Team Sleep - Lovers

Trying to explain Team Sleep is quite the task as there has been all kinds of misinformation available for ages, but I'll try to give you an idea of what really happened and who is involved.

Around the time of the Deftones' "White Pony" album, there were mentions in interviews of a new side-project between Chino Moreno, the Deftones' lead singer, and his friend, DJ Crook. The group, Team Sleep, was initially believed to be Chino's baby with he and Crook sharing production and songwriting duties with most of the Deftones helping out with live instrumentation, even though they weren't official members of the group. Now it appears that the group actually started as a casual team-up with Todd Wilkinson, a friend of Chino's and they had been recording together for quite a while, but nothing became overly serious until Crook joined in.

Around 2001/2002, the group, with no album to present, went on tour. The line-up consisted of Chino Moreno, Todd Wilkinson, Dan Elkan of Pocket For Corduroy, Sonny Mayugba of Phallucy, Zach Hill of way too many things to list but best known for Hella, Rick Verrett of Tinfed, Joel Tidwell, and DJ Crook. Their sets featured songs that were later recorded for the album but also included a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins' "The Aeroplane Flies High". Some bootlegs from this era show the band playing pretty loosely but nonetheless quite heavily and clearly motivated. A lot of speculation began to surface and an official Team Sleep site eventually went live.

Shortly after the tour and the site, an album's worth of Team Sleep material leaked via the Deftones' official forums. Chino was quite upset and stated that he would not release those recordings because of the leak. He was especially upset that the primary source of the leak were fans of his bands and that they made the album easy to find online. That said, the love for the recordings could not be denied as fans from the Deftones camp and non-fans were quickly stating their appreciation for the album and hoping for it's release, either as-is or in a further completed form.

Sadly, most of those recordings, at least as they were, remain unreleased and look like they will continue to be. The album that leaked is generally considered untitled but around the time of it's leak it was stated on several occasions that it would be titled "Lovers". I've decided to stick with that name for this post, especially since I think it's appropriate. There is a sexy, romantic vibe all throughout the album, one that can be scary but always engaging.

Some explanation about the album's creation would be nice to have but not much is known. First off, it's been said that the leaked album was not really an "album", but this doesn't seem accurate as the tracks had been sequenced and segues had been created for several of the tracks. The version that was leaked is definitely a finished version, as you can hear the tracks with segues begin to flow into the next song, only to have them stop completely and the following song start clean without any of the previous track. Secondly, Terry Date is assumed the producer, especially since two tracks from the unreleased album, "King Diamond" and "Liegia", were released in slightly altered form on the band's self-titled album. The versions that were released are definitely the same recordings featured on the "Lovers" album, although with additional vocals and effects in places. As for the rest of the album, "Cambodia" was re-recorded as "Ever (Foreign Flag)", a beautiful song which fleshed it out quite a bit further and "Natalie Portman" was updated into "Live From The Stage". "Mercedes" actually received a premiere on radio in 2002 and was featured in a pseudo-official mixtape by, if I'm remembering correctly, DJ Crook, but has not been released otherwise. "Apollonia", sans-vocals, was released on the soundtrack to "The Matrix Reloaded" as "The Passportal". "Death By Plane" was featured in a promotional video from the band's website leading many to believe it would be on the album, but that's as far as it got.

Participation from additional Deftones-members in Team Sleep in unclear, but it has been confirmed that the drums in "Interlude" are provided courtesy of Abe Cunningham. The track has been previously labeled "Abe vs. Crook", although that was never confirmed as an official part of the track's name. The track was created from an improv session between Abe and Crook and, while it may be one of the simplest parts of the album, it's easily one of the most hypnotic. It begs to be a bed for a radio announcement or something to be played between songs.

Other vocalists involved in the "Lovers" sessions were Mary Timony, whose contributions did make the final album, Melissa Auf Der Maur, for whom none of her work has been heard by anyone outside the band, and Mike Patton. Patton's contribution, the extremely haunting "Kool Aid Party", was set to be released as a b-side for a European single but it never happened, which is a shame because it is easily one of the best tracks Team Sleep have ever recorded. It features the sounds of waves crashing over a dark, foreboding groove as Patton steps up for vocal duties. Originally, Chino wanted Patton to write lyrics about the events at Jonestown and the aforementioned "kool-aid" party, but instead he wrote about pirates and murder, which as spooky as that is, makes it almost sexy the way he sings. In a deep croak, Patton speaks of the ship's crew and their actions upon reaching land. This should have been released, and the band knows it too, so maybe, MAYBE, someday this may see some kind of official release.

Team Sleep continues to record and have speculated that a new album will appear in 2010. Crook posts demos as their MySpace page and there will supposedly be a set of free EPs released in the near future, leading up to the actual follow-up album's completion, but as all things go with Team Sleep and the Deftones, not much is actually spoken until it finally happens, so it could be a while until the Team returns.


Team Sleep - Lovers

01 Death By Plane
02 Apollonia
03 Iceache
04 Ligeia (feat. Mary Timony)
05 Cambodia
06 King Diamond
07 Solid Gold
08 Boulevard Nights
09 Mercedes
10 Acoustic One
11 Interlude
12 Kool Aid Party (feat. Mike Patton)
13 Natalie Portman

BUNGLE FEVER!

I've joked with people that this could easily be a Prince rarities blog due to the ridiculous amount of his stuff that I have lying around, but I'm fighting that urge with a passion! That said, I promise this won't become a Mike Patton blog either, but I figured that if I was going to post those Mr. Bungle rough mixes and demos that I might as well post their four original demo tapes. Now, before I go much further, I want to note that Bungle Fever was the source for all of the Bungle tracks I've posted here and if you want a near endless collection of live and Bungle-related content you should definitely visit their site and FTP. I don't want to take credit away from the people who did the work and laid foundations! So, follow that link to Bungle glory!

Anyway, this will probably be my last Bungle post, at least for a long time. There isn't too much to say about these demos other than they're rough and clearly demos. "OU818" is the most polished of the four and was recorded not too long before they were signed to Warners. "The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny" is their first demo and has a lot of grindcore in it's sound. "Goddammit..." is another pretty polished demo, but it's not my favorite. It sounds like someone stripped some of the fun out of the band. "Bowel Of Chiley", on the other hand, is my favorite of these demos and is clearly the most fun. If you're blue and need some potty-humor and ridiculous ska-influenced craziness, "Bowel..." will make you smile for a long, LONG time! I heard "Bowel..." years ago when I acquired one of the "official" cd's re-pressed by Rastacore Records. The cd's were really bootlegs that the band vocally stated their disapproval of, so it's pretty damn rare, but it doesn't sound better than any other copy I've heard which is a shame since "Bowel..." is also the scruffiest sounding of the four demos. This one makes me laugh to this day! If Beavis and Butthead style humor still make you laugh, you'll be pleasantly surprised with "Bowel Of Chiley"!


Mr. Bungle Demo Tapes:

The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny
Bowel Of Chiley
Goddammit I Love America!
OU818


PS - By the way, in case my previous statement was unclear, "Bowel Of Chiley" was a real Mr. Bungle demo, but it's cd release was unauthorized. I don't want anyone thinking it's not supposed to be out there.

Mr. Bungle - Rough Mixes and Demos

From the first time I heard Mike Patton's voice on Faith No More's "Epic" I was captivated. I can't remember hearing a so-called pop singer that could change his vocal styles so quickly and effectively. After consuming the whole of "The Real Thing", I was even further blown away by "Angel Dust", wherein Patton channeled the voices of preachers, doctors, cheerleaders and the torchbearers of true perversion. It was shocking stuff, definitely not what your average 14 year old's mother was hoping he would be listening to, although who knows these days. Regardless though, I loved what I'd heard and wanted more, which led me to the message boards at Prodigy. If you know what Prodigy is, and I'm not talking about the rapper from Mobb Deep or Liam Howlett, then you know how badly I'm dating myself here, but this was before just about anyone could get on the net and if you wanted answers it was the place to go, and that's where I found out about Mr. Bungle.

