San Jose’s Sleep are widely considered to be the emperors of the stoner rock genre. While I, being no expert on stoner rock, cannot really debate this claim, let’s consider the evidence. Exhibit A: they released a highly-regarded album entitled Dopesmoker. Exhibit B: they released a highly-regarded album entitled Dopesmoker. If Sleep aren’t the world’s greatest stoner rock band, they certainly play the part. Any challengers to the throne can throw down the gauntlet during the group’s brief upcoming North American tour. Come forward, ye lurching juggernauts.
You’ll only have a few chances to meet eye-to-eye with Sleep, though. Their upcoming tour basically meets only the minimum requirements of the word “tour,” as it consists of a mere three dates. Most interesting of the three may be the group’s date at Calgary’s Sled Island Festival, where the bill features acts like The Buzzcocks, Blonde Redhead, and The Dandy Warhols. If you’re reading this, single human being who makes up the venn diagram overlap between “Sleep fans” and “Dandy Warhols fans,” then this story is for you.
Once Sleep have finished off this trio of dates, you may not get another chance to see them for a while. The band doesn’t tour particularly often, having done only a relatively short North American tour since reuniting in 2009 (albeit, still way longer than this upcoming one) and two ATP Festival appearances. But, hey, their members are busy being in High on Fire and OM. You really can’t blame them too much.
Sleep dates:
06.22.11 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
06.24.11 - Calgary, AB - Sled Island Festival
06.26.11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
