This year has seen a plethora of Britpop bands touring the country, including Sleeper who embark on their 2025 Inbetweener tour on 25 September in Cardiff and come to Oxford in October. In an era which was typified by male braggadocio, female-led bands were the exception rather than the rule. Their lyrics were challenging and provocative and their musical influences diverse, crossing the spectrum from electro-punk to guitar rock. Moreover the lead singers were a welcome antithesis of the Loaded-ladette; from the art-school nonchalance of Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, the gamine good looks of Echobelly’s Sonya Madan and the eternal ‘cool girl’ aesthetic of Sleeper’s Louise Wener…
Speaking with Louise over Zoom I was mortified to find myself verging on fan-girling, and more or less blurted out, ‘in the 90s you were, like, the poster girl for cool’ which she swiftly denied: “I was not the cool girl growing up – I can't tell you how much I was not the cool girl. I was the last kid picked for netball, I was asthmatic, I wore glasses, I had bad skin. I was very, very shy.” We then had a brief exchange about the wonders of retinol in the kind of way that you could conceivably have in any Ladies on a Friday night with whoever you get chatting to as you touch up your makeup in the communal mirror. I recovered myself and carried on with my prepared questions…
Has your sense of self developed over the past 30 years?
It was a real shock to find I had that [performing] in me, and in some senses I'm always that kid inside. That's how I see myself a lot of the time. Still, I've had therapy, I've worked on it. I try not to think of it in those terms, because I think it's more about finding some sense of authenticity – I sort of hate that word, if I'm honest – but it's about what can I be, what I really am, what I really think and what I really feel. You spend a lot of time pretending in the music industry. It's a very pretend-y kind of a place. So I'm trying to deal with that, I suppose.
The tour comes to Oxford in October, but you’ve played here before, right?
Yeah, lots of times. I think one of our very earliest gigs was at The Jericho Tavern.
Do you have a favourite type of venue?
No, it’s always about the moment. It’s a weird thing to go on stage and perform; you're only ever in the moment of it, and then as soon as you walk off stage, it's gone. That moment can occur in a little club, or it can occur somewhere quite big and grand and glamorous. I think as I've got older, I'm much more aware of these moments happening.
What can audiences expect from the tour?
I think we do a pretty joyful performance; that's what you get. It's songs from back catalogue – all the hits from the 90s. I think gigs are different these days; there’s more of a connection with the audience than there has ever been.
Being back on tour; what's changed and what stays the same?
Much of it is exactly the same in terms of the way it operates but we're all so very different. When we first came back in 2017, me and my husband were trying to organise it around [our] children. That was insane – I remember turning up a gig and me and Andy [Maclure, Sleeper’s drummer and Louise’s husband] had driven up with our kids in the back of the car, and one of them had been sick. We were late because we were stuck in traffic, and I had a sick bag in my hand. So we were switching between being grownups and parents and then trying to mix it up with being rock stars, or whatever. It was kind of bizarre. And, of course, back in the day backstage it was all bottles of vodka, and Christ knows what else, but now it's – you know – vegan sandwiches. The performances are still hugely enjoyable, though. I wasn't quite expecting them to be as enjoyable as they are but it's amazing to step in and out of it.
How have you found yourself evolving as an artist?
I'm literally just in the process of putting together new music. I've been demo-ing songs but I'm not sure what the timeline is. These things always take longer than you would hope.
I think I actually found it difficult to write honestly when I was younger. A lot of my songs were kind of like story songs: they’re about characters. I could bury my feelings or my hurts or my troubles in the songs of characters. Now I'm older, I can break free of the characters. I can [write] from my soul. That’s a very different way of writing.
How do you find working with your husband?
We're actually really good at it, and I think it's because we've been doing it for so long. We have a pretty good sort of relationship in that way.
Are you ever in a position where you wish you could just watch him perform, and he you, too?
That's a really good question, but I think we do see that. You know, it was quite interesting because neither of us had [performed] for such a long time, and we'd forgotten that each of us had that skill set. I think he was like, ‘Oh my God, my wife can control a giant crowd, I had forgotten that she could do that’. And then I was like, ‘he's such an amazing drummer. He's just brilliant, that's so cool. I had forgotten that you had that amazing skill’. So that's quite lovely.
What makes Britpop so relevant for now?
There was kind of a sort of joyfulness about it. It's not particularly introverted or inward looking. I think people like that, and they like the guitar band ethos, which has been kind of lost a little bit: actual bands, claiming their space. And there are good songs – that's a little bit lacking. Am I allowed to say that? Some of the music that's around now, I think… I think the kids deserve better.
Finally, I have to ask: are you seeing Oasis this summer?
I am. I still really like Noel and I’m always happy to read a Noel interview. I just love that he's completely unfiltered still. So much of what we see has been run through a filter and I feel like he's not. I don't go around listening to Oasis – I don't go around listening to Blur either, particularly – but still, these were great moments, weren't they?
Book tickets to see Sleeper at the O2 Academy on Thursday 16 October by visiting sleeper.band or academymusicgroup.com
