The prior night SLEEP was in SEATTLE, Washington playing at
The Rock Candy / RKCNDY CLUB.

Iommi Stubs opened the show and were unmemorable
with the exception of experiencing horrible music.

After a very long break SLEEP took the stage and began
with FROM BEYOND off of Sleep's Holy Mountain.
About 4 minutes into the song I nudged my friend Beaux
and pointed out all of the people with napkins in their ears
due to the sonic volume level coming from the bass and guitar.
Ears glowing bright white from the black lights in the club.

Knowing what I was in for, I had two sets of fresh ear plugs. . . .

A minute later, the Seattle Fire Marshall shut down the sound board
ending SLEEP's performance that night.

I helped load gear into their graffitied utility van and made
certain not to step into the hole in the floor of the van
over the transmission tailshaft and driveline.

We hung out for about 4 hours embracing the Blueberry strain
that was abundant that evening and talked amps.
The next morning we all headed to Portland, Oregon.




Al Cisneros, Bass & Vocals for SLEEP

MATT PIKE ~ Guitar

The Portland show at LA LUNA had a total attendance
of about 20 people which made it easy to get some photos.

Prior to the show, Matt was sitting in our rig outside
in the parking lot, when we heard Al & Chris
begin the intro to From Beyond. 
Matt's bloodshot eyes opened wide and he said,
"DUDE THEY ARE STARTING WITHOUT ME !"

SLEEP performed FROM BEYOND and HOLY MOUNTAIN,
then went into an hour long version of a new song called
D O P E S M O K E R. 

It was a very worthy show that is burnt crisp into my mind. 

According to band lore half of the $70,000 USD was spent on amps,
with the rest used for lots of marijuana, inspiring their next album, called DOPESMOKER.
This hard-riffing band had been crafting their upcoming masterwork for months on end,
and they were planning to make the most of their newly-bought amplifiers in the studio.
Thanks to SLEEP the new Green Amps brand got an incredible image boost.

Word of mouth quickly spread, and GREEN quickly became mentioned in the same breath
as Black Sabbath’s hallowed Orange Matamps.
IS there any truth behind the near mythical cult status of these amplifiers?

The band secluded themselves in a recording studio all summer long.
The sessions kept going on and on, and when the dust finally settled,
the band left the studio carrying a piece of Rock history.
The master tape contained only a single track, with a running time of just over 68 minutes.
Sleep’s record label sadly didn’t share the band’s enthusiasm at their musicianship;
instead they refused to issue the record in its current form.
The label demanded the band edit their masterpiece down to a more
“commercial” length, and to change the record’s name.
Still, even after a number of edits had been made, the track was still 52 minutes long.
Now the album was called Jerusalem, but it still didn’t make the grade.
The record company refused to issue the record, claiming it was not marketable.
This left the band between a rock and a hard place.

The cost of the lengthy studio time wasn’t their only problem, though.
Their British amps were extremely unreliable and had to be repair constantly.
Jeff Lewis had promised to finally deliver the rest of the band’s amps,
but deadlines kept passing with no amplifiers in sight.
The Green amps the band already used were always falling apart at the seams.

1996 SLEEP SPLITS / HIATUS
In the end the Sleep members got so frustrated with the lengthy negotiations
with their label that they decided to split.
Their record stayed unreleased for many years to come.
When Matt and Al finally took delivery of their new amps,
the band had already split into different camps.
The fact that their Green models had proven to be so unreliable,
and that part of their order took years to arrive,
was probably a factor in Sleep’s break-up.
In their minds the British amp maker now owned
by Jeff Lewis was a fraudulent company.

While the Sleep members continued to live as legends,
and while their Dopesmoker album languished in the record companies vaults,
the legend of Orange and Matamp just kept on growing.

Chris Hakius~Drums
Matt Pike~Guitar
Al Cisneros~Bass Vocals

SLEEP - THE SCIENCES
April 20th, 2018 [420]

SLEEP - JERUSALEM
February 14th, 1998

SLEEP - Sleep's Holy Mountain
November 1st, 1992

SLEEP - VOLUME 2
September 9th, 1991

SLEEP - VOLUME ONE
February 14th, 1991