The Sleepers @ San Francisco, CA 1981-02-15

 



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The Sleepers
Savoy Tivoli
San Francisco, CA
1981-02-15

CHTP Release 4

Lineage: Soundboard > Cassette [or reel to reel] > Copied to Maxell UDX II 90 Minute)

Archival Process: 
Vintage JVC cassette deck (Maxell UDX II 90-minute cassette) > 13" MacBook Air (Retina) > Audio Hijack to capture the audio in stereo .aiff (768 Kbps, 16 bits) and 48000 Hz PCM

Dime release processing: 
AIFF Master Files > Audacity (normalized, channels balanced, cleanup of redundant audio and pops) > 16 bit FLAC  > tagging, cover artwork, checksums.

This is a soundboard 1st generation stereo cassette dubbed from the master, provided by Mike White to Clay.

All Sleepers releases in the CHTP are approved by Mike White, and we thank him and Clay Holden for helping to make these available after so many years!

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Setlist:
01. When Can I Fly
02. Mirror
03. Holding Back
04. Step Back
05. Let Me Free
06. Forever
07. Mist Her
08. Zenith-Theory
09. //The Mind
Encore:
10. Mr. Soul [4:29]

Alternate Version:
11. Mr. Soul// [2:58]

Length: 47:24

Band:
Ricky Williams - vocals
Michael Belfer - guitar
Mike White - guitar, backing vocals
Ron MacLeod - bass
Brian MacLeod - drums

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Comments (Mike White):

Yes, the single "Mirror/Theory" was _not_ done by _"The Las Vegas Sleepers"_ [the band's joke title for themselves].

[Regarding first meeting Paul and Ricky]: I believe Paul & Ricky came over to the 276 Tyrella house; I really think it was there when I unplugged Paul from the Kay amplifier...

As far as verification, I don't have it on reel to reel, so it must be on cassette because I remember we did jam to 'Subtropics' & 'Caramel By The Sea', a couple of my compositions. and afterward Danny told me not to let Ricky play his drums ever again!

[Re: first meeting with Michael Belfer and other band members]: I vaguely remember playing at someone's house (Michael's???) [yes, it was Micheal Belfer's parents house in Palo Alto - CH] and Ricky was there, too. We fudged our way through the the first part of "Starship Trooper" by Yes. Ricky didn't know the words, so when I attempted singing "_...Sister bluebird, flying high above..."_ Ricky joined in, singing two words - _'Sister Bluebird'_ - over and over. It was after that I was offered to come to their rehearsal and it was during that time I became a member of The Sleepers, with Bob [Gaynor] and then Brian [MacLeod] on drums.

Yes, Bob Gaynor was the short-lived drummer _"...but it didn't work out..."_ because of Adolescent Records' co-owner Eric Fournier. _"Get rid of him"_ was what he said under his breath to us. At that point Ron, who was the new bass player, suggested that his brother Brian would be a great fit for the band because he had studied 4-way independence, and spent most of his waking hours just playing and working on his technique(s).

As for the 1981-02-15 Savoy Tivoli, here are a few recollections:

This was one of our better shows due to Ricky being very engaged with the audience & band. You can hear Ricky telling them to turn on the lights as we were setting up. It was dark onstage, and getting my numerous effects set up was challenging. He was being funny at times too, as when introducing "Mirror" - he even says thank you at the end; and before "Holding Back*"; "Mist Her" was my song that he made new lyrics for (that night), and he sat on the edge of the stage, crooning to the audience; "Theory*" got a unique intro as well. I am playing bass on "The Mind**," Ron preferred not to do the bass solo jam at the end. It was also fun doing back up vocals with Ricky on a few of the songs.

"Mr. Soul*" almost didn't get performed, not because of Ricky asking the audience if they _"...want to hear a stupid song..."_ but because of him having a tug of war with a woman who pulled on the mic cord and Ricky began playfully pulling back. Then, while crouching down to get better leverage, he pulled hard on the cord. Then the woman let go of the cord, and the tension caused the microphone to fall out of its holder and landed squareley onto Ricky's head (you can hear it hitting him at the one minute, fourteen seconds mark). There was a slight pause, as in _"uh oh - what now?"_, then Michael counted it off, and Ricky charged into some very expressive singing, especially at the end the song. Guitar solo duties were: me, 1st & third, Michael [Belfer] 2nd.

*= Songs I sang back up on.
**= A song co-written by Paul Draper who was always asking Eric when he would be getting royalties for using the song.

[Abuot 1981-02-15 Savoy show/recording:
visually it sounded like this with left representing 0%, center 50%, and right 100%]:

Through headphones it sounded like this: 
My guitar sounded slightly right of center (60%); 
The bass sounded slightly right of me (65%); 
Michael (guitar) and Ricky (v) placement at (80%), 
and the drums at (95%)

It is recorded in stereo, because the first track “When Can I Fly?” starts with my guitar in the left channel, but after 43 seconds, the sound increases and the balance seems to push everything right of center.

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Comments (Clay Holden):

• The Sleepers were formed in 1977, not 1978, and their first gig was on Christmas night, 1977 at the Mabuhay, per Michael Belfer. I know that UXA were performing before the end of that year, and Ricky had been shown the door by Crime well before the end of the year.

I mention UXA both because Ricky had known DeDe Troit (Semrau) for several years before the SFO punk explosion, and was largely responsible for talking her into moving to the Bay Area, where they used to sit on my front porch in Palo Alto singing (improvising) in the evenings.

DeDe later ended up becoming Michael Kowalski's girlfriend, and he encouraged her to form UXA (United Xperiments of America) largely utilizing his lyrics. Their first show was circa Nov. 1977 if my memory is correct, as I recall seeing flyers for them the night I was at the Avengers show. Michael died of a heroin overdose in 1978.

• In addition to Ricky's inability to stay away from drugs, the other main reason things fell apart in New York is that they went there without an album out, because Adolescent Records were still sitting on it. (When you listen to the first show from August 80, consider that other than the versions of "Mirror" and "Theory" and "She's Fun", nobody had ever heard any of that material before.

• After Ron & Brian MacLeod and Benjamin Bossi quit the night after the Hurrah gig, Mike and Michael quickly recruited a pair of local New York musicians, and assembled a new version of The Sleepers so they could finish the tour. This is referred to as "The New York Sleepers", and there are existing rehearsal recordings in Mike's tape archives. He can also clarify the personnel. I have no idea if there are any existing recordings of live performances, only that they occurred.

• Once Ricky, Michael and Mike returned to California, Michael recruited a new bass player and drummer, and renamed the band 'The Clocks of Paradise' for a few gigs. The first of those was at The New Varsity Theater in Palo Alto, which the management advertised as "The Sleepers", then introduced the band as "The New Sleepers", at which point Michael stepped up to the microphone and said "Good evening. We're The Clocks of Paradise". 

• Ricky and Michael Belfer patched things up [after the first band breakup] and did the Mirror/Theory single.

The "Mirror/Theory" single, though listed as being by "The Sleepers", was recorded by Ricky and Michael Belfer with assistance from Steve Brown of Tuxedomoon on synthesizers and Stephen Wymore on bass. It also features a drum machine.

That line-up was not the band that recorded "Painless Nights", or [that] appears on any of these live performances, but a one-shot that Ricky and Belfer put together as more-or-less a demo.

• The success of the single led to Adolescent Records pushing Michael and Ricky into putting together an actual band. Bob Gaynor (later of 'Half Church') was initially recruited as a drummer, but didn't work out, and the MacLeod brothers were asked to join on bass and drums. Mike White had previously played with Ricky and Paul Draper, and when they met and played together, Mike and Michael hit it off, and he was made a member. (It certainly didn't hurt that Mike had a studio in his garage at home, where the band could rehearse and record.)

• Ricky was not a speed-freak, he was more inclined to tranquilizers, Quaaludes, other downs, and whatever he could find in your bathroom medicine cabinet when he came over to your house. But [he] was unlikely to say no to anything he was offered.

Ricky was a chronic asthmatic from the time he was a child, and had to constantly use asthma inhalers, which may be where a reputation for speed comes from, but he was *not* a speed freak. It must be said that he wasn't one to say "no" to much of any drugs offered him, so he probably was an occasional user. (It is a sad fact that Ricky died of a heroin overdose, he had never been a heroin user in all the years I knew him, and it was clearly an accident.)

• During the period Ricky was kicked out of the Sleepers and helped form Flipper with members of Negative Trend, Rozz Rezabek from Negative Trend joined the original lineup of The Sleepers on vocals. Rozz ... left after a brief stint in this edition of The Sleepers. (I have photos of them performing, but no recordings.)

• Ricky's comments about the single "Mirror/Theory" are a joke (and Mike White adding in a Mickey Mouse voice that it's "a big secret"), as the single had been released almost two years prior to this show, and months before this version of The Sleepers even formed. (Both "Mirror" and "Theory" were performed at their first show at the Savoy on August 31st, 1980, with Mike White's composition "Zenith" being added as an intro to "Theory", though he had composed and recorded it himself long before he joined the band. The August 31st '80 show, in fact, *opens* with "Zenith" and "Theory".)

* The backing vocals on [1981-02-15], incidentally, is guitarist Mike White, who was able to do the harmonies without stepping on or competing with Ricky at all, and it works really well, I think. Don't recall whose idea it was, but Ricky was happy with it, and Mike could actually sound a good bit like him when he wanted to (though he's never been primarily a singer).

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Notes:
* The audio on this one is really good considering the age of the cassette and the difficulty getting a good transfer
* The alternate version of Mr. Soul (11) appears to be slightly different from track 10, though from the same show. We're not really sure where it comes from, but it's provided as is as a bonus track. The start of 'The Mind' is cut off. It takes some seconds for the soundboard to pull together the mix on the first track, but after that it's solid.
* RIP Ricky Williams 1992 (age 37).
* Ricky mentions their 'new' single, Mirror/Theory, released some 2 years earlier.
* Ricky Williams went on to play with Toiling Midgets, who opened once for PiL in San Francisco, and who were well known due to their Jaks Team affiliations, among other things.
* Brian MacLeod discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/284088-Brian-MacLeod
Brian played for/recorded with many other groups after the Sleepers, including Grace Slick, Jefferson Starship, Dramarama, Kaviar, Steel Dragon, and Wire Train.
* RIP Tim Mooney 2012-06-13
* Original Drummer Tim Mooney went on to play with the Toiling Midgeets and the 'emo' band American Music Club. 
* Michael Belfer played with Black Lab from 1996-99.
* Interview with Michael Belfer: 
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3b5989/we-interviewed-sleepers-guitarist-michael-belfer
* About the band [NOTE: there are multiple errors in this wikipedia page. See Clay's and Mike's comments above]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleepers_(San_Francisco_band)
"The Sleepers was a San Francisco-based band, formed in 1978 [sic, actually 1977]. They were one of the earliest punk bands in San Francisco, and later took on a darker, moodier post-punk sound before breaking up in 1981.
....
The band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1978 [sic, actually 1977]. Michael Belfer had been trying to form a band with his friend, Tim Mooney, and Belfer had decided he wanted former Crime drummer Ricky Williams for vocals, as "he was so awesome looking". The band's compositions were spontaneous, as lyricist Williams didn't have the discipline to write out lyrics, but had "fantastic improvisational abilities". The band released a five-track 7-inch EP in late 1978, and then broke up, with Belfer playing in Tuxedomoon during 1978 and 1979, and Williams co-founding Flipper, from which he was fired before the band made any recordings "for being too weird"
...
In 1980, the band reformed and released a single, "Mirror"/"Theory" [incorrect as well, see Clay's comments], and an album, Painless Nights. The new lineup on the LP featured Brian MacLeod (drums), Ron MacLeod (bass), and Mike White (guitar/effects). Williams' abuse of speed [see Clay's comments above] led to erratic and violent behavior, which culminated in his passing out on stage on the second date of the group's East Coast tour at New York's Hurrah. The band broke up onstage after this incident."
* There was a commercially released album "The Savoy Sound Wave Goodbye"  compilation that featured a track from the Sleepers at the Savoy Tivoli in 1981, but that was recorded on a different night.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Savoy-Sound-Wave-Goodbye/release/1445834
* Clay Holden re this compilation: For one thing, Benjamin Bossi (from Romeo Void) is probably audible on it, and he wasn't playing with them at the time of either of the shows. He did play with them at the Savoy Sound taping, and can be clearly heard on the bootlegged tracks "Mirror" and "Long Song" (Mike had to tell me the title of the latter, they never released it at all) that are passing themselves off as "Zenith" and "Theory" from that album. We're still curious if the rest of the tracks on the web are also different from the actual tracks on the album. Clearly someone stole the original tapes from Gerry and Olga, as they would never pull off such a lame stunt. 
* Full size color photos taken by Clay Holden are included. These are high quality and large enough to be printed to poster size should you so choose. Smaller versions are also included.

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About Clay Holden:
Clay was an avid photographer of the scene during this era. Some of his photos were published in RE/Search publications and ZigZag magazine. Bands he photographed range from Throbbing Gristle (who included one of his photos as a band poster in '20 Jazz-Funk Greats'), to Cabaret Voltaire to Nico to The Sleepers. 

He also took many photos of the Ramones, including one Dee Dee kept on his wall the rest of his life, and which Dee Dee's wife Vera King used as the back-cover to her bio "Poisoned Heart". Joey Ramone said about Clay's photos: "These are like the best pictures of us I've ever seen. It totally looks like World War II!" 

Additionally, he took many photos of Tex & The Horseheads, Mark Pauline & SRL shows, Factrix jamming with Cabaret Voltaire on Halloween, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lou Reed, Lita Ford, Twisted Sister (good lord!), Half Church, The Start (nee The Roommates) and even a post-Sleepers/pre-Sleepers Sleepers line-up with Roz from Negative Trend on vocals (while Ricky was singing with Flipper).

Wherever possible his photos, with his permission, are also used in these releases.

He recorded a variety of shows from this era using a remarkably effective Panasonic $65 portable mono cassette recorder. Other recordings sources are as listed in the technical recording info.

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No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegging!!
Yes sharing. Definitely share.

All photos: © 1981 Clay Holden, with permission granted for NON-COMMERCIAL sharing here.
All photos are distributed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (share, noncommercial use, no-derivative works) license:
Plain text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Legal: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode

Please correct any errors or oversights in this information in the comments section so the information can be as accurate as possible.

If you can find related materials like flyers, posters, ticket stubs, etc, please add them in a comment and I will add them to the main release folder, so that can be included on the next re-seeding. Every bit is welcome.

Please make an effort to pick at least one of these CHTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can. That will really help out long term.

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* About the Savoy Tivoli (1434 Grant Ave), at Green (and about 5 blocks from the Mabuhay Gardens):

The Savoy Tivoli spanned generations of scenes, from the Beatniks and later Hippies, to the first punk shows in San Francisco.
https://brokeassstuart.com/sf/2014/09/25/the-city-that-was-the-savoy-tivoli/
You never knew what was going to happen there, in the golden years of champagne and cocaine. For one thing, it attracted that bohemian combination of fringe intellectuals, arty types, plenty of writers, and celebrated eccentrics. Jack Sarfatti, the maverick quantum physicist, was usually there with his best friend, Kim Burrafato, profiled in Esquire Magazine as a golden boy who shocked everyone by not being utterly famous yet. Artists in their paint-soaked clothing lounged there after the light was gone. Poets like Gregory Corso would storm in and yell a new poem over the blabbing of the crowd. The Lord and Lady Leslie, a cheerful split personality, would wax lyrical about the druggie days in Morocco with William S. Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Allen Ginsberg, and Corso.

https://rockandrollroadmap.com/places/where-they-played/san-francisco-area-venues/savoy-tivoli/
The Savoy-Tivoli opened in 1906 as a boarding house and restaurant. It morphed as North Beach changed from a family restaurant to cafe for Beatniks and later as the home of “Beach Blanket Babylon.”
In a back room here, many great or soon to be great attractions played, including but not limited to: The Ramones, Graham Parker, Robert Palmer, and Southside Johnny. Some great Bluesmen played here as well, such as Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters.

http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=PUNK_ROCK
Another small cluster of misfits in their early twenties who hung around S.F.'s North Beach neighborhood (of late Beatnik notoriety) found their outlet in punk rock. The August 1976 Ramones gig played a catalytic role for the proto-punk scene in San Francisco: "In the backroom of the Savoy Tivoli on Upper Grant Avenue about thirty people had their ears blasted and their lives altered by the leather-jacketed boys from the East" 
...
Assisted by producer Dirk Dirksen and by an ambitious publicist Jerry Paulsen, bands and audiences were soon attracted by the commotion. By December 1976, the Nuns and the Dils played their first show at the Mabuhay (or Mab), leaving the 40 person audience in shock