Email bag
these are emails that people send to me and i thought i'd print them because they dont belong on the Frequently Asked Questions, but i'd thought the information might be useful to others...
i hope no one minds that i'm using their questions -
usually i'll try and squeeze out any personal information like names and emails. but if you dont mind having your name and email printed let me know! send all questions and comments to sleeper@england.com
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Question
From Justin: Any information on Louises' health and career progression would be great.Answer
From Vu: Although Louise have been out of the spotlight for a while now, here is an article published in 1998 in The Guardian:Health: Rock therapy Singer Louise Wener tells how, after a life of rock'n'roll excess, she's now at least thinking about exercise...
Louise Wener, lead singer of the indie band Sleeper, which has just completed a national tour, leads a life of strict rock'n'roll debauchery - late nights, booze and take-aways. She has spent her life indulging to excess and avoiding physical exercise. And diet? `Salad', she says, `is strictly for decoration, it's not the sort of thing I would ever consider actually eating.' She has done nothing to stay thin and beautiful, so you do have to wonder, does she have her portrait hanging in the attic? `No, not a portrait,' she says, `but I do have an exercise bike in the basement... well, at least a few parts of it. Before the last tour two years ago, I decided I needed to do some exercise in preparation. I bought the deluxe bike with a speedometer and assembled it at home in front of the telly, but pedaling hurt my legs, and it seemed an enormous amount of effort. I think I only used it twice, and then it got dismembered.'
Suddenly, she becomes defensive, a flash of her famed indie-girl attitude passing over the unblemished face. `You sure you want to interview me for a health page? Just the idea of joining a gym seems like treachery to me. I haven't done a day's exercise in my life.' Louise's dread of physical exercise goes back to her school days. Asthma meant she was bad at sports and always the last to be picked. Two decades later, the mental scars remain. `For me, games teachers are sadistic beyond belief. One in particular made it her life's work to humiliate me. She'd show me up in front of friends, then make me sit in the freezing cold. I can't remember her name, I've repressed it and I'll need therapy to get it back, but if I see her again I'll punch her on the nose.'
When Louise reached 17 her asthma miraculously cleared up. Unfortunately, at the same time she split up with her first serious boyfriend and drew comfort from cigarettes. `I smoked for about three years, which destroyed any health I had begun to get back. Then, when I was 20, my father got cancer. I gave up smoking instantly.' Next stop was an English and Politics degree at Manchester University. Louise dropped out, signed on and started a band which later was to be named after her favourite Woody Allen film: Sleeper.
`Back then I'd go out clubbing every night, sometimes dancing all night. I don't think I could do that now.' Three cerebral and successful albums later - one gold, one platinum - Louise hit 30. Now her attitude to health and fitness is beginning to change. `I looked at my friends and realised most of them were alcoholics. I had been drinking beer and wine every day for four years. It started to make me feel depressed and I put on weight.
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Question16 July 1999
From The Spacewoman Sittin' In The Sky: Cool site. By the way, I have the promo of the Alice EP, does anyone know how much it is worth? It's on 12Answer
From Hazard: It's worth as much as you can get for it:)
Also depends where you are...its rare, (I haven't got it, but thats not saying much, I'm not good with promo's, I'm sure I know someone who's probably got 3). But lets throw in a rough guess, £15? Why? Don't you want it, or just want to gloat in your own wealth?If you are selling stuff, The It Boy's Sleeper World offers a Sleeper sale section, even though he probably nabs the best stuff for himself:)
Answer
From Vu: Indolent Records have produced a lot of promo items for Sleeper. A lot of these 12" and CD format are white-labeled, which looked similiar to this Sale of the Century 12" Promo. (Although the PROMO catalogue number might have picture sleeves.) They are worth anywhere between $5-$10, depending on who you are selling it to, e.g. collector-fans are willing to pay more for it.The later (She's a Good Girl to Motorway Man) have unique sleeves, they should be worth a little more than plain white sleeves.
Here are the Indolent promo catalogue.
