Team Sleep started when Moreno and his friend Todd Wilkinson bought a cassette tape Portastudio-type four-track recorder in 1994. They continued this collaboration through the first two Deftones albums, though on a rather casual basis. Wilkinson said, DJ Crook, a long-time friend and roommate of Deftones turntablist/keyboardist Frank Delgado, added beats and turntables to "Teenager", a song featuring glitch and trip hop influences. Originally intended as a Team Sleep song, "Teenager" was ultimately included on White Pony, the third Deftones album. Team Sleep performed a number of live shows on the West Coast of the United States in late 2001 and early 2002, with Moreno, Wilkinson, DJ Crook, Verrett, Zach Hill, Dan Elkan, Sonny Mayugba and Joel Tidwell handling instrumentation. Their early live set included a loose cover of the Smashing Pumpkins' "The Aeroplane Flies High ", among others.
Debut album
A full album's worth of material was finished in 2002–03, but not officially released. The instrumental song "The Passportal" was included on , the April 2003 soundtrack album for the film The Matrix Reloaded. Singers Mike Patton and Melissa Auf der Maur were involved in recording sessions, but their contributions were not included on the final album. Singers Rob Crow and Mary Timony were the only vocalists other than Moreno to appear on the album. Team Sleep's record was originally scheduled for release in November 2004, but Maverick Records were reportedly so impressed by the album that they postponed the release until mid-2005 to allow for promotion. The debut album contained only five of the original tracks; three of those were heavily reworked. In October 2004, DJ C-Minus premiered the Team Sleep demo "Cambodia" while opening for Deftones at a concert at House of Blues in West Hollywood. The title of this song, which was co-written with producer Greg Wells, was later changed to "Ever ". The official Team Sleep website appeared in early 2005 and included songs and videos for free downloading. Team Sleep was finally released on May 10, 2005, to mostly positive reviews. "The best part about it is having completion of something you've been working on, and having it done right," Moreno said in a statement. "It's fun, working with different people, everybody works differently. When I have time off from music, I want to make other music. That's what I do, that's what's fun, that's what makes me happy." Notably absent from the completed debut album were "Mercedes", "Apollonia", "Iceache", "Death by Plane", "Solid Gold", "Acoustic One" and "Kool-Aid Party". The demo of "Cambodia" was revamped and appeared on the album in the form of "Ever ", while "Natalie Portman" was revised into "Live from the Stage". Following Team Sleep's first release, the band toured and began posting various demos on their MySpace page.
Return
In October 2014, a new Team Sleep lineup recorded a second album in front of a live audience at Applehead Recording studio in Woodstock, New York. The members included Moreno, Wilkinson, Verret and DJ Crook as well as bassist Chuck Doom and drummer Gil Sharone. The record, self-released in July 2015, consisted of reworkings of both tracks from the first album tracks as well as unreleased old demos. As of 2020, Team Sleep is dormant.
