In a newly published interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, multi-platinum alternative metal outfit Deftones detailed the lengthy gestation period for their newly announced tenth studio album, “private music“. That effort was announced for an August 22nd release date this afternoon (July 10th), with the first single, “My Mind Is A Mountain“, debuting online.
“private music” was written and recorded over the period of a year and a half across numerous sessions, with recording primarily starting in early 2024. Vocalist/guitarist Chino Moreno said that relaxed schedule for the album actually made creating it more enjoyable. Speaking of that, he offered [transcribed by theprp.com]
“It’s obviously work to make, I mean, to create, and there’s a lot of stuff that goes along with it. But it definitely should be enjoyable, right? It’s like, and I feel, for me personally, I’ve made a couple records where it wasn’t as enjoyable as this record because of, whether I wasn’t in a creative space at the time or whatever, blah blah. But it just felt like, it’s something I just had to do, and it felt more like a job to have to do it.
Whereas this record, to me, was just like having those breaks in-between and when we got together, it was just like this, this is the fun part, right? Leaving the studio that day was something that didn’t exist before we walked in there. I think that not having this set thing that we have to stick to, kind of makes it more fun, really.”
The band also discussed the influx of younger fans they’ve found after finding newfound fame on social media through TikTok and in recent years. Moreno stated:
“I started noticing a lot around like around 2022, kind of during the pandemic… Even when we went on our first tour out of the pandemic, I started noticing a lot younger fanbase, as well as some of the old diehard fans. But then this kind of new… and then its like even the kids of our older fans too.
We did some meet and greets, and I would ask, because there were a lot of parents and kids, I was like, ‘who showed who our music?’ And it was pretty much split down the middle. Sometimes it was the younger kids who showed their parents, and their parents heard of us, but they’ve probably never seen us, right? So they were bringing them. And then parents were bringing their kids, so it was kind of a cool thing.”
Speaking on the renewed camaraderie and purpose they feel now, guitarist Stephen Carpenter weighed in, revealing he feels more energized with the band than he has in years.
“I’ve gotten lucky to get to this point on autopilot forever… When I say autopilot, for me, I’ve never had to, I’ve never thought about any of it. I’ve just enjoyed it. I’ve had as we were talking about, my ethos this entire time has been one of just having fun. I’m having a good time with my friends, with people I’ve met, wherever we’re at in the world. I’m out enjoying this life, this lifestyle, experiences, moments in time, and I still live that away now.
But I have a greater appreciation for the the whole of all of this. And like you said, it’s like, I want to put more into it now. Like I see myself putting more into it now going forward than I have in a while.”
He continued:
“I’ve just gone through a whole phase of it just happening. For instance, you know, like when we were wrapping up the entire tour cycle for ‘Gore‘ going into ‘Ohms‘, all I wanted to do was just like, kick it and just take a break. Like, man, I feel like, all we do is just keep going, going, going.
So that was where my mindset came and then that’s when the pandemic came, I was like, perfect. ‘Finally!’ I’m looking to kick it, yeah. And that that was, for me, to my detriment. I got too damn lazy and too complacent with too many things. And now I’m having to build myself back from all that, you know…. I realize and recognize that, you know, I put stuff in, but can I put more? I can do more.”
Carpenter, who withdrew from international touring with the band back in 2022 due to his issues with anxiety, also spoke of how his health struggles have impacted his involvement with the group:
“Chino has always amazed me with his vocals. …Because we don’t ever hear the vocals until the songs are done, like they happen when he finishes the songs, right? So that’s always been amazing. And I’ve always been giving him grief for playing guitar for all these damn years, you know, I mean making fun. But I’m here to tell you, in front of everyone, this man right here shown proved on this record. There’s a lot of amazing ideas on here that are his ideas.”
He added:
“Again, back to where, can I contribute more? Did I contribute? Sure, I was part of the process the whole time. But I’ve been going through my health issues, and learning about me and trying to figure out what it is that has been, bothering me.
I’m in a better place now than I was. But when we were recording the record, like I said, I finished my parts a year and a half ago, right? I was lucky when we did that, because when we were tracking drums, I barely… I got lucky that we actually tracked all our scratch tracks before anything happened.
Because once that happened, like, my arm became immobile, I couldn’t do anything. I was laying around on just pain meds and just like coming to tears because my arm was so sore.
And thankfully, I got my energy came back up, and I was able to play again by [when it] was time for me to actually track, And then when we were tracking, you know, the guitars and the bass and stuff like that, I was like. ‘Oh man, yeah!’ That’s when I really first started hearing the songs. We were always playing the songs, but was when they started to sound like what we hear on our record.”
As for his experience taking part in the band’s arena headlining tour earlier this year, Carpenter stated: “I had a great time, and I had a great time on our last tour with Gojira back in ’22.”
When asked if he intends to continue to tour domestically, he responded, “Well, because we’re touching on that, let’s get it out there right now. I literally don’t do it because I’m not flying on airplanes anymore. And I’m not going to get on a boat. Therefore, I am here. It’s that simple.” It was revealed later that Carpenter has been undertaking the band’s domestic touring by bus, even when his bandmates opt to fly.
