Sleeper’s Louise Wener talks ‘The It Girl’ ahead of the 25th Anniversary Tour

Benjamin Forrest on 21 April 2022

Formed in London in 1992, Sleeper quickly became one of the biggest British bands of the nineties – with eight top 40 singles in the UK and three top 10 albums across the decade. After reforming in 2017, the group are now set to tour their 1996 platinum-selling album The It Girl, including a date at the O2 Academy here in Leeds on the 22nd of April. Ahead of the tour, I spoke to songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Louise Wener to get more of an insight into the history of the group and their current tour.

The tour is primarily to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the groups most successful album The It Girl, the follow-up to the incredibly successful debut Smart. Louise described how The It Girl differed to their debut, saying, “We’d had success with Smart and we loved that, but I think we felt like this the one that was really gonna break us through to a different level”. The album certainly did break the band through to the mainstream, achieving four Top 20 singles in ‘Statuesque’, ‘Sale of the Century’, ‘Nice Guy Eddie’ and ‘What Do I Do Now?’. The band, though, were seemingly unaware of the extent of their success at the time; Louise recalled, “We were very much living in the moment in those days, but it was great! When you get asked to go on Top of the Pops and stuff like that, that’s when your parents go ‘my kids doing something proper’, but even when you’re in the middle of it you’re always looking over your shoulder to see what everyone else is doing – it was a very hypercompetitive environment”. 

It is easy to see why that would have been the case, the mid-90s is viewed as a sort of golden age in British rock and indie music – with incredible bands like Pulp, Elastica, Oasis, Blur and Suede rising to prominence (among countless others). Asked about what that period in musical history was like to be a part of, Louise explained, “You have a much broader sense of that retrospectively but what was present was that feeling of…it felt very celebratory, like it was an explosion of guitar music and indie music – there was a feeling that anything could happen at that point – it was very joyful, I suppose”. Many music historians cite the rise of British guitar music, or what has been divisively referred to as ‘Britpop’, as a reaction to the grunge scene of the early 90s.  “The demographic had shifted, people getting played on the radio that hadn’t previously”, Louise said of the rise in indie bands at the time, “Radio 1, specifically, opened up to guitar music. It’s the same with all movements, it’s just something that grows and catches and divides and becomes something”. 

Due to the fact that Sleeper had supported Blur on their Parklife tour, as well as the fact they were making predominantly guitar music in the mid-90s, Sleeper have always been tagged with the Britpop label. The term ‘Britpop’ has divided opinions, with bands like Suede being quick to distance themselves from the term, “I couldn’t give a shit about it, it’s just something some journalist came up with”, said Louise of the ‘Britpop’ label, “I don’t know if like new romantic bands get asked the same question – how does it feel being new romantic? or how did it feel being grunge? It seems so specific to Britpop, it’s very strange to me. I don’t think any of us really care”. 

One of the singles from The It Girl, ‘Statuesque’, in addition to a cover of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ featured on the soundtrack to the iconic film Trainspotting (1996). The soundtrack is often hailed as a gold standard for indie film soundtracks – featuring the likes of Lou Reed, New Order, Iggy Pop, Pulp and, of course, Sleeper. According to Louise, though, it didn’t feel like such a momentous occasion at the time: “It was just a bit of fun and then obviously became this sort of cultural moment, I guess”. The film undoubtedly brough more attention to the band, and the track ‘Statuesque’ peaked at number 17 in the UK singles chart in 1996.

Now, 26 years later, Sleeper are back performing tracks from The It Girl to audiences across the country, “They take on a new life and a different kind of meaning because of the intervening years – the interval has made it something different so that’s what makes it feel wonderful to play them again”, explained Louise. 

Sleeper are set to perform at the O2 Academy in Leeds on the 22nd April, tickets are available for purchase here.

Sparks demonstrate their brilliance to a sold-out Albert Hall in Manchester

Benjamin Forrest on 17 April 2022

There have been a countless number of bands and artists that have come and gone over the years – perhaps releasing a few singles or a couple of albums here and there before dissolving and being swallowed up by the relentless marching of time. There is one band, though, that have seemingly been a constant fixture of pop and rock music since the late 60s, I am of course referring to Sparks. Originally formed in 1968 under the name Halfnelson, Sparks have undergone numerous reinventions, line-up changes, and have witnessed very varying degrees of success. The heart of the group, however, has been and will always be the brother Ron and Russell Mael – who have been playing together for over 50 years without growing to passionately hate each other (Liam and Noel, take notes). 

After various pandemic-related delays, Sparks were finally able to get back on tour this year and their first post-lockdown English date saw them perform at Manchester’s Albert Hall to a long sold-out crowd. In lieu of a support band, Sparks treated the people of Manchester to a 2-hour set – no mean feat for two people in their mid-seventies, though it is perhaps less surprising when you take into account the fact that Sparks have 26 studio albums worth of material to fashion a setlist from. The brothers, along with their fantastic backing band, played a great selection of their biggest hits and fan favourites from their extensive discography, including two songs from the soundtrack to Annette, the 2021 Leo Carax film, for which Sparks provided the soundtrack. No strangers to the world of film (we won’t mention ‘Rollercoaster’ (1977) if you don’t), Sparks were recently the subject of a documentary, ‘The Sparks Brothers’, by legendary British director Edgar Wright and, as Russell told the audience in Manchester, are currently working on a musical film. 

