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Deftones are a Grammy Award -winning Experimental Alternative Rock band from Sacramento, California . They have often been praised as one of the more innovative and unique Chino Moreno 's Poetic lyrics—described by a Time Magazine critic as "furiously intelligent"—are often evocative, yet sparse enough to allow for multiple interpretations. Moreno has cited Morrissey , Weezer 's Rivers Cuomo , The Cure 's Robert Smith , Bad Brains ' H.R. , and Depeche Mode 's David Gahan among his favorite singers, and, beyond an occasional similarity in vocal technique, these singers' sweeping sense of drama is often evident in Moreno's vocals. BAND HISTORY Early years When Stephen Carpenter was 16, he was struck by a Drunk Driver while Skateboarding and was confined to a wheelchair for several months. It was during this time that he began to teach himself to play guitar, as he was unable to partake in his primary hobby of skateboarding. It is often rumored that the money from this accident afforded Carpenter "state of the art" equipment. In an interview with Metal Edge (January 2007), drummer Abe Cunningham says, "That's a myth about how our band was started. It's true that he was hit by a drunk driver, and he did buy a bunch of gear, but by the time we all got together, that shit was sold off. It's this shiny story of how he was hit by a drunk driver and made millions in the settlement, bought all the gear, and we all came over and had the shiniest gear in town. That's a bunch of bullshit." Moreno was able to land an audition after a relative happened upon Carpenter's garage and was impressed with what he heard as he walked by. Moreno, who had never performed in front of anyone outside his family before, convinced Carpenter by flawlessly mimicking Glenn Danzig 's vocal style. When their original drummer, Winter Fayee, quit to join the band Rosary, Cunningham (who was in Phallucy with Joe Garcia) filled in until a permanent replacement could be found. However, Cunningham had prior commitments to other projects and Garcia often found himself sitting in for him. The now-open slot on bass was given to Cheng, having formed an acquaintance with Carpenter through skateboarding. After much persuasion, they were finally able to convince Cunningham to leave Phallucy to become their full-time drummer; Garcia left to pursue other interests. The meaning of "Deftones" (by Stef Carpenter): "I listened to a lot of rap at the time, but, I always imagined being in a band but I could never pick out a name. I was like, "how do bands just pick their names?" You know, some bands, you got these metal bands that try to make their name all ugly and whatever. I wanted to pick a cool name, something that would just stand out but you know, not be all cheese-ball at the same time. Well, I was really into old classic music, like from the 50's and shit like that. I was like, "Tones," you know there's a lot of bands from that era that has "The Tones" in it. And "Def," just cuz I listen to a lot of LL COOL J, Public Enemy, you know, like Def Jam and all that. Then I thought, "The Deftones," that would be kinda cool, but finally changed it to "Deftones". Def would be mean "cool" and Tones would be like. the sound of the old days but being vague. cuz we didn't do just one kind of music. It was pretty heavy, but it has never been focused on one particular style of music." The name is also a notable play on the term " Tone Deaf ." The name also means "deft" - meaning skilled or good, and "ones" - meaning the members of the Deftones. Deftones soon began playing shows in local clubs with bands like Atomic Six, cutting their teeth as the opening band for more established acts. At the time, their sound wasn't always welcome with the metalheads in attendance, who often had a preference for hair metal sounds. Undeterred, they were embraced in the early '90s by a Sacramento music scene that was more open to Experimentation (and also spawned bands such as Far , Will Haven and Cake ). During this time, the Deftones were influenced in part by Cunningham's former band, Phallucy, as well as the Bad Brains. As they ventured beyond their hometown borders, they toured quite often with Bakersfield metal group Korn , with whom they had become quick friends. The band became notorious for their workhorse attitude and made it a goal to play as often as possible, no matter what the venue. Trading in Carpenter's now-obsolete four-track for more sophisticated recording equipment, they committed several of their songs to tape and sold the Demos at their shows. Their early songs included " (Like) Linus ," "Plastic," "Venison," "Christmas," "Hump," "Freaks," "Some People," "God's Hands," "Hopburg Hop," "Gift," & "Answers." Up until this point, their goal was to raise enough money to record more demos. In July 1994, Deftones were approached by an impressed Guy Oseary , co-chairman of Maverick Records , after playing a show in a Los Angeles club called The