Deftones singer Chino Moreno says working with his side project Team Sleep, which he formed five years ago in Sacramento, has been a liberating experience. For one thing, he doesn't have to stay within the strict confines of the Deftones' hardcore style, Moreno and the band's co-founder Todd Wilkinson unveiled in their latest interview with liveDaily -- several excerpts from which you can find below.
You've been working on Team Sleep for about five years, correct?
CM: The whole project itself goes back probably even before that. It was started basically with me, Todd and [DJ] Crook as a really low-fi, electronic kind of project. We didn't have a full-fledged band until 2000. That's when basically Zach [Hill], our drummer, came into the picture, and Rick [Verrett] the bass player as well. That's when it actually became a real band. We played together live after we had been writing over the years.
The project has been a long time in the making. What took so long?
TW: We're kind of slow at getting stuff done. We worked a lot on music, then we wrote a bunch of stuff, then we'd get it 90 percent done, write a bunch more, get it 90 percent done and then we'd have lots of s--- that's 90 percent done. And then to actually finish, finish, finish, the record, it took work. That's kind of like, not the most fun thing in the world. It actually took, like, labor, whereas getting 90 percent done is the funnest thing in the world. The last 10 percent, you gotta be a little more responsible. It just took awhile.
CM: Actually, a lot of it, even though it's been that long, is because we didn't really work on it full time. We worked on it in our spare time, whenever we had a chance to. Basically, over the last couple years, we had a lot of stuff that was ready to go out. First there was a leak [over the Internet]. A lot of the demos we had ended up on the Internet. That kind of postponed things for awhile. Then we were writing more stuff and recording that; that was already a year ago. Then it was getting logistics together through the record label, having them approve it all and put it out. That just kind of happened over the last few months.
How long have you been writing material for Team Sleep? Did you have songs that you wrote specifically for Team Sleep?
CM: Not necessarily. It's just working with different people. It's kind of like a little breather from Deftones-land. I approach making the music the same way. I don't approach it any different. With the Deftones, everybody brings in their part of the band. What makes the Deftones the Deftones is heavy guitar stuff that kind of drives the music. I didn't grow up a fan of [that type of] music, so what I bring to the Deftones make it what the Deftones is. [In Team Sleep], Todd writes a majority of the music. I do what I hear in my head. It's not like the music couldn't be the Deftones. It's just a different band. It's not as aggressive.
How did you choose the guest vocalists for the album?
TW: Mary [Timony of Helium] was Chino's choice. He's a fan of hers. We just set up the song and she did it. Rob [Crow, singer from Pinback.] That's one of my favorite bands. I love their music. Rob's like a friend. I was really stoked that he was in town, Sacramento, and did a bunch of songs. It was really cool. It just worked out. I've never even met Mary. I don't really know her. I've heard Helium and stuff. Rob is a friend of ours.
CM: I chose people that I've wanted to work with, whose voices I've liked. With Mary, I wanted to record something with her ever since the early Deftones records. I would always try to get a hold of her to do something. It never panned out. I finally got in touch with her. I sent her some music to see if she was down to do something with it. A couple weeks later, she sent me the music back, with a bunch of ideas already recorded on it. I was super excited about that. With the Rob Crow thing, I've always been a Pinback fan. He's good friends with our drummer Zach. I talked with him about possibly doing something. It happened when I was in the studio completing final vocals. He came in the studio for a few days; we just knocked a bunch of stuff out. He works very fast. His voice is the same as Mary -- a voice that I always liked. I think it totally fits with what I hear, what I heard the record sounding like.
You worked with a slew of producers on this album. How did it go with each producer?
TW: We recorded in Seattle with [Deftones producer] Terry Date. And from there, we recorded some stuff with Greg Wells. He probably did the majority of it. He's a really good guy. He's an insanely talented musician. He's, like, a fan. We also recorded some stuff with Ross Robinson, which we re-did because we didn't really like it. All we kept with the sessions that we did with him was a drum track. I just think that he's kind of a weird dude on a personal level. From the way it went down, it made me realize why some of the records he's produced are so one dimensional. That's kind of like what he wants to get. It's kind of a caveman approach. I don't really think it really suited our music. It might be good for Limp Bizkit. [Robinson's albums are either] "I'm mad" or "I'm happy." There's no subtlety there. I'm not trying to put my nose in the air, but I think that's not really what was working for us.
Do you have plans for a follow-up album?
TW: We have a lot of new songs. We've gone over new demos, and we have, like, 15 that we discussed that we wanted to do. I have songs that these dudes haven't even heard yet. When we get back to Sacramento, that's all I really want to do is write. Chino's going to go on tour with Deftones, and we're going to start recording another record. We haven't really discussed the label, and where we're going to put it out. I play guitar, and now what am I going to do? I'm going to play other stuff too. I want to use other instruments, and no power chords, no distortion, no rock. F--- that s---. I want to make a different kind of record. I don't have any interest in playing rock music.
What kind of music do you want to play?
TW: Music that makes people happy, I guess. I kind of want to make the same vibe of the music that we play, but more of an electronic dancehall record, or, like, [an] R&B, pop R&B record. I was walking down the street right now listening to some dancehall music. It gets me hyped up. I combine that with the stuff we do, and a chill vibe, and maybe just maybe do both.
Read the entire interview at this location.
