| The Sleepy Jackson | |
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Front-man Luke Steele performing live with the band in October 2003. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
| Genres | Alternative rock, baroque pop |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Capitol (Australia) Virgin (UK) Astralwerks (USA) |
| Associated acts | Empire of the Sun Little Birdy End of Fashion Eskimo Joe Spencer Tracy The Exploders |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Luke Steele Malcolm Clark also: Lee Jones Dave Symes Jake Steele Jodi Steele |
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| Past members | |
| Jesse Steele Matthew O'Connor (deceased) Adam "Pretentious Dog" Buckeridge Paul Keenan Ronan Charles Justin Burford Rodney Aravena Jonathon Dudman Ben Nightingale Julian Dudman Felix Bloxsom |
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The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Steele. Stemming from a musical family, Luke's father Rick Steele is a local blues musician, and two of Luke's siblings are also musicians, with brother Jesse a former member of The Sleepy Jackson (and currently performing with father Rick in The Hot Biscuit Band), and sister Katy, who fronts another Perth rock band, Little Birdy. While a series of acclaimed EPs brought The Sleepy Jackson to a broader musical attention of Australia, it was the release of their 2003 album Lovers and 2006 second album Personality - One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird that directed significant international focus upon the band.
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The Sleepy Jackson formed in 1998 with the original lineup featuring Luke Steele (vocals and guitars), Jesse Steele (drums), and Matthew O'Connor (bass). This lineup recorded a self-titled debut EP and a subsequent single titled "Miniskirt." Both recordings were independently released. In 2000, as a result of non-musical commitments, Luke suggested that his brother should redirect his attentions and concentrate on other happenings in his life which ultimately resulted in Jesse following his advice and departing the band.
The void created by Jesse Steele's departure was filled by Paul Keenan (who later drummed with Eskimo Joe at their live performances). Along with numerous shows in their hometown of Perth, in late 2000 The Sleepy Jackson toured nationally with Jebediah. In March 2001, on the eve of the band's signing with EMI Records, the band toured with Magic Dirt and Motor Ace with Ronan Charles on keyboards joining Steele, O'Connor and Keenan. Five weeks into the tour, with the band broke, exhausted, and sleeping in caravan parks rather than enjoying the luxuries their touring partners were enjoying, O'Connor, Keenan and Charles quit, leaving Luke Steele to complete the tour solo.
Upon signing to EMI, pressure was soon placed on Steele to produce a recording. The result was the 2001 EP titled Caffeine in the Morning Sun, which Steele recorded in Sydney with a collection of session musicians. In addition to playing solo, Steele recruited drummer Malcolm Clark into The Sleepy Jackson fold and, when some serious touring was required in support of the release, the services of Justin Burford (guitar) and Rodney Aravena (bass) were enlisted. In addition to The Sleepy Jackson, Steele's three colleagues were also playing around their hometown with Jonathon Dudman under the name End of Fashion.
The Sleepy Jackson relocated to Sydney where they recorded another EP, Let Your Love Be Love, in late 2002. Songs from this EP and Caffeine in the Morning Sun were compiled together to form a self-titled mini-album for release in the UK market in February 2003. A period of extensive touring quickly followed, which saw the band playing in Australia, the United States, and Europe. The latter brought the band some very enthusiastic attention from UK music magazine NME. In between live appearances, The Sleepy Jackson worked on recordings that were to become their debut album Lovers. During a series of UK appearances in 2003, Burford and Aravena left the band. With a support slot for Silverchair's Diorama tour looming back in Australia, replacements were quickly sought. Clarke ironically called upon the only other End of Fashion member not previously part of The Sleepy Jackson, Jonathon Dudman.
Dudman joined the band in Sydney, where he took over bass duties, and the second guitarist position was filled by session musician Ben Nightingale. The Sleepy Jackson's revolving door continued when Nightingale was ultimately replaced by Jonathon Dudman's brother, Julian Dudman. But the Dudmans subsequently left the band, leaving Luke Steele and Malcolm Clark as the only official members of The Sleepy Jackson.
The Sleepy Jackson released their second full-length album Personality - One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird in Australia on 1 July 2006, where it debuted at #10 on the Australian Albums Charts the following week. Later that July, the album was nominated for a J Award by Australian radio station Triple J. With Personality's predecessor Lovers also receiving generous support from both critics and radio alike, the band supported the new album's worldwide release with a series of live appearances in select markets. Joining Steele and Clark were Dave Symes and Felix Bloxsom, who both worked on the album, and Lee Jones who was formerly in the Perth band Spencer Tracy. Bloxsom has since been replaced by Luke's brother Jake and Luke's wife Jodi, a.k.a. "Snappy Dolphin," which also brought a change from organic percussion instruments to computer samples backing the band.
In 2007, The Sleepy Jackson performed at the 2007 Big Day Out, the Southbound festival, the Falls Festival and the St. Jerome's Laneway festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. Also in 2007, Steele provided slide guitar to the song "Waiting All Day" by Silverchair on their fifth album Young Modern. Steele also appeared on the Pnau single "With You Forever," leading Nick Littlemore to state on Pnau's website "...working with Luke Steele... it was amazing, that inspired [me] to work on a separate project with him all together. It's another album we're doing."
The Sleepy Jackson were one of the artists contributing to Yoko Ono's album Yes, I'm A Witch, which was released in 2007 and is a compilation of remixed versions of Yoko's songs performed by various invited artists. The Sleepy Jackson contributed the remix of the song "I'm Moving On".[1]
Subsequently in late 2007 Steele formed the electroacoustic pop outfit Empire of the Sun, with Littlemore. Empire of the Sun's debut album, Walking on a Dream and first two singles, "Walking on a Dream" and "We are the People", gained success in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland & some parts of Europe in 2008. The band has won seven ARIA Awards (Australian Music Awards) in 2009.
In early 2009 Clark joined The Exploders, a Melbourne based band, whose members' include former Sleepy Jackson bass player, Dudman (aka J. Cortez).[2] In 2010, Clark and Cortez joined Jeff Martin of The Tea Party in a new band called Jeff Martin 777. Their album The Ground Cries Out was released in early 2011.
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