Photo Credit: Travis Shinn
“[‘Have Spacesuit Will Travel’ is] a righteous riff-beast that really does have some of that old
Sleep magic” — Stereogum
Sleep announce their new album, Hempispheres, out digitally
September 3rd via Third Man Records, and out physically October
30th. In conjunction, they release the new single, “The Morrisist.”
Hempispheres doesn't attempt to continue where 2018’s The Sciences left off.
With significant new blood in the lineup, the album instead finds its own footing — distinctly in the spirit of
Sleep's decades-long legacy, but sharper and more agile.
Hempispheres begins Sleep’s first mission without Matt Pike on guitar. The music and art are alive,
and after the decades of obstacles that Sleep has overcome, it is time to move forward and make songs and
albums. Alongside bassist and songwriter Al Cisneros, the latest incarnation of Sleep features
Dale Crover on drums and Bubba Dupree on guitar. Dale has been in some serious
bands, like the Melvins and Redd Kross. That Cisneros would seek him out makes
sense, an almost elementary choice that probably wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows. Bubba Dupree, from the
fiercely loved band Void, hailing out of Columbia, MD, is a pick that is not only completely
mind-blowing, but a choice no one would have seen coming.
Cisneros had been writing demos and dying to turn them into finished tracks. When Crover passed through town on
tour with the Melvins, Cisneros asked if he wanted to help build out the songs and join the band. The connection
ran deep: Crover had seen Sleep live in San Francisco in the early '90s, and the early incarnation of Sleep had
themselves been transformed by witnessing the Melvins' legendary 1988 "Gluey Porch Treatments" era shows.
Cisneros calls Crover's drumming "...otherworldly, life changing."
For guitar, Cisneros needed someone who knew the essence and vibe of Sleep's past work, but equally important,
had done their own Iommic Studies and would be working from that, bringing their own voice and ideas. Dupree
came highly recommended, the first jam session nailed it: a vibe Cisneros describes as "blue sunglasses era
Iommi." A planned one-off recording for a flexi disc/comic book project evolved into full band membership. The
album was recorded at the Melvins' studio with longtime engineer Toshi Kasai, built from a
handful of ideas worked out across a few sessions.
Dupree discovered Sleep's Holy Mountain in the mid-'90s and was floored — heavy, psychedelic, yet
punk-adjacent. However, stepping into Pike's shoes weighs on him — "Matt's an icon" — but he's resolved that
imitating Pike's style would be hollow. Instead, he's leaning into his own voice, determined that "Sleep's soul
is still totally intact,” on display on lead single “Have Spacesuit Will Travel", which
“maintains Sleep’s trademark sludgy wall of sound” (Consequence). Today's “The Morrisist” finds the
band operating in the same vein.
*Portions of the Above Text From Bio Written By Henry Rollins*
Listen to “The Morrisist”
In conjunction with the album’s release Cisneros, presents the first issue of the Sleep Comic
Book, his authorial debut for Third Man Books. Illustrated by Dave
Kloc and Arik Roper, Issue #1 begins the saga of The Marijuanaut. An
adventure which takes the reader to Planet Iommia, encounters with The Weedian, and introduces the traveller to
Iommia’s deeper reverential practices, all this and more that resonates within the universe that Cisneros's
lyrics created from the riff-filled lands of Sleep’s discography. The Sleep Comic Book is available as
a standard edition, stand alone comic and a very special, signed limited edition bundle including comic, full
cover poster, signed bookplate, designed rolling papers, and a flexidisc of “Have Spacesuit Will Travel.”
This fall, Sleep will embark on a North American Tour, beginning September
8th in San Diego. The tour includes a headline performance at Levitation
Festival in Austin, as well as multiple nights in Seattle and
San Francisco, before heading over to the Midwest & East Coast in November.
Pre-Order Hempispheres
Hempispheres Tracklist
- Have Spacesuit Will Travel
- The Morrisist
- Hempispheres
- Arrival of the Industry Ships
- Whole Wheat Mountain / Well Baked