Sleeper to play Birmingham O2 gig

Having enjoyed huge critical and commercial success in the mid-90s, the band returned in 2018 with a new album and even more live dates – including a headline at Birmingham’s O2 Institute tomorrow.

Singer Louise Wener embarked on a successful literary career after the band split and has so far produced four novels, as well as an autobiography My Life As A Pop Star.

She took herself by surprise when she got the band back together. “It was a spur of the moment thing. It just hit me, a chance to do some gigs this summer. I had a bit of a ‘why not’ moment, and everyone was up for it, surprisingly. I’m really looking forward to it, actually.

“I am nervous a bit, but also excited. I always liked performing live. I didn’t get hugely nervous before a gig. I’m hoping that is going to stay. It feels more like a great chance to re-live those moments.”

Wener has a good perspective on Britpop, given that it happened two decades ago.

“I view it as happy, joyful nostalgia. I’m far enough away from it to see all this loveliness about it. In the way you look back at being at school, it was all fun, and those summers were always sunny. You have that rose-tinted view. It was hugely competitive. Everyone was watching each other, checking each other out, and seeing who was being more successful, whose mid-week chart position was better. There was a lot of pretending that no one cared, but everyone was super ambitious at the time.”

The new version of Sleeper has a similar line-up to the band that made it big during Britpop, with the addition of a different bassist. “Me, Jon Stewart and Andy Maclure (Louise’s life partner) live in Brighton. We have Kieron Pepper on bass, who used to be in The Prodigy. We’re doing all our hit songs.”