The band consisted of Louise Wener (vocals, guitar), Jon Stewart (guitar), Diid Osman (bass) and Andy Maclure (drums).

Their breakthrough song, Inbetweener, featured a memorable video with Dale Winton, who was a popular icon among students at the time. Sleeper also recorded a cover version of the Blondie song Atomic, which was used as a track in the film Trainspotting. Their version was quite well-received and the only criticism is that it was too similar to the original.

The It Girl was arguably their finest moment with Lie Detector, Sale of the Century and Statuesque as the defining tracks. It was produced by Stephen Street then famous for his contributions to The Smiths, Morrissey and Blur. It captured the imagination of the Britpop era. Wener admits that they were basically hanging onto the coattails of the bigger bands including the likes of Blur and Oasis.