The performance given by Sparks at the Albert Hall was second to none, with Ron and Russell delivering banger after banger with the ease and casual nature which can only come with over 5 decades of experience. Whether you’re more into Angst in My Pants (1982) or A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip (2020), there was something for every type of Sparks fan within this set – Ron even treated the audience to his incredible dance moves during ‘Number One Song in Heaven’, moves which would have put Fred Astaire to shame. A particular highlight, personally, was the inclusion of the song ‘Johnny Delusional’ from the 2015 collaborative album FFS, made with indie rock giants Franz Ferdinand. The collaboration, along with Sparks endless desire for musical innovation, are good indicators of what sets Sparks apart from other rock bands of their age group – Sparks could have stopped making music 40 years ago and would have still lived a comfortable life releasing greatest hits albums and doing occasional reunion tours, but instead they have insisted on remaining at the forefront of rock and pop music. 

After a beautiful rendition of their greatest hit ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’, for which the band received a well-deserved standing ovation, Sparks returned to the wings before returning for an encore of ‘Suburban Homeboy’ – a cut from their 2002 album Lil’ Beethoven which has now been re-released featuring rare vocals from Ron – and ‘All That’, a song, which the band say, unintentionally summed up how they felt whilst being unable to perform throughout the pandemic. Perhaps not the most obvious choices for an encore, but they worked excellently none the less.

Travelling back up the M62 after the show, I reflected on what had been an unbelievably brilliant gig and took solace in the fact that, even after 50 years and 26 studio albums, Sparks remain one of the greatest and most fearlessly original bands to grace the airwaves. Long live Ron and Russell Mael! 

Slowthai wreaks havoc at The Refectory, Leeds  

Kate Wassell on 27 March 2022

A 2000-person capacity venue-come-university canteen that has seen the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones; Leeds refectory is an iconic spot. On Friday night it was swarmed with students eager to see the Northampton born rapper Slowthai take the stage by storm, and a storm he certainly delivered. 

The crowds that were flooding the entrance of the union had me a little worried at first — from the moment I went into the venue there were few people who looked even remotely sober and the audience was very male-heavy (not necessarily a bad thing until they’re towering over you and pushing people aside), but from the moment the music started, my anxiety was eased. Slowthai’s charm was infectious, and he soon had everyone moving together, whether they were on the side-lines or smack in the middle of the pit. “There’s one rule and one rule only”, the rapper had barked at the crowd within the first ten minutes, “if someone falls, you help them up.”

The set was almost a backwards journey of Slowthai’s releases. Starting with some of the most well-known tracks from Tyron (2021), the first few songs were heavy crowd pleasers, before he soon veered into the second, slower half of the album. Tribute track ‘NHS’ was an early highlight — the song’s lyrics are pretty desolate but not without a reminder that better days are coming: ‘what’s a flight without turbulence?’. ‘I tried’ soon followed, one of his best songs in my view, and not without the rapper telling the audience that hard times get better, and that no one is alone. No toxic masculinity here, sir. 

The middle of the set seemed a little out of sorts, with Slowthai jumping between energies and teasing unreleased tracks sporadically. At one point he played a feature of himself on a new Fontaines D.C. song ‘ugly’ — a collaboration which had the potential to be pretty cool but fell flat when Slowthai didn’t rap along live but lipsynced the pre-recorded song. Not long after this he teased a new DnB track, which although at first seemed similarly random, actually added a great energy to the crowd. The disclosure-esque sounds were giving the kind of summer festival energy that can never come too soon. 

The show only got more energetic. Support act Deb Never was brought on for her feature on gorgeous Tyron track ‘push’ (a personal favourite), before Slowthai moved into older singles and biggest tracks from 2019 album Nothing Great about Britain. The last half an hour was filled with tender moments: the rapper offered free merch to a girl at the front who knew every single word; he had his child’s sonogram behind him on the back screen; and for track ‘Ladies’ the girls of the crowd were lifted onto shoulders. 

Expectedly, the most awaited songs of the night ‘Deal Wiv It’ and ‘Doorman’ were last to be played and went the heaviest. The rapper wasn’t even thirty seconds into ‘Doorman’ before he called for the track to be stopped and pointed at a guy in the middle of the mosh. “You mate, yes you”, he singled him out and told everyone else to open up a circle around him. “I want you to run laps around anticlockwise when I start this track again”. The second time it played the crowd joined in even louder than before. It’s reassuring to know that Slowthai is an advocate for his gigs to be safe spaces, and even if it meant stopping his last song midway, he was happy to do so. In that sense it didn’t ruin the end of the night but made the last song all the better — ending the set on a satisfying, if sweaty, note.