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Deftones

Deftones

ALL ARTIST INFO IS PULLED FROM PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATA.
IF YOU REPRESENT THIS ARTIST AND WOULD LIKE TO VERIFY YOUR PAGE OR UPDATE THE INFO, Click Here
Biography

Fast Facts About Deftones

Deftones is an alt-metal band that formed in Sacramento, California, in the late 1980s. The band’s current core membership is Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham, Frank Delgado, and Sergio Vega. 

  • Past members of the band include Dominic Garcia, John Taylor, and Chi Cheng. Garcia played bass for the band from 1988-1990, then switched to drums for a year before departing the band in 1991. Taylor drummed for the group from 1991-1993. Cheng was the bassist for the band from 1990-2008. 
  • Additional awards won by the band include the Revolver Golden Gods Album of the Year in 2013, the Kerrang! Award for Best Album in 2000, and the Outstanding Hard Rock Album Award from the California Music Awards in 2001.
  • Several of the band’s current members are worth several million dollars. Chino Moreno has a net worth of over $7 million, whereas Stephen Carpenter is worth over $10 million. 
  • The band’s lineup includes Frank Delgado, a turntablist who has contributed to the nu metal categorization of Deftones. However, Delgado tends to use turntables in a non-traditional way, implementing sampling and other production techniques into Deftones songs using the tools of a DJ.
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instruments played
bass
drums
Guitar
keyboard
Vocals
Associated Acts

Phallucy, Team Sleep

Genres

Alternative metal, art rock, experimental rock, nu metal (early)

Labels

Maverick, Warner, Reprise

Origin

Sacramento, California, U.S.

Website

deftones.com

Years Active

1988apresent

Wiki Link

Deftones: The Music

  • The band has released nine albums. Adrenaline, their 1995 debut, was followed by a long string of performances that helped the band gain traction in the alternative metal scene. 
  • Deftones’ most recent album, Ohms, came out in late 2020. The album has received critical acclaim, gaining the band a legion of new fans in generation Z. 
  • The band has cumulatively sold over 10 million albums. 
  • Deftones has been categorized as stoner rock, experimental rock, nu metal, post-punk, drone rock, shoegaze, math metal, funk metal, and more. The band’s highly eclectic and unique sound is a blend of numerous genres and styles, making it hard to define with just one term.
  • In 2001, “Elite,” a track from White Pony, the band’s third album, won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance.

History of the Band

How a Car Crash Led to the Formation of Deftones

The formation of Deftones was kickstarted by a chain of events that began with founding member Stephen Carpenter getting hit by a car at 15 years old. An avid skateboarder, Carpenter, had been on his board when the accident happened. Stuck at home in a wheelchair for months, Carpenter decided to use his extra free time to learn how to play the guitar. He quickly realized that he had a natural knack for music and started emulating the sound of metal bands like Metallica and Anthrax. After recovering from his injuries, Carpenter sought out to put his newfound musical abilities to good use. He connected with longtime friends Chino Moreno and Abe Cunningham, who shared his interest in metal, punk, and new wave music. The trio was soon joined by Dominic Garcia, who became the fourth member of the newly-formed Deftones. Membership shifted in the early 90s, but Carpenter, Cunningham, and Moreno remained in the band and are still members to this day. Deftones got their name from Abe Cunningham, who combined the common hip-hop slang “def” with the frequently used musical suffix “-tones.” “Def” has been a term for “cool” in hip-hop culture since the 1980s, the decade in which the members of Deftones were teens. 

Adrenaline: The Band’s First Album

The band’s first album, Adrenaline, was released in 1995 via Maverick Records. Produced by Terry Date, Ross Robinson, and the band, the album’s sound is a fusion of nu metal, post-hardcore, and alt-metal. The band recorded the album at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, WA, tearing through sessions at breakneck speed.  All of Chino Moreno’s vocals on the album were recorded using a Shure SM58, a dynamic microphone that is rarely used in the studio by professionals. Chino’s rationale for recording his vocals in such a non-traditional manner was all about preserving the raw, live feel of the songs. Adrenaline received positive feedback from fans and critics alike, with many music publications comparing the band’s sound to acts like Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana. 

Ohms: The Band’s Most Recent Work

Ohms, the band’s 2020 record, has been described as a return to form for the band. Released over 30 years after the group’s initial formation, the album includes features from Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, Doja Cat, and others.  The album received rage reviews from a wide array of critics, including numerous five-star reviews from notable music outlets. The album was also included on a number of “Best of 2020” lists, including from NME, Metal Hammer, Pop Matters, Revolver, Spin, Consequence of Sound, and more. The album also includes a brief cameo from Death Grips member Zach Hill, whose finger snaps can be heard on the track, “The Spell of Mathematics.”

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