Interview: Deftones

Deftones Questions Answered By Abe (Drums) and Frank (Turntablist). 06/07/00 Interviewed by Brian Webb

Related Links: Official Website

PRP: First off. You are about to launch your third album on the world. What are you feeling right now? Are their any expectations being placed upon you either by yourselves or other people?
Abe: I think there were but we don’t pay much attention to them. We just want to make the record that makes us happy and now we are ready to share it with everyone else.
Frank: We are all excited. We are all very proud. We just can’t wait to get it out and play it. I guess there were expectations but I think we’ve pretty much lived up to our own expectations if anything.

PRP: Is there a feeling that this is the album that will take you to the big time?
Frank: I don’t really think about that. We just do our thing. What’s the big time? I think we are pretty big time already.
Abe: We are content with the way things have gone and this is the next step.
Frank: Everything else is gravy, you know what I mean. Just extra fun or whatever.

PRP: What does the White Pony symbolize?
Abe: To me its our stand on the way things our these days. It’s a proud triumphant stand.
Frank: It could mean a lot of different things. Like when we came up with the initial idea we were just sitting around drunk and Chino was like “why don’t we call the album White Pony” and we were like alright and this is while we were still on the road and hadn’t written any songs. So we decided fuck it! We’ll put up a red backdrop like a flag. Its like us putting up our flag and saying here we are, this is the white pony man, you cant fuck with it. You don’t even know what it means but you're going to want to know just for the reason you're asking is why. It can mean anything just like our songs. It can mean anything to anyone. It really doesn’t matter.

PRP: What are your thoughts on the whole mp3 situation? I gather you guys were upset on your album being leaked to the net.
Frank: I don’t think it was the fact it was ‘leaked’ to the Internet but ‘when’ it was leaked. As far as kids getting on the Internet, they’re going to do it. The only thing that upset us was that we had a whole plan to let kids get our stuff early, we had this whole Internet house party thing and I think we went way beyond the call of duty as far as letting the fans hear it ahead of time. It’s understandable that they want to go out and get it. Sure business wise it might affect you but the only thing that was kind of upsetting is not only did they get the album, but then they got an un-mastered version. I know this because the titles didn’t hit the fuckin CD till we mastered it. It blows the whole mystique of it. As far as kids getting on the Internet I think it’s a beautiful thing, you can get an overload of whatever your looking for. It’s a good thing.
PRP: You put up a fake mp3 to trick users on Napster, are you guys supportive of the program or against it?
Abe: It was a joke!
Frank: It was more or less like why fight it. Why don’t we just use it to our advantage. Again, another drunken night, our buddy Donk was hanging out and we knew it was going to hit soon. We were going to put up a song actually but we figured they were going to get it all. We were just drunk and though “lets just Bullshit.”
Abe: Buy that shit!
Frank: I thought it was a pretty creative thing to do.

PRP: What did you think of the house party? That shit had me up till 5am. What did you think of that annoying presenter?
Frank: Yeah you gotta understand A lot of these companies we work with have their own perception of who listens to our music or whatever. But if you were at that party it went off! Really well. So many die-hard fans were there. I couldn’t believe how far some of them drove. The show was great. All our friends were there, it was a good time.

PRP: On this album, it’s been said Chino wrote a lot of the material, do you feel that this shaped the somewhat different sound featured on the new record?
Frank: I don’t think he wrote a lot of material. I think he collaborated with everyone else a lot more. This album is well rounded as far as anyone collaborating, which is evident in a song like ‘Change’ where that song came about with us just jamming and it just happened.

PRP: At this stage do you have a favorite song from the White Pony?
Abe: I’m liking the whole thing right now. We try to make records where you listen to it in its entirety.
Frank: I like albums where you don’t want to push rewind or forward and I think we’ve created that. Something like Purple Rain is an album that we just can’t take off because its such a great album and I think we have created something to that affect.
PRP: People are saying this is more of a "softer" Deftones. Do you think you're alienating the harder scene that has supported you?
Abe: I think we’ve given everyone just what they need, this is the record we finally feel comfortable making and we’ve wanted to make a record like this for a long time.
Frank: Abe said it well before and it may sound selfish but we make albums for ourselves, you know what I mean. It just so happens we have fans that are really into what we do and that’s a good thing. I look at it like the band are in a car and if you want to ride with us get in lets go! Because who knows where we are going to go or going to stop. Why do we have to keep recreating stuff where we’ve been or done already?
Abe: I like to think that our fans have grown with us and are ready to except something new. Our fans are smarter than the average rock fan… You know what I mean. A bit more open minded.
Frank: If your looking for your simple, easy aggression song then theirs plenty of bands who can offer that. We are offering you what I think is a little bit more and if you take that in I respect you as a fellow music fan who is open to everything.

PRP: You've played your new material live now, how are fans responding to it?
Abe: We’ve only started playing a few new songs so far… We’ll probably add more to the set as we go.
Frank: Its kind of hard. Its one of those things when you tour before the album hits its hard to feel a response but you can definitely see the kids who know it or have got it off the Internet and that’s a pretty cool thing. As the tours go on it will definitely be more of a White Pony influenced set.

PRP: Do you feel bitter in any way due to the fact that MTV has embraced heavier music resulting in many newer bands gaining a similar status to what you guys have worked for in a fraction of the time.
Abe: That to us is all gravy. We’ve built everything on touring. It’s funny because in the states right now radio is playing our song A LOT. For us we are still going to do what we’ve always done and that’s tour so everything is like sugar on top.
Frank: It would be different if we were a new band and MTV were accepting us. We’d be like whoa and run it for all we’ve got but we’ve already been here long enough and we been through all the cycles of trying to get MTV play and its funny because now we are not even trying to service MTV, now they're coming to us. Where else can we go, you can’t stay at a certain level, I can accept that. I can accept MTV and radio and we can use it to our advantage, but I don’t feel this band is here to save any kid from their social hell, your going to be just as cool if you accept music that you really like. Its not about if its too much on the radio or all over MTV, then don’t watch it man. Go hang out in a record store, that’s what I did. Why base your life around something like MTV. We are still keeping the schedule we’ve always had. We are going to be on the road for maybe the next 2 ½ years.
PRP: You guys have worked with Terry Date on all three of your albums, any direct reason for this?
Frank: We almost weren’t going to use Terry when we first went into this project and it was just because we had an opportunity to do whatever we want so lets try someone new. But we met a lot of people and it came all the way back to Terry again and we were like this is our third album, why go in with a new guy and become acquainted with this person when we got Terry whose been there since the beginning and we can avoid all those feelings of getting to know them and just get right in and do it. Terry's grown just as much as we have, his sound is really good right now. I love Terry so much.

PRP: Looking back on your first two albums, how do you perceive them in contrast to the new album?
Abe: Its funny. Just the other day I listened to Around The Fur and I was like Fuck this is pretty good! And then one record I hardly ever listen to is Adrenaline and I put that shit on and I hadn’t heard it in such a long time and its pretty cool.
Frank: We are proud of our albums man. I think ATF is a fuckin great album and at the time it came out it was overlooked by a lot of people, which is good I think as it put us in the position to make this album. If Around The Fur blew up, we probably wouldn’t have made this album the way it is. We were in the position to do anything we want and we knew it. We were still on this level where we have this great fan base but as far as the masses or MTV, we knew they hadn’t touched us yet so we did anything and everything and I think that’s a great position. You don’t want to be in a position where you feel you have to keep making the same song over and over again just to stay up. We don’t have a formula basically and after a while you see that a lot of bands have this formula. If you take one song off White Pony and play it to somebody you can't say this is what the new album sounds like. Because each fuckin song is different and how many albums can you say that about.

PRP: Do you consider the White Pony to be a progression or were you guys shooting to create a new sound?
Abe: Oh definitely, I think each time its gone in steps. Sonically, Writing wise, yeah definitely.

PRP: So does "White Pony" show the direction the band is going to take in the future?
Abe: That’s the thing. There's no barriers, we could make the fuckin hardest record we want next time.
Frank: We have so many options to take this music wherever we want. It’s a good feeling. We don’t want to have to keep fuckin turning out this one kind of thing and I think kids don’t want that. If you listen to Adrenaline you can hear the progression to Around The Fur and if you listen to Around The Fur you can hear that progression go into White Pony, it’s almost like a prelude.

PRP: Did you seriously consider adding a new guitarist to the band?
Frank: We talk a lot of shit and it can get out on the Internet. It’s kind of like the Chino changing his name thing. It could have been done but as long as Chino feels comfortable. He was more worried about being tied down, but it’s only a few songs in the set.

PRP: So how does Stef feel about Chino picking up the guitar for some of the songs?
Abe: He hated it at first……… It was the times we were going through. He fuckin hated it but if Chino hadn’t of picked up the guitar we wouldn’t have made this record.

PRP: The White Pony will be released in red and black limited editions. Is the difference just cosmetic or will it feature bonus tracks or enhanced sections.
Abe: There are 3 covers, arts different and it’s got a bonus track. They all have the enhanced CD with the game on it. The enhanced bit is badass.

PRP: The track “Spiraling” with B-Real and the track “The Boys Republic” are rumored to be featured on the upcoming limited editions, is this true?
Frank: The track with B-Real was never completed. It was a song that me, Chino, Crook and B-Real worked on for a whole other thing. It was going to be a b-side or a white label. We probably weren’t going to put Deftones on it. Just a little extra thing we wanted to do. It was never meant for White Pony but word got out and now suddenly everyone thinks we got this B-Real song. Its not even done, it never had a name. I don’t know who named it that.
Abe: The bonus track is Boys Republic, which they already know, I've seen it on the net. Its fucked up man all our surprises are out!

PRP: Word is you guys handpicked Glassjaw to open for you, how did you guys hear about the band?
Frank: Yeah pretty much. Its pretty hard to pick up a band to tour with, there’s a lot of shit we get as far as CD's we get sent but I think we kind of like bringing out people we at least like or know that they got something going on that we really enjoy. We’ve brought out Quicksand, Will haven, Far and these are kids we like. With Glassjaw we got the CD in the mail and we probably put it on cause we heard that a friend of ours played drums on it when they recorded the album, but he don’t play for them now. We heard it and you can definitely hear the Deftones influence and Bad Brains influence. They won right there already. We only met them the other day, they are so excited.

PRP: So you obviously like Glassjaw but what other bands do you like right now so far as the rock scene? Have you guys checked out Taproot?
Abe: I’ve heard of them but haven’t heard their music.
Frank: I’ve heard a few of their songs, it’s alright. I don’t listen to too much so far as contemporaries right now. I Guess the last CD I got at home for my car was California by Mr. Bungle.

PRP: Rumors of the band getting its own imprint label through Maverick have arisen, is there any truth to this?
Abe: Yeah at this point we are looking for bands. Now that we are back on the road we are able to check stuff out. It’s in the works right now, well its pretty much done actually.
Frank: We’d love to put out a whole wide spectrum of different kinds of music.

PRP: What are your touring plans for late summer and fall? Family Values and a perfect circle have been mentioned.
Abe: We’ve done a lot of that shit over there. We’ve done those things and I think its better for us to do our own thing.
Frank: We’ve got this new album and I think it would be kind of stupid for us to jump on a big summer festival right now.

PRP: There’s talk of you guys hooking up with A Perfect Circle.
Abe: That would be beautiful. I'd like to tour with Tool too. If things work out we’d love to. I think these things will come together it just takes time.

PRP: Frank, you are very much the unknown quantity of the band with many people still referring to Deftones as a 4 piece. When exactly did you join and in what ways has your in involvement increased?
Frank: I like that. I like being in the background. When I joined this group I didn’t take it upon as my time to shine. I met these guys when I first moved to Sacramento and I met Chino first at a club and he said hey man do you want to hear my demo.

PRP: So you’ve been involved from the beginning?
Frank: Yeah. I did a couple of songs on Adrenaline and it just kind of progressed from there. We became really good friends, we all pretty much think the same and after Around The Fur they said why don’t you just stay and lets do this.

PRP: So what’s become of your old band the Socialistiks?
Frank: They are still out there. They are putting a compilation out in the Bay Area with a more of an underground hip-hop kind of thing. Initially when I first left to do this I really wanted to stay in touch as far as being creative with them but I didn’t realize how much time this band took. I still associate with those guys really well and I plan to work with them some more.

PRP: When does your input come into the songwriting process?
Frank: I think its there from the beginning. We all just pretty much jam together and see what happens. When I'm trying to find my stuff for a song I just put on these records I have and I find tones and stuff to match the tones of the song and while I'm doing that Chino will hear something and he’ll use that little thing I did as a melody and that whole process of me bouncing off Chino as far as his writing stuff. That’s a cool thing.

