Team Sleep
The Woodstock Sessions Vol. 4 (2015)
eatdogs
Recorded on 10/18/14, nearly ten years after their
Self-titled debut, Team Sleep gathered at Applehead Recording studio in
Woodstock, NY to perform an intimate show for a small group of lucky fans.
It has been a while since Team Sleep did anything outside of
small West Coast tours supporting their debut album. Their presence on the net
was always mysterious and whenever a rough demo dropped on their Myspace or
Facebook page, it was quickly swallowed up by fans and dissected fiercely. The
majority of those leaked demos were instrumentals, displaying the bands style
of Lo-Fi Space-Rock and dashes of Dream-Pop and Indie Rock. Once announced in
2014 that the band was back together recording again, a fever pitch erupted and
hardcore fans waited, seeking knowledge on what was going to take place.
Sadly, not much happened except for more demos being release
on the bands internet page (Demos 2007
and Broyhill Demos) and no word from
any member of the band except for the off remark of “We’re tinkering around in
the studio trying out new stuff. Finding time to get together to do work
outside our main bands. Etc…” You know, the usual thing you hear bands mention
when they are working or whatever.
On October 18th, a revamped lineup of the group got together
and recorded this live set. How people found out about it in short notice, I
have no idea except they must have spent a lot of time on Facebook or
something. Anyway, while this is not “new” stuff, it is still awesome to hear.
Just to get this done with, since many say he is so-so live,
Chino is absolutely on point here. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the guy sing
as well as he is during this set. His vocals on classic Team Sleep songs like “Ever
(Foreign Flag)” “Your Skull is Red” and “Blvd. Nights” are outstanding and you
can understand now why the guy has a cult following.
Replacing Zach Hill is drummer Gil Sharone (Marilyn Manson,
ex-Dillinger Escape Plan). He does an admirable job and Zack Hill missing isn’t
much of a bother at this point in time. The dudes busy with that Hip-Hop band
of his anyway… In addition, Chuck Doom from Chino’s other project Crosses plays
bass on here and he’s great as well. It’s nice to know that DJ Crook, Tod
Wilkinson, and Rick Verrett also came back.
The set list has mostly songs from the debut album, but also
some old fan favorite demo songs like “Format” and “Death by Plane”. Two new
instrumental tracks also included, “No” and “O.P.”, give the show more depth
and that nice gentle wall of sound that many like. Ending the gig with “Live from
the Stage” was a nice choice too. The song is a restructure of a very old Team
Sleep track, “Natalie Portman”. Played live, the song is powerful and gives so
much emotion that you are left wanting more.
Not enough to feed the hungry, what you get here is an
appetizer of chips and dip with no main course.
This was a stopgap thing and who knows what the band did
during those supposed recording sessions they hinted at. Chino was also busy
with Crosses, Palms, Deftones and now some other super group called Saudade,
which with all the talent involved in that band, they’ve only release a simple
instrumental demo… Go figure.
If you dig Space-Rock bands like Duster, or Hum then this
live Team Sleep album is an obvious choice for a quick listen. Just know that
the band is M.I.A. these days. However, you never know when they might surprise
the fans again with something awesome, so it’s always a nice treat when scraps
come out.
Another studio album would be nice though fellas…
(*The Woodstock Sessions are small intimate
gatherings for bands to perform live in front of fans and release the
recordings, thus the Vol. 4 tag since this was the fourth showcase for an
artist at the Applehead Recording studio in Woodstock, NY.*)