During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Matt Pike revealed that Sleep were actually offered a chance to perform at Coachella next year and that they ended up turning it down. The band made their decision because they wanted to be free to perform at the Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands, which is being held on April 11 – 14, the same time as Coachella’s first weekend (April 12 – 14).
Pike said the following:
“We love that festival [Roadburn] and we love Walter [Hoeijmakers] who puts the festival on. We sorted it so far in advance that, at present, that’s the only thing that we have planned for next year. We aren’t even booked anywhere so far, so there’s lots of scheduling that we need to do… but we actually turned down Coachella because of Roadburn!
“Coachella actually pays more, but fuck that, we want to do Roadburn! I see Coachella as a new kind of Lollapalooza, and it’s an odd thing for us to be involved in – although it would have been good press, I guess. There’s actually this clause for it that says you can’t play anywhere else for six months after it – so fuck that! I’ll make more money if I don’t play it and I’ll be happier at Roadburn!
“It’s special, and it’s always been special; the people that go there, the people who put it on, it’s very real. I go there and just wander around and make sure I try and see every band there that I want to see, and believe you me, there are always a lot of them!”
