History has to start somewhere. In the case of esteemed Sacramento luminaries Deftones, there’s no better place to begin than right at home. Having firmly established themselves as part of the nü-metal vanguard early in their career, the band stepped away from those sounds and aesthetics on their sophomore album, Around The Fur.
In a 1997 interview with Dutch television, frontman Chino Moreno explained how the title of the record spoke to their musical evolution, saying: “People have been asking me a lot about that, especially with the album cover.” But, he continued, the actual meaning of the phrase had more to do with sonics than sex. “Our music,” Moreno explained, “I picture it as being, you know, very ugly, [with] heavy chords. Everything’s really abrasive. And at the same time it’s really soothing. And I think I picture fur as being very glamorous and very beautiful. But around the inside it’s skin. And it’s ugly. So it’s somewhat of a metaphor for the music and the way I feel sometimes about people being really pretty on the outside and ugly on the inside.”
The album’s centerpiece is “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)”, a devastating melodic behemoth of unfettered skill and raw emotion that would become the cornerstone of Deftones’ classic sound as we know it.
Although Around The Fur didn’t come out until October of 1997, Deftones showcased a few songs from the upcoming record when they played Press Club in their hometown of Sacramento, California on September 11th of that same year.
Thanks to a fan named Walker Edmonson, those of us who either weren’t present at the gig or would like to relive it can watch footage of the band playing “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” for the very first time.
Making reference to the fact that Deftones hadn’t played to a live audience since December of 1996, Chino can be heard telling the crowd: “This is our first show we’ve played in a long-ass fucking time. This song is called ‘Be Quiet And Drive’.” You can watch the performance below now.
“Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” was the band’s first song to crack the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and has since become a fan favorite.