Note:PROMO 001 12" Alice EP PROMO 002 12" Swallow NO NUMBER CA Smart DOLE 001 CD Inbetweener DOLE 003 12" Delicious DOLE 004 12" Inbetweener DOLE 005 CD Vegas DOLE 006 12" Vegas DOLE 011 CD Delicious (Europe Only) DOLE 013 12" What Do I Do Now? DOLE 014 CD What Do I Do Now? DOLE 031 CD Sale of the Century DOLE 032 12" Sale of the Century DOLE 033 12" Atomic (Rapino) DOLE 034 12" Atomic (Wubble U) DOLE 037 CD The It Girl DOLE 039 CD Nice Guy Eddie DOLE 040 12" Nice Guy Eddie DOLE 051 CD Statuesque DOLE 052 12" Statuesque DOLE 074 CD She's a Good Girl DOLE 075 12" She's a Good Girl DOLE 076 CD Pleased To Meet You DOLE 077 12" Romeo Me DOLE 078 CD Romeo Me DOLE 079 12" Motorway Man (remix)
1. The two Atomic 12" and Motorway Man 12" have unique remixes.
2. For some reason Smart was never officially released as a promo CD. There are cassette (no catalogue number) available from Indolent however.
3. This list does NOT include Arista or BMG promotional items.
4. Missing numbers (gap) are other Indolent promos (for instance say DOLE 041 is a Wannadies release). The funniest promo number I've seen is a sticker for XFM, which as funny as it sounds, I own.
5. "Little Annie" is erroneously printed as "Little Uncle" on the Inbetweener 12".
6. Special thanks to Steve Lowes for providing the promo catalogue. Steve Lowes works for Indolent Records and a good friend of Jon Stewart.
7. Unique covers: Atomic (rapino), Atomic (Wubble U), She's a Good Girl CD, Pleased to Meet You CD, Romeo Me CD (although I have never seen this), Motorway Man CD.
8. I forget what eight was for. (bad Violent Femmes joke)
From Heather:
What have rock stars (i.e. liam Gallagher, Damon albarn, Justine frishman) ever said about Louise?????I don't recall offhand anyone famous mentioning Louise, but here are two (from the old news) pop rockstars who have mentioned Sleeper/Louise. I'm sure there are more though.
From Old News Archive (also, check with FAQ)
All right, so Oasis don't exist. However, a lot of Oasis clones do. An abundance of them in fact - Sleeper, Menswear, mediocrity ad infinitum... Do the band feel any guilt that they, more than any others, are responsible for the current identikit Britpop saturating the charts? Graham begrudgingly accepts this accusation, but adds 'I think you were going to get those bands whether we were around or not. At some point, in some way.' Hmm, maybe so. However the fact that they were around is somewhat indisputable, is it not? 'It's a horrible thought isn't it..,' says Damon, '...ten more Sleeper albums.' Our point exactly, Sir. 'Well, Louise Wener is a very... em, determined young lady, isn't she?' Oh yes. We, the students know. We're probably more responsible than any trendsetting group for giving her the bloody opportunity to make ten more albums. As Alex says: 'It's like you're not allowed into college unless you like Suede.'FAQ: Well, back in the day, Sleeper used to support Blur on their tour through the UK. Blur stole some music from Sleeper and used it on their "Great Escape" CD. This information are available in several sources, some being Select Magazine and Goldmine. Here is the quote from Select: "After cocking an ear to Sleeper's intro tape - excerpts from the soundtrack to The Great Escape - Damon would wander over to dispense advice 'You lot shouldn't be so friendly with your crew'"
Embrace: "In the first few weeks we sold 100,000 - Oasis sold four million of there second album, the Verve two million of Urban Hymns. Sleeper have sold more than us"
From Rob:
I have a question. I recently bought the Nice Guy Eddie 7" because I thought it had a song on it called "Uglybleeder" but instead it had two versions of "Inbetweener." Can you tell me what 'Uglybleeder" is on? Is it on the Nice Guy Eddie cassette single?The version of "Inbetweener" by Mark Radcliffe & Mark Riley (track three of the 7" of "Nice Guy Eddie" and also the cassingle of "Nice Guy Eddie") is also known as "Ugly Bleeder".
Technically, the real title is "Ugly Bleeder", because it also appeared on Radcliffe & Riley's "The Worst Album In The World... Ever!", entitled, of course "Ugly Bleeder" by Cheeper.
01 Oct 98
i havent got a response from jon with regards to the video, so please, please please could you help me out.
I have received many emails regarding Sleeper Video Collection which I have mentioned on my website. Some are from the mailing list and some have just stumbled upon it.
I won't post Jon Stewart's UK or US address here, but you can probably get an address from Jon himself, by emailing him. The video costs $20 US, or £15 UK, which includes postage. It's available in either NTSC or PAL version, and comes in a nice box with a color sleeve. If all else fails, you can send me a video cassette, and money for postage, and I'll tape the video for you. My address can be found around here.... You can always email me.