Upon topical introduction, I was warned that if I expected Faith No More's sister group that I would be sorely disappointed, but I knew I had to check this stuff out, and this shit was CRAZY!!! Mr. Bungle was Patton with friends Trey Spruance on guitar, Trevor Dunn on bass, Danny Heifetz on drums, and Clinton McKinnon & Theo Lengyel on horns. There had been other members but these were the core and they brought a bizarre mix of ska, death metal, grindcore, jazz and ambient vibes to the band.

The ska vibe almost got them in trouble as Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, upon seeing FNM's "Epic" video, called Patton out for supposedly stealing his moves. Patton said he'd happily handle the threat to which Kiedis claimed he'd need to bring a posse. Well, Patton showed up outside Kiedis' apartment to accept the challenge with members of Bungle and FNM ready to shut him up. Kiedis, of course, cowered inside, instead deciding to spark a long-standing feud between the three bands. It never phased FNM or Bungle though as they continued to tour and rock it out as evidenced by their long careers, but if I had to choose which group to be afraid of it would definitely be Bungle. These guys used to dress up in horror movie masks and fake their own hanging deaths. Not to mention, if the visuals didn't get you, their creepy vibes with songs like "Love Is A Fist" and "My Ass Is On Fire" could give you nightmares.

Mr. Bungle had actually been around for a number of years prior to Patton joining Faith No More. In fact, one of his requirements for joining FNM was that he didn't have to quit Bungle. So, when FNM started achieving success on the charts offers started coming in to sign Bungle. They went with Warner Brothers, the parent label of Reprise which just so happened to be the home of FNM. Prior to this they had recorded four independently distributed demo tapes so they had a good sense of themselves, so it was no surprise when most of their debut for Warners consisted of re-recordings of older songs. Oddly enough, at least for a major label act, they hired John Zorn to contribute production to their debut. How much Zorn was involved is probably the biggest question to be asked of the first album. Much has been documented about Patton and Zorn's continued working relationship, but these rough mixes don't show much of Zorn's influence. Some of his horn can be heard on the album's final mixes but he's practically invisible on the rough mixes. So it was rather shocking when the second Bungle album sounded more like something Zorn would have produced although he was completely uninvolved.

"Disco Volante", Bungle's second album for Warners, has been called one of the biggest jokes ever played on a major label. I believe that honor goes to Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", but DV is not remotely commercial. Patton's vocals are minimal throughout and when he is present he's reading Italian dialogue or shouting bizarre poetry. If the first album scared or confused people, this one sent them running for the hills, but if you stuck with it, as I did, it proved extremely rewarding and just as good, if not better, than their major label debut.

Featured here are rough mixes for the first, self-titled Mr. Bungle album and demos for their second album, "Disco Volante". The self-titled roughs aren't terribly different from what was officially released, but it's great for those interested in the core of the songs, especially without all the layers of samples and sound effects featured on the final versions. The highlights here are "Platypus", "Mr. Nice Guy" and "Thunderball". "Platypus" was recorded for their second Warners album, "Disco Volante", but here Patton's vocal approach is much simpler than on the DV version. "Mr. Nice Guy" was a hold-over from the last demo tape, "OU818". As for "Thunderball", it is indeed a cover the Bond movie theme, and was played frequently live at the time.

The "Disco Volante" demos, like the self-titled album rough mixes, are not all that different from the final versions but do show the band in a rougher, less polished form. The highlight is the hornless demo of "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" in which Patton, who doesn't have much to do with the final version, proceeds to unleash a tourettes-like rant about pooing, shitting, fucking and more along with a painful cry of how terrible an instrumental song can be for a lead singer. Pretty damn funny stuff.

Mr. Bungle Stuff:

Self-Titled Album Rough Mixes
01 Platypus
02 Love Is A Fist
03 Mr. Nice Guy
04 Egg
05 The Girls Of Porn
06 Thunderball
07 Slowly Growing Deaf
08 Squeeze Me Macaroni
09 Stubb (A Dub)
10 My Ass Is On Fire
11 Travolta (Quote, Unquote)
12 Carousel

Disco Volante Demos
01 Phlegmatics
02 Carry Stress In The Jaw
03 Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead
04 Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz