Photo: Press
"The previous two records were the first we made without Chi, when Serge stepped in - that's where we rediscovered our work ethic and essence of what it is to make music together as a band," ponders Chino Moreno, considering the collective headspace of Deftones after eight years of highs and lows. In 2008, the band were in the midst of writing their sixth album, Eros when bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a car crash. He died as a result of his injuries in 2013.
Eros would never be released, but in the interim years, the absence before the loss of their fallen brother would give Deftones a newfound compulsion to make everything count. Sergio Vega stepped in on bass duties, and the band 'returned to form' with two of the finest albums of their career with Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan. Released in relatively quick session in 2010 and 2012, the band rode high of a wave of creativity and goodwill.
Now they're back with Gore - still on the finest of form, but squaring up to the challenge, by fighting back with another challenge.
"Before that, we were making records in quite a nonchalant way," admits Moreno. "With Chi not being there, we really realised how precious life is and how lucky we are to be doing this. All of our energy went into those records, but at the same time we wanted to make Gore record as something separate. We didn't want to abandon that energy, but expand on it. There was no formula for how we were going to do it, just work five to six hours together in a room and not get distracted."
He pauses, and summarises: "For me, what you get on this record feels more refined in certain ways. I obviously think it's a harder record to get into - I understand that. It's not a first listen 'wow, this is the greatest thing ever', but with each time you find more nuances."
Therein lies the greatness of Gore. While so many metal bands of their stature may be rushing to pack in universal hooks to fill out arenas get teens sweaty, Deftones are at their most artful. Gore is a dense tapestry of sound - a journey that meanders through the full emotional spectrum and finds them exploring deep into each and every corner of what they're capable of. It may not be 'direct', but it's certainly 'complete'.
Just as adventurous as the music, Moreno's lyrics are vivid but ambiguous; leaving the listener with a fully-formed vision of a feeling, but only teasing at the specifics. As per usual with Deftones, the brutal and the tender sit side-by-side, but what is Chino really trying to reflect throughout Gore?
"I don't know," he pauses, "there are a lot of questions asked. I've never actually felt as a lyricist that I have a million things to say. I don't feel like a poet or that I need to share these thoughts with people, and I still don't. I've always approached it as just me reacting to the sound, I've just feel an emotion and run with it like a football - as far as I can until I get tackled.
"On this one, maybe the emotions that are on display are probably more of a portrait of where I am today. In some ways, that should be a really content place where I totally understand what's going on around me, but as content as I am in life I still feel a bit uncomfortable in understanding what's going on around me. There are a lot more questions being asked in these lyrics, than statements and answers given."
And in using a song as a vehicle for a question, does one ever arrive at an answer?
"Kind of," Moreno replies, an air of optimism in his voice. "It's one of those things that works in retrospect. When I'm doing it, I sort of black out in reacting to what's going on. But when looking back I'll read certain things and think 'why did I say that? What did I mean?' Some things I have answers for, some things I don't - but when I do I keep it to myself. That sense of privacy is something that I've always tried to hold on to. I can explain certain things, but as a fan I feel like some things are better not explained. Some of my favourite lyricists and songs, I don't understand what they're talking about but I certainly take away an emotion."
And so for that reason, it may or may not come as a surprise than Chino is a huge fan of Morrissey. The band have previously released a thoroughly unhinged cover of 'Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want', but it's Morrissey's lyrics that have always held on to Moreno. When the album was in gestation, he said that he was on a 'huge Morrissey kick'. Just like the words on Gore, Morrisey gives so much but you understand so little.
"That's my favourite thing about him," Chino responds, animatedly. "He'd be one of the top ones. Morrissey will be speaking very vaguely about a lot of things, and something very stark to make you uncomfortable. He'll make you question what's going on, which totally reaffirms that what you thought you knew, actually barely scratches the surface. That's sort of stuff is intriguing to me."
Dynamics are indeed, what make Deftones so powerful. From the beautiful to the grotesque, the gentle to violent, the simmering to the eruption - there remains a constant unease about what rabbit hole you'll fall down at the next turn, and you love it. That tension is intrinsic to Deftones, and their chemistry. Much has been written about guitarist Stephen Carpenter often showing opposition and even dislike to Gore's direction when it was being made. He's more into Meshuggah than Morrissey. But that's not to say they don't get along, or that it hasn't always been that way...
"People think there's this Yin and Yang thing between Stephen and myself," smiles Moreno. "We love each other, and people think we're the opposite and don't along. We just challenge each other. If we didn't, what would our friendship really consist of? The fact is that I've been friends with him since I was 10-years-old. If we didn't like each other, we wouldn't hang out."
He continues: "Every time he hears the finished product, he fucking loves it - that's the thing. This didn't just happen on Gore - this happens all the time. We were writing something, that means him too. Even the songs that he writes, he's like 'I don't know if I like this'. I think that makes things great because he definitely questions everything. He's never going to just go along with something right away, that's the way he is. He even challenges himself as well as our band as a whole.
"It's not him against the rest of the band, it's him against everything in life, until he can be sold on it. If you tell him The Beatles are the best band in the world, even though he loves The Beatles, he'll tell you that they're not. He's the guy who wants to play the devil's advocate on everything. I look as it as a positive. That's who he is and I love him for that."
Tension, aggression, beauty and everything in between - that's why it may be a stark departure, but Gore still 'feels' like Deftones. We put it to Moreno to assess what that really means - and what the world wants from them.
"I do not have a fucking clue what people expect," he laughs. "Not to sound rude, but I don't fucking care. We'd be chasing our own tails. People like us for different reasons, and our best records are when the five of us are way into it. That's all we can ask for.
"I try to live my life without expectations. It's great to have goals and dreams, but expectations are an arrogant trait. Y'know, 'I expect things to be this way, and so they should'."
There's an old Josh Homme saying, "if you expect anything from music, you expect too much". He's not wrong, and Deftones and bypassed that and survived turmoil, tragedy and two decades of scenes changing around them not through expectation, but demanding so much from themselves. It's inescapable. Who needs answers then there are always questions? The end will never be in sight when you're always chasing the challenge.
- Gore is out now.
At Wembley, they'll be joined by Black Peaks. Deftones' rescheduled dates are below. For tickets and more information visit here.
JUNE
3 – London, UK – The SSE Arena, Wembley
14 – Koln, Germany – Palladium
15 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
