Sleep, What's That? is the debut EP by the Berkeley, California-based punk rock band Crimpshrine. It was released on January 30, 1988 through Lookout Records on 7-inch vinyl with the catalog number LK 004. After the EP went out of print in 1992, all of the tracks were added to the compilation album The Sound of a New World Being Born in 1998, which is also currently not in print. It is often considered a classic Lookout Records release and as Crimpshrine's strongest recording.
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south and the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north. Its eastern border with Contra Costa County generally follows the ridge of the Berkeley Hills. The 2010 census recorded a population of 112,580.
Punk rock is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock and other forms of what is now known as "proto-punk" music, punk rock bands rejected perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent record labels.
Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The group was formed in 1982 by Aaron Cometbus, founder of the seminal punk rock zine Cometbus, and future Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels. They grew out of the East Bay scene, centered on 924 Gilman Street, and had an important influence on later East Bay bands such as Operation Ivy, Green Day and punk rock in general.
The group originally formed in 1982 under the name S.A.G. and featured future Operation Ivy frontman Jesse Michaels as the vocalist, Aaron Elliot on guitar and Jeff Ott playing drums. According to Elliot, there was a "serious lack of equipment" as they only had one drum and 3 strings on the guitar.[1] Once Michaels left the band in 1984, they changed their name to Crimpshrine and went through several different line-ups, which had Ott playing synthesizer and piano at various points. Pete Rypins finally joined in 1986 as the group's permanent bassist and, after recording their first demo in early 1987, were approached by David Hayes to record tracks for the upcoming Maximumrocknroll compilation Turn It Around! in August.[1] Shortly after recording the tracks for the compilation, the group went to Dangerous Rhythm in Oakland, California to record tracks for what would become the Sleep, What's That? EP with producer and engineer Kevin Army.[1]
Operation Ivy was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California formed in May 1987. The band was stylistically important as one of the first bands to mix the elements of hardcore punk and ska into a new amalgam called ska punk and was critical to the emergence of Lookout Records and the so-called "East Bay Sound."
Jesse Michaels is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, artist, and author from Berkeley, California. He is the son of the author Leonard Michaels and was married to producer Audrey Marrs. His lyrics deal with politics, racism, and general social issues. He is most well known as the vocalist for the ska punk band Operation Ivy.
Aaron Elliott, better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine Cometbus.
Lyrical themes and song origins
"In My Mind" was written by Ott about subconscious racism, with him stating that people "must all strive to recognize and remove these small but very ingrained pieces of intolerance from ourselves" in the liner notes.[1] The inspiration for the song came when Ott was on a bus and came across an African-American man lying in the aisle unresponsive after he repeatedly attempted to talk to him. Finding that the man had no pulse, Ott asked the driver call an ambulance, to which he reportedly replied "Oh, he's just some black wino who's passed out." After Ott told him to call an ambulance again, he finally did and one showed up soon enough to save the man.[1]
The title track was written when, in the spring of 1987, a group of homeless people in Berkeley, California set up the "Homeless Liberation Front", an organization that made a "city of tents" in Provo Park which they called Reaganville.[1] Ott liked the idea and decided to help them out by bringing food and watching over the tent while they slept, as they were constantly harassed by police officers and other city officials.[1] After a few weeks, Reaganville was torn down by the police.[1] Ott also drew inspiration for the song from his own experiences with homelessness.[1]
"Tomorrow", the EP's final track, is a song about sarcastic hope and originally began as an instrumental from the group's formative years. According to Elliot, it was the only song written during that period that the band kept.[1]
Release and pressings
The layout and packaging of the EP was managed by David Hayes and released on January 30, 1988 on Lookout Records with the catalog number LK 004. 2,000 copies were originally pressed on 7-inch vinyl and were number-stamped in red ink on the back and included a booklet with lyrics and other information. By mistake of the pressing plant, about 50 of these copies were pressed on blue marble vinyl. The third pressing was done in unknown quantities; they were not numbered on the back and the booklet was light blue instead of the original pink.[2] On a later pressing done in 1991, the back cover listed Lookout Records' then-new address in Berkeley, as opposed to the original Laytonville, California address. The booklet was also white and the updates section from the original was replaced with a picture of the band (this version was referred to as the "8th pressing").[3]
Lookout Records was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operation Ivy’s only album, Energy, and Green Day's first two albums, Kerplunk and 39/Smooth.
Laytonville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mendocino County, California, United States. Laytonville, is located 20 miles (32 km) north-northwest of Willits, at an elevation of 1670 feet. The population was 1,227 at the 2010 census, down from 1,301 at the 2000 census.
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