Anyway- here are the plans: Jon will be back in the California, somewhen in a week. It's then possible to get a US address from him then, hence obtaining a NTSC version of the video. I strongly urge you to contact Jon and getting an original copy.
04 Jun 98
HELLLLP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i am a fan of sleeper.unfortuneately i live in america.so i get nothing.i can't even find somebody who sells imports.maybe i haven't tried hard enough,but my brother is going to be in london for a week.i need to know what sleeper is readily available (like pleased to meet you and the singles that are off of it)and the price cause if i don't give my brother explicit directions i will get nothing.
as a rule of thumb, generally the older the release, the harder it is to get. this is because eventually everything becomes out-of-print. good luck on finding a lot of the early singles, especially "delicious" and "swallow" (those seems to be the hardest to find - aside from the promo stuff like "bucket & spades" and "gorgeous"). if you find a store that have early sleeper stuff, expect to pay a lot of money, somewhere between $10 - $25. anything more would be a rip-off. but as always if they don't know what they have you might end up with a bargain.
the singles off "pleased to meet you" (which are "romeo me" and "she's a good girl") are probably most easiest to find. not too sure about cd2 of "romeo me", but new singles are easy to find, and generally retails at £4.99 or $10 for US import price.
you might be able to find some stuff from "the it girl", especially "sale of the century" or "nice guy eddie" or "statuesque" 'cos i see those a lot. normal price of £4.99 or $10 as before.
if you don't mind shopping online, there are some pretty good stores that carries sleeper items. musicshop, action records, and cdnow. i'm sure there are more better online stores, but those are the ones that i've ordered before and didn't have much of a problem.
also note that you should never pay more than $15 for a single. but if you must absolutely have it to complete you collection (believe me, i've been there) then you can spoil yourself. hope that helps.
06 Apr 98
How the hell do you get half the Sleeper releases it would appear you
have? I only ask because I live in the UK and I have trouble finding
things so god knows what its like for you living in the US.
a couple of people have actually asked this question before. this particular question is pretty general so i will break down into three categories:
OFFICIAL RELEASES since i usually buy things when they are first released (which through import takes a week after its official release in the UK), it ensure that i won't have to deal with deletion (if that's a word) of the singles later on. the US import stores are pretty decent when it comes to obtaining cd single releases (although they charge a hefty $10-12 for a cd single). for albums, they are easily obtained.
PROMOS this is a tricky part of collecting. you can sometime find various promo singles from used record stores, but getting hold of UK promos are a bit tough. with the introduction of internet shopping, its getting easier. but i've been also blessed with knowing the promo guy from arista records, steve lowes of indolent, and of course mr jon stewart. they have all sent me various promos to complete my growing collection :)
MISC obviously i'm just a ratpack when it comes with sleeper items :) as for those free tapes from magazines, i've just have been into the 'britpop' thing for a long time and i used to buy those music magazines (still do sometimes)... the hardest part is for me to get sleeperfanclub materials, as i live in the US and the fanclub are for UK residents only.
04 Apr 98
from one fan (Mar 98): Vu, can you please make me a copy of the new Sleeper album? I would truly appreciate it!!
from another fan: i was wondering if you have any sleeper boots with songs from the it girl. if so, would you like to set up a trade?
from yet another fan: i need them to complete my collection. I'm only missing 3 songs: "Bank,Tatty,cunt London" If you could help me in ANY way, I would appreciate it forever :)
If anyone else is interested, send me a cassette tape with enough money to cover postage. Or send me enough money to buy a cassette etc... you get the point.
postage
Here are a list of Sleeper stuff I've got at the moment (trade me if you have other live Sleeper stuff!):
UK $3 additional tapes $1
US $1 additional tapes $1
if you prefer me to buy your tapes, send additional $2 per tape, etc
(whatever you think is fair)
1. Complete b-sides until "Nice Guy Eddie" singles (from original)
2. Black Session 7 Mar 94 (radio quality)
3. Black Session 9 Dec 94 (radio)
4. Black Session 1996 (radio)
5. KROQ interview 30 Apr 95 (radio)
6. BBC Interview Aug 97? (preview 3 songs from PTMY)
7. Mike Turner interview Louise Wener unedited/edited with music 25 Apr 95 (radio)
01 Apr 98
Was Tatty ever released on CD?
