Team Sleep: Not your little brother's Deftones | Pittsburgh City Paper | Matthew Newton

To describe Todd Wilkinson as merely laidback would be misleading. The guitar player and one of three founding members from Sacramento’s Team Sleep—the loose knit, electronic glitch meets grimy guitars music project that counts Deftones’ vocalist Chino Moreno and turntablist DJ Crook as its other founders—is the type of person who seems extremely at ease in his own flesh, conveying an almost Zen-like calm with his words.

Relaxing backstage at a club in Brussels, Wilkinson battles the lull of intoxication (note: the rest of his cohorts are already well on their way to altered states) while wrapping up the last of the night’s phone interviews. There is laughter in the background and the sound of overlapping conversations—distractions that fight for Wilkinson’s attention. But as the noise in the room dissipates, his thoughts return to the music—specifically the warm welcome that European audiences have heaped on a band that is relatively wet-behind-the-ears.

“It’s a trip to see how a European audience is a little different from audiences in the states,” Wilkinson says. “It’s good though."

And while the California native is reluctant to candidly point out all the differences, he attempts to express his thoughts in rather broad strokes.

“I don’t know if I want to say it because it’s kind of a diss on the states,” Wilkinson says, laughing. “[But] it seems like audiences here are a little older and probably more mature, and maybe more musical. And the audiences in the states are sometimes more, social.”

Describing American audiences as “social,” Wilkinson seems to imply that the European shows have been more relaxed than what the band has witnessed stateside. However, with a built-in fanbase—the legions of fans hungry for anything Deftones-related—Team Sleep holds somewhat of an advantage over a brand new band touring for the first time.

“People want to like it,” Wilkinson says, referring to band’s music. And while many listeners may be looking for a reworked version of the Deftones, Team Sleep’s playlist is a far cry from the aggressive, de-tuned guitars and metal overtones that fans of the previous band are accustomed to. The tracks on Team Sleep’s self-titled debut channel dreamy electronic gurgling and reverb-drenched chord progressions, with the occasional distorted guitar line—used more for its dynamic effect than raw power. Sure, Moreno’s vocals on the album are distinct, which lend a certain sense of the Deftones’ sound. However, his often-strained vocal cords are given a rest for this latest batch of songs, which find Moreno nurturing his reserved side—a style more reminiscent of his work on the Deftones’ White Pony album.

Team Sleep’s leftfield, isolationist approach to songwriting can probably be credited as one of their most-prized assets. While Wilkinson and Moreno have been working together since 1994—first as friends just tooling around on a stolen four-track—the later addition of Crook on samples and beat manipulation helped to solidify a work process that the band still uses.

“I usually write my guitar parts at home, by myself,” Wilkinson says. “[And] Crook does his beats by himself.” The notion of writing music in such an isolated, almost disjointed manner has actually helped the band. With Moreno often recording and touring with the Deftones, Wilkinson and Crook are still able to work on Team Sleep material and share it with Moreno when he returns. “I think it’s better [this] way,” Wilkinson says, laughing as he adds: “Plus, when you play together, it’s like a cockfight or something—turning up louder than the next guy. Hence, rock ‘n’ roll.”

Team Sleep took its first steps toward becoming a full-fledged band in May 2001 when Wilkinson, Moreno, and Crook—along with the addition of Hella’s Zach Hill on drums and Tinfed bass player Rick Verret—began recording with veteran Seattle-based producer Terry Date. However, before completion, the recordings were leaked onto file-sharing websites—creating frustration and causing the band to scrap and even rewrite some material.

“[When] we went to Seattle, it was like: ‘Okay, we’re gonna make a record.’ It still wasn’t like we were a band,” Wilkinson explains. “Even at that point we never thought we were going to play shows. [But] one thing led to another and now I’m backstage at a fucking club in Brussels with a bunch of drunk fools around me. I’ll be drunk in a minute though."

Wilkinson, whose days are normally spent teaching juvenile delinquents, displays an ambivalent attitude toward actually admitting he is in a band. That’s not to say he’s unhappy with his involvement in Team Sleep, quite the contrary. It seems his apprehension lies more in the often-reckless culture and prima donna behavior that surrounds the culture.

“Even now, I’m denying [that I’m in a band],” Wilkinson says, laughing once again, and now sipping a drink in an attempt to catch up with the buzz his bandmates are already nursing. But as the interview winds down, he offers a light-hearted analysis of his rock ‘n’ roll denial. “That’s where the drinks come in,” he says. “But this is [also] where the confusion comes in—[drinking] is such a rock ‘n’ roll thing to do, but at the same time, it helps with the denial part.”

Related links: www.teamsleep.net, www.hellaband.com,