Team Sleep
Encyclopedia
Team Sleep is an American experimental
alternative rock
group led by singer/guitarist Chino Moreno
, better known for fronting the Sacramento-based band Deftones
.
Team Sleep's music touches on many genres, including dream pop
, trip hop
, post-hardcore
, shoegaze, post-rock
, and electronica
. More so than the Deftones, many of Team Sleep's themes and lyrics are fantastical and imaginative in nature; drawing from such literary sources as Edgar Allan Poe
and historical events like the Jonestown Massacre.
As of 2007, Team Sleep is composed of Moreno, guitarist Todd Wilkinson, turntablist DJ Crook, drummer Zach Hill
and bass guitarist/keyboardist Rick Verrett.
-type four-track recorder in 1994. They continued this collaboration through the first two Deftones albums, though on a rather casual basis. Wilkinson said,
DJ Crook, a long-time friend and roommate of Deftones turntablist/keyboardist Frank Delgado, added beats and turntables to "Teenager", a glitchy, trip hop
-shaded song. Originally intended as a Team Sleep song, "Teenager" was ultimately included on White Pony
(2000), the third Deftones album.
(Hella
), Rick Verrett (Tinfed
), Joel Tidwell, and DJ Crook handling instrumentation. Their early live set included a loose cover of The Smashing Pumpkins
' "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" among others.
Until mid-2005, the only early Team Sleep recording to have been officially released was "The Passportal", an instrumental
featured on The Matrix Reloaded: The Album
. A version of "The Passportal" with lyrics and vocals by Moreno has circulated on the internet under the title "Apollonia".
Singers Mike Patton
(Mr. Bungle
, Fantomas
, Faith No More
) and Melissa Auf der Maur
(ex-Hole
, ex-Smashing Pumpkins) were involved in recording sessions, but their contributions were not included on the final album ("Kool-Aid Party", featuring Patton, has circulated on the internet). Singers Rob Crow
(of San Diego based band Pinback
) and Mary Timony
(of the band Helium
) were the only vocalists other than Moreno on the debut album.
Team Sleep's record was originally scheduled for a November, 2004 release, but Maverick Records
were reportedly so impressed by the album they postponed the release until mid-2005 to allow for promotion. Chino supposedly commented that "[I] didn't know whether to be happy that they were impressed, or pissed that they didn't expect much [from Team Sleep] in the first place."
Rumors began to circulate in January 2005 that Team Sleep had broken up due to a falling out between Chino Moreno and DJ Crook. Many fans were distraught at the fact that the long-awaited project might never surface, but the rumors were later proved false.
The debut album has done away with almost all of the previous tracks, only carrying over five of the originals, three of those heavily revamped.
A DJ named 'C-Minus' opening at a Deftones concert at the House of Blues in West Hollywood in October, 2004 premiered the newest version of the Team Sleep song "Cambodia" to the crowd. This song's title was later changed to "Ever (Foreign Flag)".
The official Team Sleep website surfaced and included an audio/video clip of the song "Death By Plane".
Team Sleep was finally released on May 10, 2005, to mostly positive reviews. "The best part about it is having completion of something you've been working on, and having it done right," Moreno said in a statement. "It's fun, working with different people, everybody works differently. When I have time off from music, I want to make other music. That's what I do, that's what's fun, that's what makes me happy." (mtv.com)
"Ever (Foreign Flag)", co-written with producer Greg Wells
, is considered to be the first single from Team Sleep
. Notably absent from the completed album are "Mercedes", "Apollonia", "Iceache", "Death by Plane", "Solid Gold", "Acoustic One", and "Kool-Aid Party". The demo "Cambodia" was revamped and appeared on the album in the form of "Ever (Foreign Flag)" and "Natalie Portman
" was revised into "Live From The Stage".
Following Team Sleep's first release, the band toured and began posting various demos on their MySpace
page.
Three other songs were then posted on the band's Myspace, each instrumental, called "Headhunter", "Seablock", and "Tennisface".
In an interview (November '07) Chino stated that Team Sleep will not be releasing a full-length album until 2010. The band has said that will be releasing a series of free EPs that will likely contain the songs that have appeared on their Myspace page over the last year as well. Neither the full-length or the free EPs have surfaced, however.
The band has debuted new songs on their winter tour, such as "New Guitar", "Fen Fen", "March" and "Crook Vs Zach".
, Monster in the Machine, and Sonny Moore
http://www.myspace.com/sonnysound, formerly of From First To Last
.
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
group led by singer/guitarist Chino Moreno
Chino Moreno
Chino Moreno is an American musician. He is best known as the lead singer and contributing guitarist of Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project bands Team Sleep and Crosses....
, better known for fronting the Sacramento-based band Deftones
Deftones
Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident...
.
Team Sleep's music touches on many genres, including dream pop
Dream pop
Dream pop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s, when bands like The Passions, Dif Juz, Lowlife and A.R. Kane began fusing post-punk and ethereal experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into dreamy, sensual soundscapes. The term was almost...
, trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
, post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
, shoegaze, post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
, and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
. More so than the Deftones, many of Team Sleep's themes and lyrics are fantastical and imaginative in nature; drawing from such literary sources as Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
and historical events like the Jonestown Massacre.
