Sleepy People is strongly influenced by other theatrical British psychedelic band such as Cardiacs and The Monochrome Set, with lyrics varying from cheerful or sinister nonsense to surreal representations of everyday life and hallucinatory twists on eccentric stories from tabloid newspapers.
The two along with Rachel Hope would subsequently work together as Pop Kid, who released a lone cassette album called Strange Planets Emerging From Behind The Coal Shed.
To bolster its impact, the band devised a stage show which Paul Hope described as "designed to provoke a response on the soporific and conservative pub circuit up and down the country, and at that we excelled!
The songs – based on a broad template of tightly played psychedelic pop – were eccentric and sometimes absurdist, with ingredients veering from the disco stylings of "Sordid Sentimental" to the Gong-inspired sprightliness of "Mr Marconi's Unusual Theory", the full-on progressive rock fantasia of "Rare Bird at the Window" and the harder-rocking "Nicky's Little Army" (the latter inspired by the orphanages in Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania).
Originally put out as a self-released cassette (with distribution help from the "Organ" fanzine, who'd supported the band from the early days), the album was eventually re-released on CD by Org Records in 1999.
Hope was favouring more direct lyrics and making use of Sear's rich quasi-operatic voice, although signs of the band's more theatrical past remained in the shape of the lengthy "Everything You Know Is Wrong".
Lee Haley was a lighter singer than Sears and brought an air of cool insouciance to the band,[1] which by now had jettisoned most of the make-up, costumes, and theatrics in favour of letting the music work by itself.
Although Phil Sears obliged Sleepy People by filling in as lead singer for several gigs, he was unable to make a long-term commitment.
The band recorded a new double A-side single – ("Who’s That Calling?/Sunshine Valley Paradise Club" – which was released as a one-off arrangement with cult Oxford indie label Shifty Disco.
[4] Both songs were inspired by bizarre true-life newspaper stories: a tale of a man falling off a bridge while conversing on his cellphone, and one of unpleasant goings on in a retirement home.
Former Sleepy People/Ultrasound member Richard Green (by then leading his own Leeds-based band The Somatics) added noise-guitar to "Sunshine Valley Paradise Club".
Credited to "Blue Apple Boy featuring Tiny Wood", the Salient album was released on the Soma Sound label in 2002, and displayed a further strengthening of the band's songwriting skills.
Rachel Theresa sang lead vocals on "Leave The Mud for the Worms" and the Gurdjieff-influenced bossa-nova "The Moon Is Hungry", while "Apples And Pears" featured the Hopes' eldest child, Dorothy Pippin.
The band now featured the 'Salient' lineup - Paul & Rachel Hope, Tiny Wood, Bill Bailey, Graeme Swaddle - plus new keyboard player/guitarist Mark Wallis.
[10] Despite Bailey's departure from the band in 2018, more gigs followed that year, with Wallis moving to bass guitar and Rachel Hope now covering all keyboard parts.