Sleep Chamber is an American Industrial band fronted by John Zewizz. The band is known for using S&M, Bondage and Magick imagery on their art work, during their performances, and within their lyrics. Formed in 1981 by high school friends John Zewizz, Eugine Difrancisco, and Phil Brosseau. Over the years the Sleep Chamber line up has changed many times with John Zewizz being the sole permanent member. Previous members of Sleep Chamber have included, Thomas Thorn, Michael Moynihan, Jonathan Briley and Elaine Walker. Since the beginning John Zewizz has stated that the constant line up change is because Sleep Chamber is not a "band", but rather a "concept".
From 1982 to 1999 Sleep Chamber put out a considerable volume of music (releasing over 70 recordings, and participating in over 35 various artists releases).
After a extended absence, Sleep Chamber returned in 2008 with a new line up, a slew of new releases, and a new name, SLEEPCHAMBER.
1981 - 1990
Sometime between 1981 and 1982 Sleep Chamber came into existence featuring John Zewizz, Eugene Difrancisco and Phil Brosseau. Zewizz, Difancisco and Brosseau were friends from High School. Both Difancisco and Brosseau fronted a band called The Product and John had worked as a producer on their one and only single. When The Product folded Difrancisco and Brosseau began a band called Daze Of Trance, John occasionally helped out with Daze Of Trance, even playing on a cassette release as part of the band. Eventually the three recorded with John as the front man in a band they called Sleep Chamber.[4] Very early works were experimental and electronic/industrial in nature. Live Sleep Chamber performances were quickly labeled as resembling a "Black Mass", with smoke (containing a special blend of incense) billowing out of machines, and the band donning black bondage masks while performing on stage. Their concerts scared some local club owners prompting them to ban Sleep Chamber from playing. Local reviewers often accused the band of being Satanic. Zewizz, over the years, has denied this accusation.[5] These early concerts featured Zewizz in different combination's with Difrancisco, Brosseau, Thorn, Moynihan and also Malcom Smith (whom Zewizz collaborated with in the bands Dokument and Hidious In Strength), Darlene Victor, and Richard Gellar.
1990 - 2001, Sleep Chamber & The Barbichuettes
It was during the 1990s John incorporated bondage/fetish dancers called the Barbitchuettes in to Sleep Chamber live performances. With this addition Sleep Chamber's popularity exploded. During live shows the Barbitchuette dancers would perform S&M acts on the stage as well as caressing and dancing with other Barbitchuette dancers. During the Barbitchuettes hay-day with Sleep Chamber it was not uncommon for the band to travel with up to 11 Barbitchuette dancers.
The 1990s also started off with John's biggest hit yet with the Sleep Chamber release Sleep, Or Forever Hold Your Piece. This new popularity also resulted in wider distribution for John's music. Sleep Chamber saw their material expand from the Inner-X-Musick to distribution overseas and in the U.S. by the Italian label Musica Maxima Magnetica and the German label FünfUndVierzig and Cleopatra Records out of Los Angeles. Along with bigger sales came bigger opportunities. Sleep Chambers' local gigs required ever bigger venues. The increased popularity also allowed Sleep Chamber to do two quick tours of Texas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These tours featured Zewizz along with Briley, Tione, Difrancisco, and Arthur PW. At the end of the Texas tour, John found himself again looking for a new collaborator with the departure of Arthur PW and Briley.
Elaine Walker entered the picture in 1991/92 to fill that void. Walker's band DDT had frequently played with Sleep Chamber at local venues around the Boston area. Walker was a Berklee College of Music graduate and impressed John with her abilities. Zewizz and Walker, together with the help of Ashley Swanson, began working on the CD Siames Succubi. Sales of this record were even better than Sleep, Or Forever Hold Your Piece.[7] A successful tour of California resulted featuring Zewizz, Walker, Swanson and long time friend and collaborator Difrancisco. Although pleased with the line up, Zewizz was aware that Elaine Walker's commitment was to her other projects and she did not plan to stay with Sleep Chamber. Additionally by the end of the tour friction arose between Zewizz and Difrancisco. Upon returning to Boston, both Walker and Difrancisco left the band.
Again John introduced a new Sleep Chamber line up of Swanson and Craig Wien, as well as help from Andrew Woolf and Jay Keegan. This line up was the last recording version of Sleep Chamber. Their recordings ended up on several releases, predominantly Some Godz die young and Sonorous Invokations ov Brian Jones - the latter being solely Zewizz & Woolf. However, drug addiction, personal problems, and constant touring had ceased John's steady flow “new” musik by the end of 1995.
Real problems began in 1995, when John was questioned for the murder of Karina Holmer, a Swedish au-pair living in Boston. Karina's body was found in a dumpster not far from John's home. The police considered John a suspect, but no charges were ever brought. The accusation, coupled with a growing heroin addiction, quickly began to destroy the band and drove John away from band mates and friends.
Despite those problems, Sleep Chamber took on its most ambitious project to date in 1996, a tour of Germany. Unable to get commitments from the current line-up of Sleep Chamber, John took on two new member (Scott Walker and Tyler Newman) as band mates for the German tour. Along with these new members, John took Barbitchuette dancer "Lulu" as well. "Lulu's" job during the tour covered dancing during the shows, and recruiting dancers from local strip clubs. From the USA, Andrew Woolf organized the booking of the German tour.
There are many stories of John's escalating drug addiction during the tour, and although the band was deceived by the promoters, the shows were well received and the seeds for a large European fan base were set because of the tour. As they saw his life beginning to get out of control, friends tried to help John after returning from the German tour with a benefit concert.
Despite the problems, releases continued on Musica Maxima Magnetica and FünfUndVierzig. Between 1995 and 1997 three more Sleep Chamber CDs were released. Sopor, Sacrosanct, and Sirkus kept up the appearance of productivity without any new material being recorded. After the German Tour, Sleep Chamber only performed two more times. The first was the 1997 benefit concert (with Zewizz, Newman, and Walker no Barbitchuettes). 2000 saw the last Sleep Chamber show on December 31. This last show featured John and new collaborator B. Avikon as well as Barbitchuette dancer Semiramis. The final blow to John came in 2001 when Barbitchuette dancer and then girlfriend of Zewizz, Laura Graff died of an apparent drug overdose. Zewizz was questioned by police in the suspicious death before it was ruled an accidental heroin overdose.
2001 - present - SLEEPCHAMBER
Although out of the public eye, John never stopped recording. In 2004, he was able to overcome his heroin addiction and began remixing and recording Sleep Chamber material with a new enthusiasm. In 2004, he released a limited edition CD titled Sleepsirkle. In 2007, Zewizz changed the name to SLEEPCHAMBER and announced Gimmie Sparks and long time collaborator B. Avikon as the new line up for the band. This new line up was featured on the 2009 release Stolen Sleep. Since 2009 SLEEPCHAMBER has released over 5 CDs (on Klanggalerie, Old Europa Cafe, and Zewizz's own label Inner-X-Musick), and participated on several various artists compilations.
SLEEPCHAMBER performed its first live performance in nearly 10 years with a live-on-air show on WBRS Radio One. The event took place on January 1, 2010, and the resulting recording was featured on the SLEEPCHAMBER CD Stratocast. This first live performance featured Zewizz, Avakian, and Sparks, along with percussionist Tick, and backing vocalist Zora
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