Important 80s melodic alternative album with great hooks, seriously poignant lyrics and classic period angst.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, POP: Garage Pop

Details:
big sleep. was formed in 1987. The original line-up consisted of Scott Ridgeway, Scott Smith, Dustin Carpenter, Gregg Dobbs and Jerry Marshall. The band's vision was to write and perform original music, but they also worked up songs by Dumptruck, Meat Puppets, New Order, Cactus World News and other bands who were not well known in their hometown of Seminole, Oklahoma (or in the whole state, for that matter). They felt obligated to introduce this music to the majority of Okies who simply had never heard of it. They also did killer renditions of songs by, among others, the Cure, R.E.M., the Stones & the Doors (their show closing version of "L.A. Woman" is legendary).

The band began to achieve a modicum of success playing the club circuit in Norman, Stillwater and Tulsa. They were also quite popular with the frat boys who often hired them to play at their blow-outs. Soon it was not too uncommon to fiind people at the shows sporting big sleep. t-shirts, asking if the band had made an album. Their shows were always a lot of fun, with much dancing and merry-making.

In 1988 Marshall left the band. It was decided that Smith should play rhythm guitar, leaving the bass slot to long-time friend and fan, James Arthur Casey. The group continued gigging regularly and making a name for themselves.

After a few months the decision was made to carry on in s 4-piece format with Smith resuming the bass playing duties, leaving Casey to pursue a songwriting career. Still they played shows at least 2-3 times a month and their popularity grew to the point where they began to slowly drop the cover songs to concentrate mainly on their own music. By this time they had become so popular in their circles that it was the only logical choice. They lost very few fans as a result, but they gained even more and so they decided the time was right to do something they'd always wanted to do: record an album.

"Dancing" was recorded in 1989 at Goodnight Dallas, a studio owned by Stevie Nicks. Kerry Crafton produced the 12 tracks and it was released on Christus Records, a label owned and operated by their manager, Daniel B. Newman.

The album sold moderately well but the departure of Ridgeway effectively broke up the band and so it was never distributed or promoted effectively. A limited edition of CDs were made and at this point there is no way to obtain one.

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