Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham was recently asked how he felt about the growing resurregence of interest and popularity in nü-metal. Deftones themselves were among the forerunners of that genre amid the later half of the 90s, but somewhat infamously took a hard left turn from it with their landmark platinum-certified 2000 album “White Pony“.
The group would intentionally go on to isolate themselves from the genre touring wise in the years that followed—much to the chagrin of their peers. The band’s vocalist/guitarist Chino Moreno told Metal Hammer back in 2017 of their mindset at the time:
“We did make a very conscious choice of who we were going to play shows with. It was hard to be this young band and having to turn down tours. I can’t remember how many times I turned down Korn! And they got pissed at us. Jonathan would say, ‘Why do you hate us?’ and I didn’t know what to say.
I’d tell him, ‘Dude, I don’t hate you. I love you guys, you’re my friends. But I don’t want to tour with you. I don’t want to be on the Family Values with you and Limp Bizkit.’ The name of the genre was nü metal, so anything that is new is one day going to be old. And I didn’t to be old with it.”
In 2019, Moreno told Kerrang! of the “White Pony” era:
“Well, at the time, honestly, with bands like Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach and what was to be coined nü-metal or whatever, that was at its height. And we probably made our most un-nü-metal record. I don’t know why we did it. Like I said, we were into experimenting more than we were trying to do something that we felt we already did…”
With the genre back in the mix these days from artists young and old, and the upcoming ‘Sick New World‘ festival in Las Vegas, NV set to cash in on nü-metal nostalgia, (Deftones are among the artists booked,) Cunningham told Resurrection Fest TV his thoughts on the genre’s latest return:
“You like what you like. We all like what we like, and who cares? It’s weird because in the cycle of things it seems like it’s natural [for nü-metal] to come back around this amount of years [later]. So it should come back. It’s been happening. I know there’s a lot of younger bands that are out doing their thing, and it’s supposed to be like that.
If it was good enough to leave an impression on somebody then and it’s still be able to come back [now], maybe it’s okay, you know? It’s really just about trying to express yourself the only way you know how. If it makes you feel good, do it. If you’re not hurting anybody else, do it. Enjoy.”
[via Metal Injection]
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