Coconut Teazer . The next day, Oseary offered them a deal based on the band's wishes and ambitions. Deftones humbly accepted the terms of the contract, and began planning out the details of their major-label debut not too long after. ''Adrenaline'' (1995) '' album cover (1995)]] See Also: Adrenaline (album) Pre-production on Deftones' first proper album began in Autumn 1994. The producer chosen to helm the sessions was Terry Date , who at the time was most known for producing albums for Pantera , White Zombie , and Soundgarden . Date brought several ideas to the table for improving the structure of the music. The band took to his style, and had him produce their next three albums. '' Adrenaline '' was released on October 3 , 1995 . The album sold well, and earned mostly positive reviews. " Bored ", "Root" and " 7 Words " were minor hits. Delgado was not yet an official member, but he contributed on several songs. One review of ''Adrenaline'' noted Cunningham's "surprisingly sophisticated drumming" and wrote that "Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Deftones are very controlled even in the midst of Chaos ." 1 It was RIAA certified Gold on 7 July , 1999 ,2 and as of January 2007 it had sold 965,925 copies in America. ''Around the Fur'' (1997) '' album cover (1997)]] See Also: Around the Fur '' to '' The Matrix . An acoustic remix of "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" was performed with a friend of the band, . In 1999, it was certified Gold in recognition of 500,000 sales in the US. As of January 2007 it had sold 942,177 copies in America. "It's one of my favorite records," Moreno commented. "The time and place we were in when we made it was fluent as hell." ''White Pony'' (2000) '' album cover (2000)]] See Also: White Pony On June 20 , 2000 , the band released their third album, '' White Pony ''. It was produced by Terry Date in the Deftones' own recording studio in Sausalito, California . It debuted at No. 3 in the US Billboard chart with sales of 177,000 copies. It is generally considered by fans to be Deftones' most mature recording. Hits included "Change (In the House of Flies)" and "Digital Bath." Of ''White Pony'', one reviewer wrote, "Moreno is exquisitely mind-blowing" and that "Deftones went soft, but in an impressive way, to twist around its signature Punk sound." 3 But another assumed that "their music is completely uninspired garbage. They have the worst vocalist of any band I have heard." Laurence Gindi's review on Amazon.com Delgado was now a full-time band member, and he added much to the atmospheric album. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, noting Moreno's increasing sophistication as a lyricist and the group's experimentalism: the relatively fragile "Teenager," for example, incorporates elements of Glitch and Trip Hop , with programming duties carried out by Moreno's friend and Team Sleep bandmate DJ Crook ("Teenager" was originally a Team Sleep song). A collaboration with singer Maynard James Keenan of Tool is present on "Passenger," and the refrain in "Knife Prty" features vocals by Rodleen Getsic . A limited edition print of 50,000 black and red jewel case versions of White Pony were released with a bonus 12th track titled "The Boy's Republic". The band re-recorded " Back To School (Mini Maggit) ," a rap-influenced interpretation of the album's closer, "Pink Maggit," after their record label said they had run out of marketable singles. The song was placed as the new opening track (with "Pink Maggit" still the closer), and, under altered cover art, re-released ''White Pony'' on October 3 , 2000 . The band notably expressed their resentment towards Maverick's lack of faith in their art and immediately regretted recording "Back To School." Moreno has stated that he hates that song, and said that he reluctantly agreed to record it to show his label how mindlessly easy it was to write a hit. Deftones played "Back to School" on tours in support of ''White Pony'' but rarely thereafter. It was only until their South American and European tour in early 2007 that the song began appearing on their setlists. ''White Pony'' eventually achieved Platinum status as well as a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the song "Elite". In interviews, Moreno has stated that some of the lyrics are intentionally misprinted to cover up vulgarity. For example, at the beginning of " Feiticeira ", the liner notes read "Stop I'm drunk" when Chino quite audibly sings " Fuck I'm drunk." In the song "Street Carp," the lyric booklet states a line of lyric as "Now take it home and have fun with it", when what he actually sings is "Now take it home and fuck with it." Similarly, on "Change (In the House of Flies)," the booklet reads "Give you the lung, blow me away," when he actually sings "Give you the Gun , blow me away". As of January 2007 it had sold 1,274,364 copies in America. Deftones (2003) '' album cover (2003)]] See Also: Deftones (album) ''''. Later, the band shot a video for their second single, " Hexagram ," with fans watching the band play the song in an indoor Skatepark in Simi Valley, California . The band made a video for the track "Bloody Cape," but it was never released for play on television. The video was only made available on the band's official website for one day. It was later released on their B-Sides and Rarities DVD. Much of the material on the album was written by guitarist Carpenter, which accounts for the album's heavier feel. Delgado plays Synthesizer , Keyboards or Sampler rather than his previous turntables. The recording sessions were helmed by producers Terry Date and Greg Wells for the first four months in Sacramento and then Seattle. Wells had to return to Los Angeles due to the birth of his second child, and Date continued on the record for months. Wells later produced much of Team Sleep 's debut record. In reviewing ''Deftones'' Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes that "Hexagram," the album's opener, "hits ''hard'' — harder than they ever have, revealing how mushy Staind is, or how toothless Linkin Park is." Erlewine notes that on the album "Deftones feel compelled to strengthen their metal roots" and at the same time maintain "the very things that make them better and more interesting than the rest — namely, their love of Art Rock , whether it's via The Cure or My Bloody Valentine ." He closes by writing, "When they do play by the rules, they're good, but they're great when they don't follow a map." Another review, by '' drones that hover like Vulture s over 'Deathblow,' the space-is-the-place liftoff of 'Minerva' and the Ambient doomscape 'Lucky You,' which might be worth an approving smirk from the Aphex Twin ." http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/300293/deftones . Retrieved on 2007-04-29 As of January 2007 it had sold 520,900 copies in America. ''B-Sides & Rarities'' (2005) '' album cover (2005)]] See Also: B-Sides & Rarities (Deftones album) An odds-and-ends album titled '' B-Sides & Rarities '' was released on October 4 , 2005 . The CD includes various 'B-Side' songs and covers, while the DVD contains behind-the-scenes footage and every music video the band has made. This compilation includes a semi-rough cover of "Savory" originally done by Jawbox , a cover of "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Black Moon" featuring "B-Real" from Cypress Hill , among others. Most noticeably absent from the album was "Lovers", a B-side from ''Deftones''. Moreno had stated in interviews that the name of the album was going to be "Lovers." Also sorely missed was "To Have and To Hold" a Depeche Mode cover that was used heavily during the ''White Pony'' era and "Can't Even Breathe" a song featured on the Escape from L.A. soundtrack. ''Saturday Night Wrist'' (2006) '' album cover (2006)]] See Also: Saturday Night Wrist The band's latest album, titled '' Saturday Night Wrist '', was released on October 31 , 2006 . It debuted at No. 10 in the US Billboard chart with sales of just over 76,000, a significant decrease on the first week sales of their two previous releases. Rather than work with longtime producer Terry Date , Deftones decided to record with Bob Ezrin . Cunningham says that while the group enjoyed working with Date, "At this point, we just needed to change things up ... And this is definitely a different style. Working with him (Ezrin) is just putting us fucking upside down. He's cracking the whip."4 After recording all the instrumentals for the record, Chino Moreno decided to record his vocals separately. Chino thus finished recording the album with former Far guitarist Shaun Lopez as producer. Collaborations on the record include Annie Hardy from Giant Drag on the song "Pink Cellphone" and Serj Tankian from System Of A Down on the track "Mein." The album's first single was called " Hole In The Earth ", hitting the radio on October 16th, 2006. The album features a song titled "U,U,D,D,L,R,L,R,A,B,SELECT,START", an obvious reference to the Konami Code , which is normally represented as (U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, B, A, Start). A music video for "Mein" has been shot, as it was the album's second single in Spring 2007 . As of March 2007, Saturday Night Wrist has sold over 200,000 copies (US). NOTABLE TOUR DATES
OTHER PROJECTS Deftones members have worked on several side projects, including Moreno's Team Sleep and Cunningam's Phallucy . Guitarist Carpenter works with a group called Kush , featuring members of Fear Factory and Cypress Hill as well as a group called Sol Invicto featuring members of Cypress Hill and Cultura Londres . The Deftones' Frank Delgado has a DJ crew with DJ Crook of Team Sleep , DJ Julez and Matt D Called Decibel Devils . In 2000, Bassist Chi Cheng released a CD comprised of his own spoken word poetry. They have also appeared in several concerts in the 2006 Taste of Chaos tour DISCOGRAPHY Albums EPs Singles B-Sides
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