As of 2007, Team Sleep is composed of Moreno, guitarist Todd Wilkinson, turntablist DJ Crook, drummer Zach Hill
Zach Hill
Zach Hill is a musician residing in Sacramento, California. Primarily known for his drumming, he performs/has performed in numerous Pacific Coast based groups, including his primary group, Hella, as well as Holy Smokes, Nervous Cop, and a diverse range of others including El Grupo Nuevo de Omar...
and bass guitarist/keyboardist Rick Verrett.
Early years
The origins of Team Sleep started when Moreno and his friend Todd Wilkinson bought a cassette tape PortastudioPortastudio
The TASCAM Portastudio was the world's first four track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape.When the original Portastudio 144 made its debut in 1979 it was a revolutionary creative tool...
-type four-track recorder in 1994. They continued this collaboration through the first two Deftones albums, though on a rather casual basis. Wilkinson said,
- We were never going to make a record, or start a band ... I was just sitting at home, playing guitar, and I started recording some stuff. It was never about trying to play shows, record in a studio, or anything of that sort. It was just bumming around. I had never been in a band, and I never wanted to be—we were just good friends.
DJ Crook, a long-time friend and roommate of Deftones turntablist/keyboardist Frank Delgado, added beats and turntables to "Teenager", a glitchy, trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
-shaded song. Originally intended as a Team Sleep song, "Teenager" was ultimately included on White Pony
White Pony
White Pony is the third studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones. Released in 2000, it marks a significant growth in the band's sound, incorporating New Wave and shoegaze influences with the alternative metal edge the group had become known for...
(2000), the third Deftones album.
Team Sleep forms
Team Sleep performed a number of live shows on the United States' west coast in late 2001 and early 2002, with Moreno, Wilkinson, Dan Elkan (Pocket For Corduroy), Sonny Mayugba (Phallucy), Zach HillZach Hill
Zach Hill is a musician residing in Sacramento, California. Primarily known for his drumming, he performs/has performed in numerous Pacific Coast based groups, including his primary group, Hella, as well as Holy Smokes, Nervous Cop, and a diverse range of others including El Grupo Nuevo de Omar...
(Hella
Hella (band)
Hella is an American band from Sacramento, California. They play a technical blend of math rock, noise rock, and experimental rock. The primary members of the band are Spencer Seim on electric guitar and Zach Hill on drums...
), Rick Verrett (Tinfed
Tinfed
Tinfed was an electronic rock band from California that consisted of Rey Osburn , Eric Stenman , Matt McCord and Rick Verrett . They contributed to the Mission: Impossible II Soundtrack with the song "Immune" from the album Tried + True...
), Joel Tidwell, and DJ Crook handling instrumentation. Their early live set included a loose cover of The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
' "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" among others.
Until mid-2005, the only early Team Sleep recording to have been officially released was "The Passportal", an instrumental
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
featured on The Matrix Reloaded: The Album
The Matrix Reloaded: The Album
The Matrix Reloaded: The Album is a 2003 soundtrack album from the blockbuster movie, The Matrix Reloaded. The two-disc album is groundbreaking among soundtrack releases in that it includes separate discs for the film's songs and the score, whereas most films release the songs and the score as two...
. A version of "The Passportal" with lyrics and vocals by Moreno has circulated on the internet under the title "Apollonia".
Recording debut album
A full album's worth of material was finished between 2002–2003, but Moreno was reportedly angered after Team Sleep songs were circulated on the internet, mostly by members of the Deftones' own official message board. This, coupled with the release and supporting tour for Deftones' fourth album, kept Team Sleep's recordings from being officially released. In 2002 there was also a Team Sleep world premiere on POWER 106 FM in Los Angeles, when "Mercedes" was played once.Singers Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
(Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...
, Fantomas
Fantômas (band)
Fantômas is an avant-garde metal supergroup formed in 1998 in California, United States. The band is named after Fantômas, a supervillain featured in a series of crime novels popular in France before World War I and in film, most notably in the 60s French movie series.-History:Fantômas began just...
, Faith No More
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...
) and Melissa Auf der Maur
Melissa Auf der Maur
Melissa Auf der Maur is a Canadian rock musician from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her career has included 5 years as bassist with the band Hole and she later toured with The Smashing Pumpkins for their 2000 tour. Her second solo album, Out of Our Minds, was released on March 30, 2010. She is also a...
(ex-Hole
Hole (band)
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...
, ex-Smashing Pumpkins) were involved in recording sessions, but their contributions were not included on the final album ("Kool-Aid Party", featuring Patton, has circulated on the internet). Singers Rob Crow
Rob Crow
Robertdale Rulon "Rob" Crow, Jr. is an American singer and multi-instrumentalist from San Diego, California known for the long list of bands and projects he is associated with, mostly in the genres of indie rock and math rock...
(of San Diego based band Pinback
Pinback
Pinback is an indie rock band from San Diego, California, currently signed to Temporary Residence Ltd. The band was formed in 1998 by singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Armistead Burwell Smith IV and Rob Crow. Tom Zinser, Chris Prescott, and Mario Rubalcaba have all contributed drums...
