The Deftones are sprinkling new songs into their live shows in support of "Gore," while trying to play the back catalog songs fans want to hear. The "Diamond Eyes" project rejuvenated the Deftones, and the group rode that upbeat wave right into the making of the 2012 album "Koi No Yokan," and the good vibes continued with the "Gore" project. But in 2010, the band members - Cunningham, vocalist Chino Moreno, deejay/keyboardist Frank Delgado and Carpenter - reconvened, invited friend Sergio Vega to take over for Cheng on bass and found a new spark in making "Diamond Eyes."īy then, Cheng's accident had given the five band members a renewed appreciation for the career - and for each other as people and musicians. With the shock and sadness over Cheng's accident fresh, the Deftones made and then ditched the ill-fated "Eros" album. He eventually succumbed to his injuries in 2013 having never seen his condition improve. In November 2008, bassist Chi Cheng was left in a coma after an auto accident. In reality, Cunningham noted, life in the Deftones has been good since the making of "Diamond Eyes." But it took a terrible tragedy to get the chemistry within the group back on track.
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But the main thing, which is the beauty of the whole situation, is there's still a unified goal of the five of us achieving something, and that's writing an album together and, really, enjoying our time." And we're five people with five strong opinions. "I'm not saying we don't bicker and fight. "I've got to say, this approach is much more enjoyable," Cunningham said. Indeed, Carpenter eventually got on board with the project and Cunningham said there wasn't much drama during making the album - especially compared to the "Saturday Night Wrist" struggle. "But if anyone read it, actually read it … he said 'at first.'" "That article obviously, in this day and age, the thing went viral," Cunningham said during a phone interview. He revealed that for a while during sessions for the Deftones' new album, "Gore," he "didn't want to play" on the album and struggled to get into the songs.īut drummer Abe Cunningham said Carpenter's comments didn't reflect the overall vibe of the sessions for the new album. Given that history, some fans undoubtedly worried the band members had fallen back into dysfunctional ways when they read an interview published in February on the website with guitarist Stephen Carpenter. The band then reconvened and turned a corner in making the 2010 album "Diamond Eyes." Called "Eros," it was shelved in 2009 over creative differences. The next album didn't even see a release. Then when the Deftones moved on to do its next album, 2006's, "Saturday Night Wrist," tensions and communication issues nearly broke apart the band.
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In fact, the album took so long that the Deftones' label, Warner Bros., fined the band $1 million for missing the deadline to deliver the finished album. In particular, there was plenty of drama after the band made its commercial breakthrough with the 2000 album "White Pony," which topped one million copies sold and spawned the Top 5 modern rock single "Change (In the House of Flies").Īfter that success, the group worked deliberately and sparred frequently in putting together its follow-up album, a 2003 self-titled release.
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In the past, the Deftones have been famous for inner-band conflicts and disagreements, particularly in writing and recording certain albums.