros |Sleep]], Om, Shrinebuilder, and Asbestosdeath.-Biography:He began his musical career in 1989 by founding a local punk metal band, Asbestosdeath, along with Chris Hakius , Matt Pike and Tom Choi . Cisneros performed bass guitar for the band, and they released two EPs in 1990...
, drummer Chris Hakius
Chris Hakius
Chris Hakius was the drummer of band Sleep. After Sleep's break up, he became the drummer for The Sabians, with former Sleep member Justin Marler. He was also the drummer of Om, until his departure on January 31, 2008. His final live performances was with Sleep in 2009 at the ATP Show for the reunion...
, and guitarist Tom Choi. Asbestosdeath expanded to a quartet with the introduction of Matt Pike
Matt Pike
Matt Pike is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist of the influential doom metal band Sleep and frontman of High on Fire. He is quite well known in the metal scene for almost never wearing a shirt during live performances....
on guitar, and recorded two singles - "Dejection" for Profane Existence
Profane Existence
The Profane Existence Collective is a Minneapolis-based anarcho-punk collective. Established in 1989, the collective publishes a nationally-known zine , as well as releasing and distributing anarcho-punk, crust, and grindcore music, and printing and publishing pamphlets and literature...
and the self released "Unclean". Choi departed, and would later found Operator Generator, It Is I, Noothgrush, and Las Vegas' Black Jetts. Asbestosdeath recruited Justin Marler as replacement and the band adopted the new name, Sleep.
Recording era
Their debut album Volume OneVolume One (Sleep album)
Volume One is the debut album by the American band Sleep. It was the only album recorded with original guitarist Justin Marler, before he became an Orthodox monk. Volume One showcases a darker sound and stronger doom metal influence than Sleep's later work...
was released in 1991. Frequently compared to bands like Saint Vitus
Saint Vitus (band)
Saint Vitus is an American doom metal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1978. They consist of founding members Dave Chandler and Mark Adams , alongside sporadic singer Scott Weinrich and recently added drummer Henry Vasquez...
, Sleep soon gained a devoted fanbase within the developing doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
scene. Marler quit the band soon after to take up life as a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, leaving the band as a power trio for the recording of their Volume Two
Volume Two (EP)
Volume Two is an EP recorded by Sleep in 1991. It contains a live cover of Black Sabbath's "Lord of This World", and two early recordings of tracks that would appear on Sleep's Holy Mountain. The artwork for the EP is reminiscent of Black Sabbath Vol...
EP, which was released unofficially by Off The Disc Records in 1991.
The band's next album was sent to the independent label, Earache, as a demo. Recorded at Razors Edge studios in San Francisco, with Billy Anderson handling production, the tape showcased Sleep's love of all things retro, from the blatant Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
/Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer was an American psychedelic blues-rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009...
influences, to their fixation with 1970's-style tube amplification. The label immediately signed the band and released the tape exactly as it was received.
Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992) is widely considered a seminal album in the evolution of stoner metal. The album's release was followed by a potentially lucrative offer from London Records
London Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
, and Sleep signed with them. Around this time, Earache released its first Black Sabbath Tribute album, and Sleep contributed a cover of "Snowblind".
Under their new contract, they began work on their third album, Dopesmoker, in 1995. Much to the dismay of executives at London records, Dopesmoker was a single song more than one hour long. London Records declared the album unmarketable and refused to release it. Sleep returned to the studio and then submitted their second attempt at the new album. They had retitled it Jerusalem, re-written some of the lyrics and trimmed it down to a "lean" 52 minutes, but it was essentially the same as Dopesmoker. London Records again refused to release it. Frustrated and generally unhappy with the situation, the members of Sleep decided to disband.
After Sleep
In 1998, Sleep and their former manager granted approval to Tony Presedo, head of Tee Pee Records and friend of the band, for the release of Jerusalem posthumously as an "official bootleg". One year later, Jerusalem was given an official legitimate release by The Music CartelThe Music Cartel
The Music Cartel was a record label based in Port Washington, New York and active during the late 90s and early 00s. Many of their releases were also released in Europe on Rise Above Records. It was founded in 1998 by former Earache Records general manager Eric Lemasters...
in the US and Rise Above Records
Rise Above Records
Rise Above Records is a London, England based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian . It is named after a Napalm Death song from their EP Mentally Murdered. It was formed in the late 1980s and originally made to sell live releases by Napalm Death and S.O.B., but by 1991 had changed to cater...
in Europe.
Finally, in 2003 the original version of Dopesmoker was officially released by Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records
Tee Pee Records is an independent record label located in New York City in the United States, made popular by the signing of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.-Artists :*Ancestors*Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound*The Atomic Bitchwax...
. It is generally considered the definitive version of the album. An excerpted version can be heard on Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
's Broken Flowers
Broken Flowers
Broken Flowers is a 2005 French/American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter...
original soundtrack.
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
band Om
Om (band)
Om is a duo formed in 2003 by the rhythm section of the disbanded Stoner doom metal band Sleep. The band's first three albums feature Al Cisneros on vocals and bass and Chris Hakius on drums. Their music is similar in structure to Tibetan chanting....
while Pike formed heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band High on Fire
High on Fire
High on Fire is a stoner metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1998. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, previously played guitar for the influential stoner doom band Sleep.-History:...
.
In 2007 a CD compilation of both 7" releases of the pre-Sleep band, Asbestosdeath, was released on Southern Lord Records.
