A wide-ranging interview with Deftones, etc. vocalist/guitarist Chino Moreno has newly been posted over at Stereogum as part of their ‘We’ve Got A File On You’ series. It delves into the minutiae of various musical happenings from throughout the acclaimed vocalist’s career.
Among the topics broached are covering Ice Cube‘s “Wicked” with Korn, label resistance to Team Sleep, a missed opportunity at collaborating with Mogwai which he once day hopes to capitalize on, and much more.
His less than savory comments made about Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Korn and Papa Roach in a 2003 Revolver interview were also brought up in the discussion.
In that original cover story interview, which was conducted ahead of the band’s 2003 tour with Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Mudvayne, Moreno was quoted as saying:
“A big problem for me was opening for Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, two bands that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for me, straight up! But in the end I’m seriously energized and I’m not going out there to make friends and kick it. I’m out there to leave people with their jaws on the floor.”
Moreno even took a shot at Metallica in that interview, stating:
“…Metallica have a vast catalog. But live? Motherfuckers just stand there and play. We’re gonna rock out their shit. We’re gonna blow that motherfucker up.”
Moreno also took shots at his then apparently estranged friends in Korn as well as Papa Roach:
“Honestly, I don’t think Korn made a good record [with ‘Untouchables‘]. And Papa Roach made a boring record [‘Lovehatetragedy.] With Korn, it sounds like they tried to be more commercial and they lost their energy. Old Korn records had so much intensity. As they go on, it’s the same thing — bad childhoods and mean moms. It gets old after awhile. How old is Jonathan? Thirty years old? How long has it been since he lived with his parents? Try to go somewhere else. If you’re genuine and write about whatever is drawing the emotion now, you can’t be fucked with.”
Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis would later publicly call Moreno “bitter”. In a radio interview he posited that Deftones‘ inability to attain the same heights of success Korn managed to as being the reason for Moreno‘s bitterness at the time.
Speaking to Stereogum now about that controversial interview, Moreno offered further explanation into his comments at the time:
“I mean, that sucked. I remember when it came out, they used a picture where I’m like making a snarling face. And in that interview, I remember I was mad at that because I really didn’t want to do that tour.
It wasn’t because of Metallica. I love Metallica, but at the time it was Limp Bizkit and it was also Linkin Park, who I don’t despise either. But it was definitely that time where we were still trying to keep all that long distance. And it was basically Metallica with every nü-metal band at the time. Mudvayne, I think, was also on it.
So I didn’t want to do that tour, and I was the only one in the band that was against doing that tour. It could have been a blast. And it was, for the most part. But it was one of those hard decisions that I just didn’t want to do. I know it probably wasn’t the best thing for us as a band at that time where you’re playing in a stadium where there’s 70,000 people and it’s empty, pretty much.
And it’s so huge. You’re so disconnected from people. It’s a great opportunity, and I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I didn’t want to do it. So when I was asked about it, I just gave my opinion that I just wasn’t really into it. And it came off where I was just being a dick.”
Moreno was then asked further about Deftones‘ much-storied decision to push away from nü-metal as a whole, something he continues to be mindful of to this day. Relaying a situation that developed following Deftones‘ set at last year’s inaugural ‘Sick New World‘ festival, Moreno stated:
“Yeah, it was fun. Again, I feel like some time has passed. But still, after that show was over, we get hit up by The New York Times. They wanted to write a piece on it. And like, I just had to say, no, I don’t want to do an interview for it. I mean, it’s great coverage, right? But then sure enough, like when the piece came out, I read it and it was all about nü-metal’s coming back and blah, blah, blah.
Again, I kind of had to dodge some of these things, whatever. Yeah, we take part in it, but I don’t want this to look like trying to cash in on nü-metal coming back either, you know what I mean? So it’s like, yeah, we were a part of it, but we still have to be conscious of certain things like that.”
Elsewhere in this latest interview, Moreno also spoke of the press twisting his words. He explained:
“…The press has always been like, dirt sells or whatever, or some sort of drama sells or whatever. So it’s like, you know, people would ask me like, “What do you think about Papa Roach?” Well, I don’t know. I don’t listen to Papa Roach. But I don’t want to say anything bad about Papa Roach.
Dude, they’re the nicest kids, also from the Sacramento area. So when they were kids, I would walk out my front door sometimes and the drummer would be on my front lawn, like, “Hey, what’s up, dude? You want to hang out?” Like, they’re sweethearts, great kids. And I was so happy to see their success. But if I didn’t have anything positive to say right away it would be like I’m talking shit. And yeah, so it sucked.
So even today, I don’t give my opinion on… obviously there’s some music that I don’t really care for, but I try not to say anything negative about it. I mean, one interview maybe not too long ago, maybe it’s like five or six years ago, they had asked me this kind of question, and stupidly, I’d said, “You know what? I really don’t understand Coldplay. Anytime it comes on, to me, it doesn’t move me in any way.”
I said that in an interview and like, to this day I still get fucking added to things and people say “Chino hates Coldplay.” I don’t hate Coldplay. You know what I mean? I don’t really hate any music or whatever, but it’s just some things I don’t listen to.”
The full read can be found over at Stereogum. You can hear Moreno on the newly released sophomore album from his Crosses project, “Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.“, which arrived today, October 13th.
