Guitarist Stephen Carpenter has confirmed his upcoming return to the stage with his bandmates in Deftones. Back in the spring of 2022, the 54-year-old musician scaled back his live commitments with the group, announcing at the time that he would only be playing domestic shows for the time being, and skipping on any international touring.
However, this past July/August, Carpenter missed a streak of several U.S. shows with the group, including a concert at The Metro in Chicago, IL, and an performance at the flagship edition of the annual ‘Lollapalooza‘ festival in the aforementioned city. Ahead of those shows, Carpenter‘s absence was explained as being due to a “sudden illness.” However, roughly two weeks later, Carpenter also missed the band’s live performance opening for System Of A Down at the Golden Gate Park Polo Field in San Francisco, CA.
While his bandmates in the multi-platinum alternative metal band have found a viable touring replacement in guitarist/vocalist Lance Jackman, fan concern over Carpenter‘s condition persisted given the timespan between missed shows.
This past July, Carpenter outlined his struggles with anxiety and how his mental health has caused him to opt out of touring internationally. Having now missed Deftones‘ past five live shows (Carpenter also expectedly sat out two overseas dates in May), concern over Carpenter‘s future live status in the group has also cropped up.
In a post shared yesterday, September 09th, via the social media of Carpenter‘s other band Sol Invicto, Carpenter revealed that he is now “feeling good” and will rejoin his bandmates on stage at the fifth annual ‘Dia de los Deftones‘ festival in November.
This year’s edition of the band’s aforementioned festival will be held at Petco Park in San Diego, CA on November 02nd. Deftones will headline, while other performers booked include Idles, Sunny Day Real Estate (performing “Diary“), HEALTH and more. Carpenter‘s newly issued statement on the matter reads:
“Thank you for all your kind words, feeling good and excited for you all to hear the new Sol Invicto record ‘Loosely Aware‘ See you all at DDLD!”
A new single titled “The Obvious Play” from Sol Invicto‘s new album “Loosely Aware” is slated to premiere on October 03rd. Taking advantage of recent headlines, Sol Invicto also stirred the pot a bit while doing some promotion for that track.
In a post made over the weekend, Sol Invicto referenced Carpenter‘s interest in flat earth and conspiracy theories and the response it generated in contrast to the recent uproar surrounding the addition of vocalist Emily Armstrong to Linkin Park. Armstrong‘s ties to Scientology and her past public support for convicted rapist (and fellow Scientologist) Danny Masterson have been viewed as problematic by some.
Sol Invicto‘s post (see below) read as follows: “We may have a flat-earther in the band but… We definitely don’t have any Scientologists…” Sol Invicto added in a caption, “Want to thank Linkin Park for making our pending marketing run a hell of a lot easier…”
While Carpenter‘s live role with Deftones has diminished in recent years, his creative involvement with the alternative metal favorites remains intact. He is said to have been thoroughly involved with the writing & recording sessions that took place earlier this year for the group’s upcoming tenth studio album.
