Team Sleep, Long Walk Home @ The Hi-Fi

I’d been wondering who would play support tonight for a while. Having seen some truly terrible matches for support bands recently, I knew it would have to be someone unique, and I wondered whether we had anyone who could step up to the plate.

You would be hard pressed to find a better fit than Long Walk Home. A nice blend of hard edged atmosphere from powerhouse drummer Aidan and bassist Michael overlaid with violin or mandolin by Jake. Singer Charles, appearing like a cross between Billy Corgan circa Ava Adore and the tragic heroine of a bizarre opera, had a voice I wasn’t personally fond of, but was at least distinctive enough to hold its own amongst such a combination. But it was the rhythm section which particularly impressed me from this band, especially Michael’s ability to manipulate his bass sounds to fill in where most bands would have had to resort to a guitar.

The crowd inside the Hi-Fi bar was well below capacity, perhaps due to the short promotion time for this show, which saw it go on sale less than a month ago, with tickets available the day before the first promotions were even made. But such a small crowd turned out to be perfect for the intimate show we were about to receive.

If I have one criticism of the Team Sleep album, it’s that it sounds a little sterile. Live however, they may be one of the best bands I’ve ever seen. With the line-up fleshed out to a full five members, the dynamics of every song become far more apparent. The most immediate difference is the impact of drummer Zach Hill. From the very beginning, his kick-and-tom led barrages drove the band to new levels.

Also joining the core group of Chino Moreno (guitar, vocals), Todd Wilkinson (guitar) and DJ Crook (turntables, samples and programming), was bass/keyboardist Rick Verret. And it was the musical interaction between band members which really allowed the songs to grow and change, and feel alive. This was especially noticeable on the few non-album tracks played such as Ice Ache, which became one of the highlights of the set.

Also adding to the overall experience of the night was giant projection screen behind the band which displayed old horror, sci-fi, soft-porn, monster and art-house movies throughout the set. Verret also added a few backing vocals, helping to round out the sound of tracks like Princeton Review and the single Ever (Foreign Flag) which, like so many others, really came into its own in a live environment.

A surprise inclusion was the song King Diamond (the album version is a duet between Moreno and Mary Timmony). The guitars were abandoned and Verret and Wilkinson left the stage, leaving Moreno to sing over the backing of Crook and Hill in a version of the song which more closely resembled the leaked demo, but halfway through saw an impromptu and possibly freeform rap from the singer, which seemed to reference all his band members, as well as the support act.

Moreno weathered the calls for tracks from his other, more prominent band (Deftones, in case you didn’t already know) good naturedly, responding with a “Don’t even joke about that shit, ‘cause I’ll do it, but it’ll just be me and you’ll get a headache” as he lazily strummed the first few bars of 7 Words. But it was his vocals that became the other truly noticeable aspect of the night. Moreno is one of the few singers in modern rock with a unique voice which sounds just as good live as it does on record. The intensity the band added musically also gave him the ability to experiment vocally, and a few well placed screams near the end of the set had the crowd really excited.

The encore break consisted of an amazing drum solo from Hill, accompanied by Crook, before the band returned for what really was the crowning moment. Live From The Stage showed off everything the band version of Team Sleep is all about. The instrumental sections saw Moreno, Wilkinson and Verret group around Hill’s kit, the four of them playing off each other, as Crook layered extra levels of ethereal sound over the top.

“Dance with us now,” Moreno had crooned earlier over the end of Mercedes, “’cause I bet you like our song.” We did, and so we danced.