Photo: Will Ireland

– First record you bought? 

Human League dare. There’s nothing I didn’t love about it. The cover art. The trip to Our Price on the bus. Spending all my saved up pocket money. Every single song.

– First gig you went (who, where, when)?

I always say The Jam at Wembley Arena for their farewell tour because it was the one that affected me the most and made me want to join a band. But my brother reminded me that he took me to see Half Man Half Biscuit at the Hundred Club before that. I smoked my first joint while they played All I Want for Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit.

– First band you fell in love with?

The Police. I though Synchronicity was really deep.

– First song that inspired you ?

Bruce Springsteen Born to Run. I’ll never not love that song. Every word. Off by heart.

– First song you wrote (any good?) 

Awful! Some jazz-funk abomination about fancying someone from afar. Makes me itchy just thinking about it.

– First gig you played (how did it go?) 

I sang in a jazz band to make extra money when I was at college. First song up was Moon River. I started in a completely different key to the band. It was… experimental.

– First musical hero?

Kate Bush. I spent a lot of time perfecting my interpretive dance moves as a young teen. She did an interview in Just Seventeen saying whenever she had her picture taken, she spoke to the audience with her eyes. I wrote that down. And underlined it.

In January, Sleeper released their “lost” album, ‘This Time Tomorrow’. The band’s 5th full length studio album, and technically a prequel, the ten tracks were recorded between 1999 and 2000 in North London, and finished in Brighton during lockdown, 2020.

‘This Time Tomorrow’ includes songs Andy and Louise wrote together in their attic post-Sleeper split, and tracks demoed by guitarist Jon Stewart, who’d run away to live in LA by this time. Four of the songs are part of a solo album Louise had begun making that was never finished.

The band decided to finish the tracks last year when they were forced to stop touring by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These are tracks that have been sitting on our hard drive since the 90s,” says Wener. “Songs we’ve lived with and loved all this time. With all the restrictions of lockdown they resonated in a way I wasn’t expecting. ‘Goodbye Things to Do’ was written at a time when I was completely lost and I felt there was no way forward. I think everyone’s had moments like that this last year. Opening track, ‘Tell Me Where You’re Going’ in particular seemed to sum up the way the world is feeling now, as if life is on pause.”

The record features 4 tracks produced with long time George Michael collaborators James Jackman and Niall Flynn. The track ‘We Are Cinderella’, includes a small backing vocal contribution from George, who let Louise and Andy use his studio in Highgate during downtime.

“George was incredibly generous letting us use his studio. We were out of our record deal and had nowhere to go. He was superbly knowledgeable about production and mixing and helped with my vocal on Cinderella. He sang a backing vocal part in the last two choruses because he liked the track. It was thrilling to have one of my teen heroes offering advice and contributing to my song in that way. I love listening to it now. It feels like a very special moment.”