Carpenter also would later go on to reveal that he recently found out he was suffering from type II diabetes and how it was negatively impacting his performances:
“Going through [the early 2025 North American] tour, for me, was the most work I’ve ever done on tour. And again, that’s, you know, in regards to me just learning how to manage my my energy. Because when I say that, I’m type 2 diabetic, and I just learned that in the last year. And I’ve literally been punishing my my body with sugar my entire adult life.
And, it’s just got to that point — especially, like I said, since the pandemic — where I was, like, ‘finally a break,’ you know? Because up until that point, I had already been starting to get sluggish in ways. So last year was my lowest, my lowest point. When we played ‘Coachella‘ last year, I was completely out of it for both shows. IIbarely had enough energy to stand up. All I could think about during those shows was, ‘Please, just don’t fall over on stage.’
…I just don’t want to pass out. So that’s when, I, up until this point in my life, I’ve never had a doctor. I have one now. Like I said, last year, was that was my, where I consider to be my bottom. I was just out of it, and I’ve been really making an effort to go the other way.
I’m eating right every day. I’m exercising. I need to really get into some weight training. I don’t do that at all yet. That’s my next step. And I’m really because I’m just trying to rebuild me, you know, I really got me out of whack. And again, like he was talking about gratitude. I have complete gratitude for everything, for everyone, for so much things.
I throw around the terms blessings all the time, and God all the time, because all of this has woken me up to that kind of reality. And, I say to you guys and everyone, I am very grateful to be here, because I had no idea how close to being gone I was.”
Moreno himself credited his own renewed appreciation of the band and the experiences that come with it with his sobriety, revealing that he was now almost three years sober. As he put it, the clarity afforded by sobriety has allowed him to be more present, describing it as a ‘total gamechanger.’ He elaborated on that:
“Through the pandemic was when it all came to a head. I mean, everything just kind of like… you know, like Steph was saying, a lot of people were just like, ‘Oh, we’re off now, we can be home.’ And the thing was like, I’ll just dive in to be creative, and now I can be at home, and I just go to my studio every day. That did not happen. I just did not feel creative at all. During that time, I would go down in my studio, and I’d sit in there and I’d pick up a guitar for a minute, and I’d like, strum it for a second, and I go put on a record, listen to something, crack a beer, you know what I mean?
Like every day. And then it got earlier, under, like 10 o’clock in the morning, and I’m just [thinking] there’s nothing to do. I just got sad and lonely — I think everybody was feeling that way — I know I’m not the only person that was feeling very isolated and just lonely. And honestly, we started going on tour when we were early 20s, maybe even late teens… so pretty much most of my life I’ve had this outlet of, expressing myself and going out doing things, and that was taken away completely.”
Reflecting on coming out of the pandemic and the negative patterns he found himself in, he added:
“Going through all that, and then coming out of it and then, just realizing that I want to do something, try something different, right? And then, realize [sobriety] was something I’d never tried before… I felt like I woke up. And then, really the way I think, with the shows [and] writing and everything. When I started writing again, it was just like, everything is a lot clearer.
And funny enough — not funny — but when I would play shows, I would have fun playing the show. Before the show, [I’d have] a drink, a beer, a shot, whatever, and go on stage, you know, to get to feel like I need that to get out there and be loose and be silly and have fun, whatever.
But I would never watch… I would never be able to watch any live performance of myself. And if one would come on, I would just cringe, and I couldn’t look at it. And that clicked [with] me all of a sudden, I was like, ‘why can’t I even watch myself?’ And it really made me understand I was just not really happy with myself. I knew I could do better. I knew there was a better version [myself.]”
It was at this point that drummer Abe Cunningham chimed in, affirming the impact Chino‘s lifestyle change has had, he stated:
“Without having that, And I’ve watched you all my life, you know, and to see where you’re at now, and just to know that you’re trusting yourself and and your energy is through the roof because of that, you know, this is nothing like I’ve seen before.”
Moreno went on say:
“I just feel like more present, and I feel more inside the music, you know what I mean? I’m not doling it, you know I mean? It’s just, it’s a lot more. I don’t know I can’t explain exactly what it is but it’s it’s awesome, and it’s fun.”
When the conversation came around to the band’s newly released single “My Mind Is A Mountain“, Carpenter revealed that he knew the song more by its working title of ‘Boot‘. He went on to relay of its origins, “That was a jam. That was one of those ones, like ‘Change‘. There was no song. We were in the room, just messing around, and then it just started forming.”
After crediting the album’s co-producer Nick Raskulinecz with steering the creative process, Moreno said of the track, “I love the fact that it’s bombastic… it has that head nod, I think, which is like, it’s heavy… Sort of the one thing that we’ve always, kind of, collectively, always sort of described our band, is no matter what style of music it is, we always like to feel that you can nod your head to it.”
As for the origins of the album’s unconventional title of “private music“, Moreno revealed it took its name from a folder on his desktop as the album was coming together. He explained:
“The simplest answer for that would be that was a folder on my desktop while we were working on these songs and where I put stuff at. Obviously I like the kind of the exclusivity of the of the name, whatever it makes you feel. [It’s] very personal, I guess maybe restricted, maybe naughty. It has all these connotations to it I guess. Very private, in a way.”
The wide-ranging discussion also finds the band go through the various working titles for the songs, offering some explanations behind their meanings, writing origins and more. The risks of “White Pony“, reflections on their late bassist/vocalist Chi Cheng, and more are also offered. You can watch it in full below:
