Back in May of 2022 Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter announced his decision to step back from international touring. While shocking at the time, it’s a decision he has remained committed to two years later, opting to only playing domestic shows with the multi-platinum alternative metal stars since. At that time of that announcement, Carpenter, issued the following statement regarding the scaling back of his touring activities with the outfit:
“As much as I would love to be on the road with my brothers, playing for all of our incredible international fans, I have decided to remain playing domestically for now. With everything going on in the world, I’m just not ready to leave home and leave the country yet. I wish I can see each and every one of you, but for now, our good friend from Sacramento, Lance, will be fulfilling my duties. Although I’m watching from afar, I’ll be there in spirit with my Deftones family.
–Stef“
Muddying the waters however was Carpenter vocally expressing his belief in varying conspiracy theories in interviews conducted from 2020 onward. In addition to embracing the ideas of flat earth and anti-vax opinions, Carpenter also mentioned how his experiences with air travel only reinforced his beliefs.
Since Carpenter‘s announcement, his bandmates went on to recruit Lance Jackman as a fill-in guitarist when needed, with Jackman serving as the primary guitarist when Deftones play live outside of the United States.
However, the vague nature of Carpenter‘s initial statement has left many fans questioning the real reason he choses not to step on a plane with the group after having partaken in decades of past international touring.
Earlier this year, his Sol Invicto bandmate Richie Londres offered some clarity into the matter. Taking to social media, Londres disputed Carpenter‘s conspiracy theory beliefs as playing a part in his reduced live schedule, instead implying that anxiety and the close proximity Carpenter had to the 2015 Le Bataclan concert massacre in Paris, France being key factors.
If you’re unaware, Deftones were set to play a series of shows at that aforementioned venue in the fall of 2015, with Carpenter and several associates taking in the first part of a set The Eagles Of Death Metal were playing at the venue a night prior. Ultimately Carpenter and co. had left the show before terrorists stormed the venue, killing over 90 people and leaving 200 wounded. But as you’d expect, that experience stuck with him.
In a new appearance on Rock Feed, Carpenter explained his current outlook on international touring in his own words, offering: [transcribed by theprp.com]
“I’m sure you’re aware that I haven’t traveled internationally now for awhile… It’s just simple. I think, like every single one of us wrangles with getting on a plane in some way… And so for me, that anxiety, when it came around, it was was right around the time of when the pandemic started and I had already just made that decision.
And that was because we were getting ready to go on on a trip, we were going to travel to this far-off destination, and I was like, ‘Look, you know, if I got to go all that way and then get stuck out there and then they want to jab me with something. I was like, There’s no way I’m going to do that.’ I mean, that’s crazy. And so that didn’t happen.
I was just like my decision was simple. Like all the anxiety that I deal with when it comes to that, I was like, look, I can just put a stop to this by just not doing it anymore. And it’s like, I’m going to lose out. You know, it’s a bummer. I mean, obviously I want to go out there and I want to perform those shows and be around all the people that support us and enjoy us.
But I’m like, It’s a decision I made for myself, and there’s people that understand, and people that don’t understand. And for all those that don’t understand, maybe one day they will, I don’t know. Maybe they never will.”
When Rock Feed host Brian Storm brought up his own anxieties he faced when he started traveling by air, Carpenter stated:
“I don’t want to get into that whole conversation, out of all the sketchiness that is, or isn’t, involved with all that, right? It’s just for me… I always just fell asleep before takeoff. You know, it was actually takeoff, I would wake up, but then I would go right back to sleep. I was like, ‘Alright’, and just go back to sleep. That’s the easiest way for me to handle all this… But, yeah, I just think, like I said, for me, I was like, I can either keep feeling like this forever every time I do this, or I could just stop feeling like this and just not do it.
And like I said, it’s not easy… I’m missing out on not getting to go and enjoy something that I used to enjoy all the time, and that was a tough, tough thing to deal with. But, you know, the other thing is, in, like you said, you know about the guys [his bandmates], they got my back. But they at the same time, they would love me there too. So that’s not the easiest thing. But I’m very grateful that we have our friend Lance, who actually steps in and does all my parts of the of the music.
And I’m just very grateful that I have that to give for the other guys so they can go, because they want to keep going. So I was like, I don’t want to get in the way of that. That’s my number one reason. My number one reason was I literally can end all that anxiety by just not doing it. That was my number one reason. Number two is, the last thing I want to do is go to any place far-off, and then they’re just going to go into lockdown because they felt like it, and I become a refugee somewhere where I can’t even get back to my house.
I was like, at minimum, in this country. I could walk myself home if I had to. It might take a long time, but I’m gonna get there.”
Carpenter later went on to explain that the lengthy stints of touring he has done in the past saw him sacrificing time with his family and loved ones and it’s something he’s not as comfortable doing as he gets older.
Elsewhere in the discussion he also spoke of the band’s forthcoming tenth studio album, which they recorded earlier this year with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters) earlier this year.
While Carpenter didn’t share much in the way of revelatory details regarding release dates, song titles or overall sound, he did confirm that this new offering finds him incorporating various amps and gear that he has acquired over the years, which he found to be a reinvigorating process.
Other nuggets of info included among the conversation included Carpenter proclaiming the band’s 2012 album “Koi No Yokan” as being his favorite of the Deftones catalog, while also sharing praise for up and coming artists like Sleep Token, Bilmuri and Electric Callboy.
Carpenter also admitted that his physical health declined a bit due to inactivity amid the pandemic, and that he has been making strides to become more fit via regular exercise and taking better care of himself in recent years.
The entire near hour-long conversation can be viewed below:
