While Team Sleep\u2019s self-titled, debut release for Maverick Records came out rather quietly on May 10, the band hasn\u2019t been sitting idly. The first leg of its current tour, which officially kicked off at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 30, will keep the band\u2014Zach Hill, Rick Verrett, DJ Crook, the Deftones\u2019 Chino Moreno, and Todd Wilkinson\u2014on the road until the end of June. Unlike the group\u2019s previous tour, which only included a handful of dates, this one includes an overseas jaunt with several festival dates. Among them is a coveted support slot on the Napster Stage at the highly anticipated Download Festival in England, which features such notable acts as System of a Down, Motorhead, Slayer, Black Sabbath and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the new album, the band melds a fine blend of hypnotic rhythms (see the awkwardly titled and executed \u201cKing Diamond\u201d track) alongside a backdrop of dense, multilayered melancholy. Songs like the magnificent \u201cEver\u201d and \u201cBlvd. Nights\u201d and the shuffling, impatient beats of \u201cAtaraxia\u201d might lead listeners to believe that Moreno\u2019s current band is a bunch of depressed introverts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This notion couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth, as the band is wholeheartedly enjoying its time on tour. \u201cI\u2019m fuckin\u2019 trippin\u2019 right now. Me and Chino are getting faded on the \u2018grassy knoll,\u2019 you know, where Kennedy got shot. It\u2019s fuckin\u2019 crazy out here tonight,\u201d said Wilkinson, Team Sleep\u2019s guitarist, as he and Moreno were getting towed down the streets of Dallas on skateboards. It was a Sunday night at 11:30 p.m., and the two had chosen to take an interview while mobile, literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe last couple of shows were kinda weird, but tonight\u2019s show was great,\u201d he continued above the din of skateboard wheels traveling on concrete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilkinson handed Moreno the phone. \u201cWe\u2019re getting towed up,\u201d Moreno started to explain. But, within seconds, he said, \u201cWe\u2019re getting pulled over by the cops right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs it a bad time?\u201d the writer asked, having heard tell of the pair\u2019s propensity to consume large amounts of alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNah \u2026 let\u2019s do this,\u201d he said, sounding flustered, drunk and obviously unfocused. Then he changed his mind and said he\u2019d call back. Almost a half-hour later, the two called from outside the venue. As it turned out, they were able to break away and avoid arrests. (Moreno had no ID and mentioned he was freaking about the police.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just a bunch of kids having a great time, and we\u2019ve been skating around, visiting shit like the Alamo and whatever else,\u201d said Wilkinson. \u201cWe\u2019re planning on playing Sacramento, Seattle and more after we get back from Europe. We\u2019re also supposed to play Japan and Australia as well, possibly before the next round of U.S. dates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sounds like Team Sleep isn\u2019t living up to its name.
(SN&R)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Team Sleep\u2019s self-titled, debut release for Maverick Records came out rather quietly on May 10, the band hasn\u2019t been sitting idly. The first leg of its current tour, which officially kicked off at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 30, will keep the band\u2014Zach Hill, Rick Verrett, DJ Crook, the Deftones\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acloserlookmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}