) and Mary Timony
Mary Timony
Mary B. Timony is an American independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and violist. She was a member of the bands Helium and Autoclave, and currently plays in Wild Flag.-Biography:...
(of the band Helium
Helium (band)
Helium was an American alternative rock band formed in the summer of 1992. Originally calling themselves "Chupa", its founding members were Mary Lou Lord, Jason Hatfield , Shawn King Devlin and Brian Dunton...
) were the only vocalists other than Moreno on the debut album.
Team Sleep's record was originally scheduled for a November, 2004 release, but Maverick Records
Maverick Records
Maverick Recording Company is an American record label owned and operated by Warner Music Group, and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:...
were reportedly so impressed by the album they postponed the release until mid-2005 to allow for promotion. Chino supposedly commented that "[I] didn't know whether to be happy that they were impressed, or pissed that they didn't expect much [from Team Sleep] in the first place."
Rumors began to circulate in January 2005 that Team Sleep had broken up due to a falling out between Chino Moreno and DJ Crook. Many fans were distraught at the fact that the long-awaited project might never surface, but the rumors were later proved false.
The debut album has done away with almost all of the previous tracks, only carrying over five of the originals, three of those heavily revamped.
A DJ named 'C-Minus' opening at a Deftones concert at the House of Blues in West Hollywood in October, 2004 premiered the newest version of the Team Sleep song "Cambodia" to the crowd. This song's title was later changed to "Ever (Foreign Flag)".
The official Team Sleep website surfaced and included an audio/video clip of the song "Death By Plane".
Team Sleep was finally released on May 10, 2005, to mostly positive reviews. "The best part about it is having completion of something you've been working on, and having it done right," Moreno said in a statement. "It's fun, working with different people, everybody works differently. When I have time off from music, I want to make other music. That's what I do, that's what's fun, that's what makes me happy." (mtv.com)
"Ever (Foreign Flag)", co-written with producer Greg Wells
Greg Wells
Greg Wells is a multiple Grammy nominated musician, record producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Wells has produced and written hits with Adele, Weezer, Pink, Theophilus London, Deftones, Katy Perry, Rufus Wainwright, The All American Rejects, OneRepublic, Mika, Aerosmith, Burt Bacharach,...
, is considered to be the first single from Team Sleep
Team Sleep (album)
Team Sleep is the eponymous debut studio album by American alternative rock band Team Sleep, largely produced by Greg Wells...
. Notably absent from the completed album are "Mercedes", "Apollonia", "Iceache", "Death by Plane", "Solid Gold", "Acoustic One", and "Kool-Aid Party". The demo "Cambodia" was revamped and appeared on the album in the form of "Ever (Foreign Flag)" and "Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...
" was revised into "Live From The Stage".
Following Team Sleep's first release, the band toured and began posting various demos on their MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page.
The second album
On July 13, 2007 the band sent out a Myspace bulletin saying that they are currently working on a new album. They said that "Formant" would, in fact, be on the new album; this is referring to the (instrumental) song "am formant" that they have previously put on their Myspace page. No information on the current band line-up was given other than the fact that Zach Hill would be playing drums.Three other songs were then posted on the band's Myspace, each instrumental, called "Headhunter", "Seablock", and "Tennisface".
In an interview (November '07) Chino stated that Team Sleep will not be releasing a full-length album until 2010. The band has said that will be releasing a series of free EPs that will likely contain the songs that have appeared on their Myspace page over the last year as well. Neither the full-length or the free EPs have surfaced, however.
The band has debuted new songs on their winter tour, such as "New Guitar", "Fen Fen", "March" and "Crook Vs Zach".
Tour
Team Sleep toured the West Coast (CA,OR,WA,UT,CO,TX,OK,AZ; they were not able to play in Idaho due to a snowstorm) of the U.S. starting November 29, 2007 in Orangevale, CA and ending December 16, 2007 in San Francisco, CA. The band lineup on this tour were StrataStrata (band)
Strata was a rock band from Campbell, California formed in 2001. They released two full-length albums with Wind-up Records, before disbanding after the departure of vocalist Eric Victorino on 19 January 2008.-History:...
, Monster in the Machine, and Sonny Moore
Sonny Moore
Sonny John Moore is an American electronic dance music producer who is widely known by his professional name Skrillex. Moore is also a former frontman for the American band From First to Last. In late Autumn of 2007 he embarked on his first tour as a solo artist, the Team Sleep Tour with Team...
http://www.myspace.com/sonnysound, formerly of From First To Last
From First to Last
From First to Last was an American rock band based out of Los Angeles, originally hailing from Valdosta, Georgia and Tampa, Florida. The band released their first EP titled Aesthetic in 2003 with vocalist Phillip Reardon, followed by Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count in 2004 and Heroine in...
.
External links
- Q&A With Chino Moreno of Team Sleep and DeftonesWestwordWestwordWestword is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Denver, Colorado.Westword was established independently in 1977. In 1983 it was bought by New Times Media. In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media...
November 2007