Sleeper's Louise Wener thinks Britpop became "embarrassed of itself"

29 January 2025, 09:30 | Updated: 29 January 2025, 10:24

Louise Wener's bringing Sleeper back on tour!

By Jenny Mensah

The Sleeper singer reflected on the era and told Chris Moyles what to expect from the band's upcoming live dates.

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Louise Wener has discussed Britpop's "implosion" and argued that by the late '90s the genre had become "embarrassed of itself".

Sleeper have recently announced their plans to embark on their 2025 UK Inbetweener tour to celebrate 30 years since the release of their debut album, Smart, in 1995.

The band went on to release two more records in during the era with The It Girl in 1996, followed by Pleased to Meet You in 1997 before disbanding in March 1998.

Asked why they split at that point, Wener told The Chris Moyles Show: "It just sort of came to the end of the road, really. The third album didn't sell that great."

The singer went on: "Britpop was kind of... It kind of sort of had an implosion. It sort of fell apart a little bit. I also think it also sort of became a little embarrassed of itself. It became so arch and so ironic and everyone started making quite dark albums. [...] The mood changed, I think."

Louise Wener's bringing Sleeper back on tour!

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Wener also teased during the chat that Sleeper, who went on to release The Modern Age in 2019 and This Time Tomorrow in 2021, are working on new music.

Quizzed if there would be more music from the band, she told Radio X: "Yes, there definitely will [be].Yeah. It's gonna be amazing".

The Nice Guy Eddie singer teased: "I’m demoing stuff now and it's coming about in a slightly different way that I'm not going to talk about too much, but I'm really, really loving it. I'm really loving it."

As for what to expect from their live dates this year, which kick off on in Cardiff on 25th September and include two hometown shows at London Electric Ballroom in Camden, Wener said: "It's going to be great. It's going to be so much fun. Our gigs are so joyful!"

Sleeper's Inbetweener 2025 anniversary UK tour dates:

  • 25th September – Cardiff, Tramshed

  • 26th September – Bristol, SWX

  • 27th September – Leeds, Stylus
  • 2nd October – London, Electric Ballroom

  • 3rd October – London, Electric Ballroom

  • 4th October – Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall

  • 9th October – Newcastle, NX

  • 10th October – Glasgow, QMU

  • 11th October – Nottingham, The Level

  • 16th October – Oxford, Academy

  • 17th October – Manchester, Albert Hall

  • 18th October – Brighton, Concorde 2

Tickets for the Inbetweener tour go on general sale this Friday 31st December from 10am via sleeper.band and seetickets.com with pre-sales taking place on Wednesday 29th December.

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