Team Sleep have announced that their self-titled album is being made available on vinyl for the first time.



The Chino Moreno fronted the project has long been a cult favourite amongst fans of Deftones and ††† Crosses, and features contributions from Todd Wilkinson, CrookOne, Rick Verrett, Chuck Doom and Gil Sharone. Including the single Ever (Foreign Flag), the journey to the record's creation is infamous, dating back to 1994 when Wilkinson and Moreno purchased an old cassette tape Portastudio four-track recording device, creating music together throughout the writing, recording, touring and promotion of Deftones first two albums.  

Team Sleep began as little more than an open-ended exercise in musical possibility between two friends. It was just fun, they didn't think anything of it. It was as natural as hanging out, watching a game and putting down some party bets, going to the movies or a summer barbeque. It didn't even cost much. “We paid like $30 each and bought a four-track together—I think it was stolen,” recalls Moreno. “We'd each have it for a couple of weeks, and we'd make tapes and exchange them.” 

A few tapes later, another friend was added to the mix, Crook, who began contributing turntables and programmed drums to the tiered guitars. As Moreno started adding the occasional vocal to the mix, the rough mixes began to transform into songs, explained Wilkinson upon the project's initial release in 2005. “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 friends.”

The threesome started recording and trading tapes they made while Chino and Todd were living in Sacramento and DJ Crook was still living in Los Angeles. In 2001, Maverick Records heard the early demo tapes and signed the group. After adding Drummer Zach Hill and Bass Player, Rick Verrett, the final Team Sleep was complete.

In May 2001, the trio went to Seattle to record with Terry Date, and left with 12 instrumental tracks—except one track (and an additional interlude) featuring Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham, any drums were programmed by Crook. A month later, Wilkinson and Hella drummer Zach Hill began recording demos together, adding another component to the trio's expanding scope. In September of that same year, three more songs were recorded, this time with vocals by Helium frontwoman Mary Timony.

In late 2001, Team Sleep embarked on an 11-date tour up and down the West Coast. The original release, which was set to drop in 2001, was pushed back after unfinished tracks from the record were leaked to the internet and LA station Power 106  immediately began to play Mercedes on the radio. 

But before Moreno, Wilkinson or Crook—the creative core of Team Sleep—could finish sculpting their work in progress, incomplete recordings from their Terry Date sessions leaked onto the Internet, and—eager to promote anything from the Deftones frontman—radio stations began spinning the unofficial recordings. “Some people liked it, but some Deftones fans obviously didn't think it was hard enough for their tastes,” said Moreno of the material, which he admits, was not intended to sound anything like his full-time band. “I was just really bummed that it was incomplete. I never wanted this to be something that had to be released, and it isn't that— it's something that I'm doing for fun. Even if I wasn't in the Deftones, I'd probably still be doing music with Todd, and this is that music. It's just something that we have fun doing, and that's why we do it—not because I need to say, ‘Hey, look at what else I can do...' That's why I was so bummed when it was leaked. It would have been cool to have people hear it when it was finished. That discouraged me, so I stopped for a while and went to work on the Deftone's self-titled album.”

In April 2003, Team Sleep re-recorded two tracks with producer Ross Robinson, and a month later, the soundtrack to The Matrix: Reloaded featured their first official single, The Passportal. With Moreno and the Deftones on the road through the remainder of 2003, Wilkinson, Crook and Hill recorded six new songs with producer Greg Wells. 



“Deftones are known for a certain amount of chunky guitars and me being aggressive vocally, and in Team Sleep, I don't need to worry about any of that,” said Moreno in the record's official press release. “In Deftones, there are guidelines that we stay in because of the fanbase that we've built—with this, I'm freer. And, I'm working with different people, and everybody works differently. With Team Sleep, I don't think about guidelines, I just do what I feel."

Originally released on May 10, 2005, to mostly positive reviews, Moreno commented to MTV upon its original release that "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." 



Now many years, and many projects later, Team Sleep gets a long-awaited 2LP vinyl release. Pressed on a standard black vinyl with two unreleased outtakes: Let’s Go featuring Mary Timony and Kool Aide featuring Mike Patton of Faith No More.  

Buy TEAM SLEEP on 2LP VINYL 

A new range of official Team Sleep merchandise has also been released to coincide with the vinyl release. This collection is available to order now in our Maniacs Online store. 

 

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