Chino Moreno (Deftones, etc.) and Shaun Lopez‘s (Far) Crosses (†††) will be dropping their sophomore album “Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.” this Friday, October 13th. Ahead of that, the pair recently sat down with Kerrang! for a feature interview, discussing the ins and outs of the band’s creative process, the album’s guest appearances and more.
Speaking of getting The Cure vocalist Robert Smith to guest on the record, Moreno detailed a friendship that has roots dating back to the late 90s, initially stemming from a livestreamed performance Deftones did on their “Around The Fur” album. The Cure were holed up at the same studio during that performance, leading to their first meeting.
As for getting Smith involved on the album track “Girls Float † Boys Cry“, Moreno offered:
“…The Robert Smith song on the record, ‘Girls Float † Boys Cry‘, is an older track. It’s the saddest song on the record and I wrote some of those words during a dark time, I was in some sort of void where I was just unhappy. It reeks of loneliness and despair. But it was actually one of the last songs to be finished, so it was weird to revisit those feelings after I’d already worked through them.
One of the recurring words I realized while I was listening back is of going through this ‘maze’ – of trying to figure out my way through life. It’s not as literal as that, but that’s a recurring theme. Some songs I talk about going through it, and sometimes I talk about it in the past tense, when I’m out of it. It’s a trip to sit outside of it all now and really trace where my head was at for each song.
I love the music of ‘Girls Float † Boys Cry‘ so much, but when I hear that song it makes me feel sad. I’m glad I’m not in that place anymore. But I wanted to finish it and, obviously, getting Robert involved in it was just like… Who else to get on a song like that? It worked out perfectly to have him sing some of those words along with me.”
Elsewhere, rapper EL-P (of Run The Jewels, ex-Company Flow fame) guests on the song “Big Youth“. While that track doesn’t entirely find Moreno adopting his rapping ways of old, he does admit that it’s as close as he’s gotten to that style of vocals in years.
When asked why he didn’t lay down his own set of bars on the track, Moreno told the aforementioned publication:
“Man, I just don’t think I really can anymore. I have stated plenty of times that writing lyrics, to me, feels like a task at times – and rapping has so many fucking words! By singing I can stretch the words out so I don’t have to write as many words (laughs). That’s sort of my excuse for not doing it anymore. And I’m out of practice.
Funnily enough, though, on ‘Big Youth‘ I get the closest to rapping as I have in many years, in as far as my vocals and the cadence of them and the way they’re loosely formatted in a rap. I didn’t even realize that until afterwards – Shaun’s wife said, ‘Damn, how did you get Chino to rap?’ And I said, ‘When am I rapping?’ I guess it kind of is. The whole song was loosely based around a Beastie Boys vibe. We were in the studio and I wanted a track that was just a straight 808 beat. In the end, we’ve sort of balanced it out – it’s not out of Crosses’ realm, but it’s definitely a nod to the stuff we grew up with.”
You can find more from the duo over at Kerrang!. Next month will see Crosses out playing their first live shows since 2014:
11/13 Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
11/14 Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
11/15 Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
11/18 Huntington Beach, CA – Darker Waves Festival
11/28 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
11/29 Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere
12/04 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
12/05 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