PRP: Any other DJ's you respect at the moment?
Frank: Oh my god. Right now I'm overblown by Shadow still. Everything he touches is such quality, he’s one of the baddest programmers out there. I love where his heads at.

PRP: Abe, how do you come into the song writing process?
Frank: Abe and Stef used to be the foundation.
Abe: We all come together now. I don’t know how we did this time but it got done.
Frank: One song chino and Abe went into the studio and starting banging out a beat for like a half hour and just looped it. That then became the basic foundation for "RX Queen". We had the loop sitting around forever and we'd just keep playing it. We put it on a portable Roland 1680 and Chino would play with it and it just morphed.
PRP: Abe. with the introduction of drum loops how does that affect you playing live?
Abe: With like "Rx Queen" we figured out how to re produce it live. "Teenager" I think we could play a live beat. I’m not threatened by it. I love the different textures that shit adds. I’m not threatened by the fact it’s not me playing drums. I just love sounds and beats. I would love to play "Teenager" live, we just got to figure that shit out.

PRP: Abe, any reason behind you changing from Orange County to a Tama Drum kit?
Abe: No. Just more of a need. We tour world wide so I need to have parts on a drop of the hat. They take care of me real well.

PRP: What is the status of Stef’s side band Kush?
Frank: He's jamming with the guys. He's not trying to rush it or nothing. I've heard the music and Stefan likes that other outlet.

PRP: Stef apparently directed a video for a Will Haven track, although no other info on it was released, what happened to it?
Frank: He never did that. He was ready to do it. He did a video for Fear Factory but I don’t think he finished that. He's a big weed smoker.

PRP: How involved are the band with the Internet. Especially the Deftones message board?
Frank: I think Stef and me are the only ones that voice.
Abe: I look at it all the time.
Frank: I think it’s a great thing. There are a lot of good people on it. You start to feel like you almost know these people.
Abe: Our old site was pretty terrible but now Maverick are all about it. They have people that are totally into it and it’s going to be updated from the road. The new sites going to be up real soon.

PRP: You guys shot the "Change" video last week. What can fans expect?
Abe: It should be pretty cool.
Frank: I think its gonna be one of our better videos.
Abe: Its sexy, seedy.
Frank: Its like a never ending party.
Abe: The sun will set then rise again and set and rise again over like a 3 day period.
Frank: Its us playing in a house and no ones really paying attention to us. We don’t fit in. Everyone's sort of posh, but over the days they get more and more haggard.

PRP: Do you have any plans for a home video?
Abe: Yeah we'd like to put one out. My shits always getting stolen but we all have cameras and shit so it will get done but we’d rather not rush it.
PRP: You made a video for "Around The Fur" but then never put it out. Will fans ever get to see this?
Abe: Yeah we made it in Japan. We kinda didn’t finish it. It was under a grueling schedule that prevented it from really getting it done. We still have the footage and it will definitely make it on a home video.

PRP: Some of the songs from White Pony were originally part of your Team Sleep side project.. Is Team Sleep now on hold?
Frank: Its not really on hold I think its more the time factor. A lot of it we will be starting in pre production on these tours cause me and Stef have a lot more equipment now and we are bringing it on the road with us so we’ll probably be banging it out like that, start making foundations.

PRP: Is the song "Linus" about the friend of the band and at one time guitar tech named Linus?
Abe: We have a guitar tech now named Linus but that’s coincidence. "Like Linus" is an old song. Linus was probably a baby then.

PRP: is the status of Chino's contribution to the Snot tribute album and to Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi’s solo album?
Abe: there was no time to do it. They approached him a few times but we were right in the middle of finishing this record.
Frank: Actually, I read on the internet that he had done it. That’s bullshit!

PRP: Do you think your lives are about to change upon releasing this album?
Frank: Maybe get a lot more fans or something. But we are the same dudes we have been for a while I don’t think much could really change us.
Abe: I think the pace that everything has gone for us has been very helpful. It’s a humbling pace.
Frank: We are very grateful the way things have worked for us. Its been a slow gradual process and I think that’s going help us in the long run.
PRP: After music what do u guys see yourselves doing?
Abe: I think we will always be involved with music in some way or another.
Frank: The worst nightmare is to be deaf.

PRP: A lot of people want to know what equipment you guys use?
Abe: Actually that’s all on the enhanced cd so they can all check that out.

PRP: Any last messages before White Pony drops?
Abe: Hop on..giddy up!