Reunion
In May 2009, Sleep reformed to perform two exclusive reunion sets in England as part of the All Tomorrow's PartiesAll Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
music festival. In the shows the band performed for the first time a song that had previously been intended for inclusion on, and wrote during the Dopesmoker recording sessions and widely unheard entitled 'Antarcticans Thawed'.
On November 19, 2009 Al Cisneros confirmed in an interview with The Obelisk that Sleep will be reuniting in the fall of 2010 for some US dates. It has also been confirmed that Jason Roeder (of experimental metal band Neurosis) will replace Chris Hakius on drums.
The group are confirmed to play the ATP New York 2010
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
music festival in Monticello, New York this September where they will perform Holy Mountain in its entirety. They are touring the rest of the United States, playing headlining dates and festivals, through September.
Sleep embarked on a 9-date US tour shortly after the All Tomorrow's Parties festival.
On April 14, 2012, Sleep will headline the 17th annual Roadburn Festival
Roadburn Festival
Roadburn Festival is an annual international rock festival in Tilburg in the Netherlands held since 1995.-2012 edition:The event will take place in Tilburg from April 12 to 15 at 013 and Midi Theatre.It was sold out in 7 minutes.Thursday, April 12...
. A band statement for which reads “Sleep are honored to attend the Symposium of Iommic Research, Tilburg at Roadburn”. In May 2012 the band will support Slayer at the All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
'I'll Be Your Mirror' festival at Alexandra Palace, London.
Present members
- Al CisnerosAl CisnerosAl Cisneros |Sleep]], Om, Shrinebuilder, and Asbestosdeath.-Biography:He began his musical career in 1989 by founding a local punk metal band, Asbestosdeath, along with Chris Hakius , Matt Pike and Tom Choi . Cisneros performed bass guitar for the band, and they released two EPs in 1990...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals (1990–1998, 2009–Present) - Matt PikeMatt PikeMatt Pike is an American rock musician best known as the guitarist of the influential doom metal band Sleep and frontman of High on Fire. He is quite well known in the metal scene for almost never wearing a shirt during live performances....
- guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(1990–1998, 2009–Present) - Jason Roeder - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(2010–Present)
Former members
- Chris HakiusChris HakiusChris Hakius was the drummer of band Sleep. After Sleep's break up, he became the drummer for The Sabians, with former Sleep member Justin Marler. He was also the drummer of Om, until his departure on January 31, 2008. His final live performances was with Sleep in 2009 at the ATP Show for the reunion...
- drums (1990–1998, 2009) - Justin MarlerJustin MarlerJustin Marler is an American musician and author. He is known for being a founding member of the seminal doom metal band Sleep, and for leaving a burgeoning career in music to become a monk in an Eastern Orthodox monastery...
- guitar (1990–1991)
Albums
| Year | Title | Type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Volume One Volume One (Sleep album) Volume One is the debut album by the American band Sleep. It was the only album recorded with original guitarist Justin Marler, before he became an Orthodox monk. Volume One showcases a darker sound and stronger doom metal influence than Sleep's later work... |
Studio Album | Tupelo Records |
| 1992 | Volume Two Volume Two (EP) Volume Two is an EP recorded by Sleep in 1991. It contains a live cover of Black Sabbath's "Lord of This World", and two early recordings of tracks that would appear on Sleep's Holy Mountain. The artwork for the EP is reminiscent of Black Sabbath Vol... |
EP | Off the Disk Records |
| 1993 | Sleep's Holy Mountain | Studio Album | Earache Records |
| 1998 / 1999 | Jerusalem | Official Bootleg / Posthumous Studio Release |
The Music Cartel / Rise Above |
| 2003 | Dopesmoker | Posthumous Studio Album | Tee Pee Records |
Compilation album appearances
- "Numb" on Sign Language 3x7" (1991 Allied Recordings)
- "The Suffering" on Very Small World LP (1991 Very Small Records)
- "Snowblind" on Masters of Misery CD (1997 Earache RecordsEarache RecordsEarache Records is a heavy metal-oriented record label based in Nottingham, UK and New York, USA. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing many of the earliest grindcore and death metal records in the period 1988-1994.-History:...
) - "Aquarian" on Burn One Up (Music for Stoners) CD (1997 Roadrunner RecordsRoadrunner RecordsRoadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
) - "Some Grass" and "Dragonaut" on GummoGummoGummo is a 1997 American independent drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. It was his directorial debut and has since become a cult film. The film stars Jacob Reynolds, Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Chloë Sevigny, Linda Manz and Max Perlich...
Soundtrack CD (1998 DominoRecording Company) - "Dragonaut" on Stoned Revolution - The Ultimate Trip CD/2LP (1998 Drunken Maria Records)
- "Dopesmoker" on Broken FlowersBroken FlowersBroken Flowers is a 2005 French/American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter...
Music from the Film Soundtrack CD (2005 Decca RecordsDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
) - "DruidDruidA druid was a member of the priestly class in Britain, Ireland, and Gaul, and possibly other parts of Celtic western Europe, during the Iron Age....
" on Worldwide Metal CD (2008 Earache RecordsEarache RecordsEarache Records is a heavy metal-oriented record label based in Nottingham, UK and New York, USA. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing many of the earliest grindcore and death metal records in the period 1988-1994.-History:...
)
External links
- Highonfire.com's Sleep Page
- Earache Records
- weedian.com
- [ Sleep] at Allmusic