13. SleepDopesmoker
Well, it’s not as if this one hasn’t been talked about. It’s the most popular of my covers, and there’s also probably the most to say about it. And it’s particularly successful at what it’s meant to achieve. The idea was conceived by me based on the lyrics from the album – written by Al [Cisneros], bass player of Sleep, who is an old friend of mine. When it came time to do this particular version of it, which was in 2012, he called me up and said we’re going to finally do a proper release of Dopesmoker. There had been previous versions, but none of them were exactly the way they wanted it to be. There was a 2003 version that got closer than before. But that wasn’t entirely in their hands. This one, for the first time it was in their hands to make it the way they wanted – with the production they wanted, and artwork and everything else. So I did this, even though I had already done two versions of this record before, which is pretty funny.
I came up with this idea of these characters, based on the concept of the Weedians. It’s pretty spelled out in the lyrics – these nomadic characters in the desert making a pilgrimage. There’s a religious aspect to it. The vocals of the song have a bit of a Gregorian chant quality to them. I thought the look was relevant to that in a sense. And you have the novel Dune that I worked into it. That formed a little bit of the look of these Weedians in the desert.
It’s all very marijuana-based, but none of it’s very clear as to what’s going on exactly. So I started with that. And I worked in these elements of science fiction and came up with this concept of them having these tanks on their back, filled with THC that they use to survive. That’s what they breathe instead of oxygen. Then I built the story around that. On the back cover, we’ve got this ship in the sky, which AI suggested we put there as a scout ship that follows them, provides for them – trails them as a guide and a helper. This was the first idea that I came up with and then did some sketches and showed it to Al. I think we may have refined just a couple of small things and then I started working on the final version here. So it came together pretty quickly, all things considered.
It’s taken on a life of its own that could not have been predicted. Neither of us thought it would become as popular as it has. And now I think it’s fairly inseparable from the music. For most people. It really achieved that sensibility of being the world where the music is. The impact of the music would still be there without it, but it wouldn’t have a life of memes and merchandise and T-shirts. It has a kind of symbiotic relationship at this point. It’s exactly what you would hope an album cover would do with a band: inform the music and really invite people to become a part of it.
