For sure one of the most anticipated records of the year is from alt-metal masters Deftones. What will be the follow-up to 2016’s Gore, has been in the works for a while and frontman Chino Moreno joined Zane Lowe on Apple Music to give yet another update on its status due to the COVID-19 situation.
It turns out for the band, which has scattered from its homebase of Sacramento, California years ago, the distance isn’t particularly taking a toll. Continuing to take their time with the album, they are working with famed producer Terry Date and the singer promises “[we’re] making sure that it’s great.”
“We started the record last summer and we … I mean, even before that we were taking our time and just doing at our leisure. We just started the mixing process a couple of months back, says Moreno. “It worked out as far as doing it remote. Our producer, Terry Date who’s doing the record, he’s in Seattle. As a band, we’re all spread out anyways. He’s just been working on it and then sending us stuff and we’ll send it back with notes and this and that, whatever. Usually it would be a little more expedited had we all been able to be in the same room at the same time, but it’s working out and he just finished his first full round of mixing the whole record and now it’s going back to little things and particular things on each song. So we’re using the time, trying to at least, by still working on the record and there’s no rush obviously for us to get out and do anything. So we’re just taking our time with it.
He continues, “We moved out of Sacramento maybe 20 years ago or so, it seems like almost now. But everybody’s been placed all around the U.S. and so we’ve been working in this digital age for a while. I mean, as far as writing the music, it’s been good. Everybody gets together and we lock ourselves in a room and we write together, which I think that’s the important part, that we’re not just sending ideas over the internet. We’re actually writing music together. But once we do that, everybody steps away and goes back into their own little worlds, and then we take a tally on what’s this and what’s that and then we can work that way. So it’s worked out for us.”
“We haven’t really discussed it too deeply other than we plan on it coming out this summer. It’s not looking like we’re going to be able to get out there this summer to support it. So does it make sense to put it out when you can’t support it? Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know. I think that’s something that we’re going to have to figure out sooner than later. But I think our mindset right now is just finishing it completely and making sure that it’s great. And then taking it from there.”
Listen to the vocalist’s full conversation with Zane Lowe on Apple Music today (May 4th) at 10 A.M. PT at apple.co/zane. In addition to getting new music out they also discuss the 10th anniversary of Diamond Eyes, working with longtime producer Terry Date, how the band has stayed together so long and overcome hardships, his approach to vocals and the possibility of re-releasing the game-changing album White Pony.