There's only two releases that I'm aware of: Delicious 12" (vinyl) and For Imediate Use (cassette).
So to answer your question: No
30 Mar 1998
I had ordered Pleased to Meet You from a local record store, and today I
was informed that they were unable to get a hold of it because it is
"out of print!" What does that mean? I called my faithful servant Brett
at Streetside and he said it wasn't available, and that Arista didn't
even have it in their catalog anymore cause apparently it was a limited
pressing. He said that it might be re-released later, but for now I'm
out of luck.
This wasn't actually sent directly to me, but I thought I'd put this up, seeing as a lot of US resident goes on my page (about 30%+). Is this because the US is the most 'internet-ready' country in the world?
To make things clear: Arista has never released "Pleased to Meet You".
I think I've read in a news group that it only sold 40,000 copies, the
weakest selling album of the three, but I really don't think that would
make them stop pressing more albums.
BMG / Indolent
Japanese
It would make sense that arista doesnt have 'Pleased' on their catalogue
because they've never released it... Perhaps your store was confused
over Indolent/BMG (the uk label) with the US label arista?
Anyway, this is the information off the 'pleased' uk/japanese cd if you
want to take it to your local store and try again (beware your local store
might charge you as much as $25+ so shop around- i think i paid $26 for my 12"
version of "Pleased".... I dont want to endorse CDnow, but for about
$12 you can buy it on import... until 6 april 98)
Sleeper "Pleased To Meet You"
release date: 13 Oct 97
UPC: 7 43215 23702 0
Indolent number: SLEEPCD 016
BMG / Indolent
Sleeper "Pleased To Meet You"
release date: 21 Nov 97
UPC: 4 988017 074831
BMG number: BVCP 6080 (74321-53686-2)
14 Mar 98
How's you doing? Your homepage is great! It's the best [sleeper]'s
homepage I ever seem. Are you from UK? Actually, I'm from Hong Kong and in
U.S. right now. Since [sleeper] didn't popular in Hong Kong at all, some
singles I never listen before. Do you know any [sleeper]'s product I can buy
in UK? Such as video tape, cd or poster? My sister will visit UK later, so
I want to ask her to buy me something.
thanks for the comment! people find it hard to believe but i'm not a UK resident. harder to believe: i currently live in minnesota! eek what a miserable place, but nevermind that... sleeper singles previous to "she's a good girl" are all deleted, so good luck on find re-orders on those singles. usually the UK are pretty good at carrying current sleeper items, such as books/singles/albums (check discography for more info)... i'm not sure about posters (although i'm sure there are some available). i currently own about two sleeper posters both which are given out free from arista records during promotions of 'smart' and 'the it girl'. sorry to say there isn't a sleeper video for sale anywhere, but there is a compilation video called "Rock Video Monthly" that had 'Delicious' video on their March(?) 1994 release
P.S. That will be great if your homepage including a vote of favour song.
i dont have that option... yet. but there is another website that has sleeper voting called Underground
06 Mar 98
Isn't statuesque limited to something like 10,000 (and numbered)? I'm sure alice had a low production run as well. It was at least 5000, though, b/c that's how many smart lp's came with the "bonus 7" (unless they used a different pressing for the lp's versus the orginal alice release.)
surprisingly, i didnt list that 'statuesque' 7" is limited to 10,000 (and numbered); rest assured that i will put that bit of info on the discography section. other information: gatefold and a unique sleeve with free poster!
according to Goldmine magazine (on a sleeper article they ran way back) the Alice EP is supposed to be limited to 5000 copies. but i know this is untrue because there is 5000 copies pressed and given away with the 'smart' LP (SLEEP007A). also, i believe that arista records made some alice ep (with the SLEEPER UK sticker) and gave them out to radio stations, which i'd say around 1000 copies (a low number). i'd say somewhere around 11000 copies are around? because i dont work for the record company, this is just a guess
20 Feb 98
How in gods name to you subscribe to the official fan club?
you can't! well not anymore. the two people that used to run the sleeper fanclub aren't around anymore (at least via email). the surprising thing is that on the new album they still list the fanclub information and address!!!
29 Oct 97
Hey I was wondering if you knew when Sleeper was touring the US? can
you give me info please. Cheers.
i'm really not the person to ask about a US tour... check the arista site. all i can speculate is that sleeper will tour when they release 'pleased to meet you' domestically (to promote their new album, etc)