Frontman Chino Moreno Says Collaboration with Team Sleep, Made Band Stronger and Will Sell More Deftones Merch - Part Two

(Read Deftones - Part One) - And that record, the Deftones' fifth full-length offering, is due September 12 and new Deftones merch is due to come out soon. The band spent two years writing the album, and ended up recording 17 tracks — a dozen of which will make the final cut. The Deftones worked on most of the songs with producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Jane's Addiction) at his home studio in Connecticut and then returned to the West Coast to put the finishing touches on them.

"Most of the vocals I've been doing with [former Far guitarist] Shaun Lopez," Moreno said.

"He has a studio right around the corner from [where I live], and every day, I've just been at his house, just recording, and it's been the most comfortable, best way of recording music ever. He knows Deftones just as well as we do. We all grew up together. He knows what he likes about our band and what we like about our band, and he wants to really bring that out. [This record] took awhile, but I think it was for the right reasons. The record is coming towards the end of two years of work, so I'm ready to just close the book on it and that's it."

Rich Costey (Audioslave, My Chemical Romance) has signed on to mix the record, which is a mixture of some of the Deftones' heaviest material to date and some of their "sweetest," Moreno said. "The heavy stuff is really, really heavy, like really aggressive, and the stuff that's sweet and weird or whatever is sweeter and weirder. A lot of people will probably compare it to [2000's] White Pony, because that was one of the most diverse records that we did. This one's probably the most diverse record we've done."

And there are several guests who'll be appearing on the album, he said, including Giant Drag singer/guitarist Annie Hardy on the electronically inclined "Pink Cell Phone," which "reminds me of a club song, but it's Deftones, and that's what's awesome about it," said Moreno. System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian appears on the song "Buffalo."

"I've done a lot of stuff with a lot of people, and Serj came by and sang a little melody in this little part of this one song," said Chino. Other tracks planned for the record include "America," "FM" and "Beware." "I like to use people for what it is I like about what they do, and to me, I really like — I'm not too into System of a Down, lyrically, so much as I like some of the melodies that him and [guitarist] Daron [Malakian] do. That's what I utilized him for."

Moreno said the 'Tones will incorporate as much of the new material as possible into their set this summer, when they head out with Korn for the resuscitated Family Values Tour (see "Korn Resurrect Family Values Tour With Deftones, Stone Sour"). Dates have not been announced yet, but the run's expected to make stops in 30 cities.

Read more of the Deftones discography and watch my favorite Deftones video.

==============
If You're After Deftones Merchandise.

We've got the largest range of
rock, punk, metal and goth
band sweatshirts online. Get
everything from Tripp NYC clothing
to toddler t shirts. while you’re
there check out the
Weekly Top 10 Music Videos

Visit: http://www.planet13.com.au/
==============