Tonight at the Mercury Lounge in NYC, our good friends at Friction will host The Big Sleep's "Sleep Forever" record release party. Sian Alice Group, Priestbird and Heavy Creatures are also on this killer bill. Tickets are $10 and almost sold out! A few hours before the show, Danny Big Sleep checks in with us........

Tonight's our record release. Come, make fun of me for the following:

For most of high school, only two bands mattered to me, The Cure and The Smiths, but by the end, I had started to like more bands, and two of my favorites were Suede and Verve. I'd started playing the guitar by then, and I didn't have much of a social life, so I quickly became obsessed with guitars and guitarists. Both bands had great guitarists and songs I was really feeling at the time. They were just so good. If I had to choose, I was going to pick Verve, but it would have been a tough choice. I guess I was just drawn to Nick McCabe's guitar playing that little bit more.

It took a lot of sweet talking to be able to come into the city to see Suede, and my mom wasn't about to let me come back in a week later to see Verve. They have drugs in the city. So, seeing Verve live became my goal. The only trouble was, I had no idea when they were coming back to the States, and I didn't know how to find out. I was pretty stupid when it came to things like ordering tickets for a show, my friends usually took care of it.

I didn't know Verve were lined up to play the second stage of Lollapalooza on Randall's Island till about a week before it all went down. And even then, I didn't know how to get tickets. I figured I'd tell my buddies and they'd let me know how much I owed them. Not knowing what to do till I spoke to these buddies, I decided to tag along with my cousin, who was taking a trip to Philadelphia just for the hell of it. We headed straight for South Street, which is the discount St. Mark's of Philly. We didn't know any better. But for once, my stupidity was going to pay
off.

We had just gotten there and were walking down the street when I saw someone I recognized coming out of a thrift store. My cousin was talking to me and noticed that I paused to look at this guy. So he says "What's wrong?" "I think I know that guy." "What do you mean? We don't know anyone here besides your sister." "I've seen him before. I think I know who he is."
"Hahahahaha" "No, really, I think know him, I'm going to ask him."

I walk up behind this guy, not really knowing how to approach the whole situation, so I tap him on the shoulder and ask if he plays guitar in a band. He replies somewhat sullenly, "Yeah, but you've never heard of us." I'm trying to play it cool, so I need to be sure I've got the right guy, "Well, what are you called?" "We're called Verve."

I'm not sure exactly what I said, but I know I fell to my knees and started listing all their songs that I loved. You know, trying to let him know, I know your band, I like your band. Maybe too much. And I know he said "Please stop, please get up, please get up." Another 10 minutes of awkward awkward conversation followed, and I couldn't stop singing his praises.Somehow, one of my guitar idols ended up offering me all access guest list spots for the Randall's Island show. That was the absolute pinnacle of my teenage years. Like, virginity loss be damned, I was Nick McCabe's guest.

My friend Sean and I went to the show a week later and we thought we were cool because we could walk in and out of the backstage area. I saw him afterwards and he remembered who I was and made some polite small talk for a minute before heading back onto the tour bus. He had some whiskey in one hand and a beer in the other and I remember thinking "Take me with you."

It got that gay.

- Danny, The Big Sleep