The Deftones had a tough task in front of it as it recorded its latest album “Diamond Eyes.”
It’s the first album the Deftones recorded without its longtime bassist,
But the tragedy ultimately brought the rest of the Deftones closer together.
“We appreciate what we have, what we built and the
friendships we have,” says lead singer Chino Moreno. “But when
something like this happens, it’s a wake-up call to start realizing
we’re lucky to have each other.”
The band was in the middle of recording an album, to
be called “Eros,” at the time of Cheng’s accident. But the band mates
took an extended break to support their friend.
When it was time to reconvene minus Cheng, who
remains in an improving but still semi-conscious state, they had a
change of plans.
“Instead of trying to piece together what we were
working on and try to teach someone else, we figured if we wanted to
continue as a band we had to rebuild the infrastructure from the ground
up,” Moreno says.
The band brought in
“Having someone new in the band is new blood,” Moreno says. “He gave us a kick in our step, and that’s a good thing.”
Once Vega joined the band, the Deftones hit the ground running. They’d lost a lot time and needed to play catch-up.
They locked themselves in their tiny
rehearsal spot for eight hours a day for two months. Usually, they work
at a more leisurely pace but figured this time they might “capture
lightning in a bottle.”
With “Diamond Eyes,” Moreno says the Deftones go a
little left from where they’ve been before, something they try to do
with each record. “We never want to re-create the same record. It’s
simplified and straightforward. We didn’t get over self-indulgent or
experimental.”
Moreno says “Diamond Eyes” differs from what
would’ve been on “Eros.” Those songs “were long and there was a lot of
jamming-style stuff, which was fun to do. But it wasn’t as concise.”
In addition to “Diamond Eyes,” the Deftones are also
promoting “Covers,” a covers album released in conjunction with this
month’s Record Store Day. It has songs from Sade, the Cars, the Smiths,
record, at the end of the process we always squeeze in a cover song
just for fun. We like to try things people wouldn’t expect from us,” he
says.
“Eros,” meanwhile, remains in the vault indefinitely. The band hasn’t listened to the music since Cheng’s accident.
“When we do, there were be a lot of emotions. It’s pretty deep stuff, and it’s the last thing he played on.”
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(c) 2011, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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