Formed in 1989, the line-up has pretty much remained constant. Chino Moreno (b. Camilio Wong Moreno, 1973) on vocals, Chi Cheng (b. Chi Lai Dai Cheng, 1973) on bass, Stephen Carpenter (b. 1973) on guitar, and Abe Cunningham (b.1976) on drums. Since then, they have only had one change, with Frank Delgado, their DJ, joining in late '97. After they formed, Chi asked what the name would be, to which Chino instantly answered "Deftones", and it has been ever since. Today, the formation of the band is seen as the birth of the Nu-Metal scene, since they predate Korn by at least 3 years.
After learning the ropes in their native Sacramento and a few tours, they managed to get signed to Madonna's Maverick label. This led to their first release, Adrenaline, in 1995. Those paying attention will realise this is a year after Korn debuted, much is their luck. However, their luck improved with Bored and 7 Words becoming big-time dancefloor fillers once the word had got around. Word also got a boost when Max Cavalera was introduced to the band's music by Dana Wells, and went on the record left, right, and centre praising the band's work, as well as wearing a Deftones shirt in the video for Roots Bloody Roots.
With Max Cavalera raising the band's profile, they decided to start work on a new album to hook in more fans wondering who these hotshots were. So once again they took Terry Date into the studio with them to produce what became 1997's Around The Fur.
At this point Deftones erupted upon the collective conscious, thanks mostly to the big hitter that is My Own Summer (Shove It), which featured on the soundtrack to The Matrix a whole two years later. With their own bombshell track in place, MTV took notice, as the fans lay down to accept their fate. And to repeat the trick, they also scored with Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), a more mellow track to show they weren't just about screaming quite often. At the same time, Chino was guesting vocals on Max Cavalera's Soulfly project (who got their name from one of Max's lines in their track Headup), and the band snagged an appearance in The Crow: City of Angels, performing the specifically written track Teething. Frank Delgadon joined at this time to help put the extra sound layers into their live performance, and was hired permanently.
However, soon afterwards, Deftones dropped out of the spotlight after touring themselves to death. Rumors surfaced of internal struggles between Carpenter and Moreno, as well as Chino being a bit heavier than before. However, this wasn't a problem, as 2000 saw them release the adventurous White Pony opus. Although it is a fact Carpenter and Moreno didn't spend too much time in the studio together, letting Steph do all his work alone, they really found a new level.
This time they refined the sound, and changed it around a lot. First single Change (in the House of Flies) is as far away from My Own Summer... as you can get, and there are many other aural gifts, ranging from the mellow likes of Teenager to the raging Korea, with many things inbetween. The ubiquitous Maynard James keenan appears on the track Passenger as well. This led to Deftones winning a Grammy for the track Elite in the Best Metal Performance category.
Into 2001, and they had another card in their sleeve. They released the Back to School EP, with the main track being Back to School (Mini Maggit), a remake of Pink Maggit, which was originally a bonus track on the Black edition of White Pony (the Red edition featured The Boy's Republic, whilst Grey/normal version had neither), although later the track was pasted on to all copies of White Pony to cause confusion.
Either way, Deftones' Back to School tour was a success, wiping away mamories of their terrible Reading/Leeds 2000 performance, and set up the boys from Sacramento for a good while yet. Question is, when?
Official Site/ Deftones.net/ Deftones Worldwide/ Ultimate Deftones Site/ Abbu's Deftone's Site/ UK Site/ Dutch Deftones.
