The Sleepers

One of the earliest San Francisco punk bands, the Sleepers were also one of the first U.S. outfits to stretch the boundaries of the style into what is recognized today as "post-punk." Featuring the deep vocals and inscrutable lyrics of singer Ricky Williams (formerly a drummer with Crime), the Sleepers' material stressed ominous atmosphere, throbbing bass lines, and quirky instrumental shifts that challenged the rigid bash-'em-out structures of early punk. Particularly in their later days, their recordings looked forward to elements of goth rock, in both Williams' increasingly...