I was probably twelve years old and discovering music on my own when I found the Deftones in 1999. They were featured on the Matrix soundtrack, which I was listening to on CD. The track was “My Own Summer (Shove It).”
I had no idea where this one song on a compilation CD would take me. I would see the Deftones in concert three times over the following decades, headlining their own shows and appearing at big festivals in Melbourne. Standing in the crowd at those shows, I never would have imagined that they would experience a resurgence in popularity, with a whole new generation of younger fans exploring their works on social media and streaming services.
Between talking to my friends about the band on MSN Messenger back in the day, and hearing what they mean to the students I talk to today, it’s clear that the Deftones have managed to achieve something very special. Especially in a musical climate where fifteen minutes of fame is far more than most artists could ever hope to achieve… or deserve.
The band have three platinum albums. White Pony was released to critical acclaim, reinforced by the success of singles like “Change (In the House of Flies)” and “Digital Bath.”
That was in the days of CDs and commercial radio. Today, the Deftones have 17.9 million followers on Spotify, and their top five tracks on the platform make up 2,318,000,845 streams. Linkin Park and Papa Roach cited them as an influence back in the day. So have modern artists like Rina Sawayama, Sleep Token, Spiritbox, and the Weeknd. Well, them and everyone else, really.
They are, as Ryan Holiday would put it, perennial sellers.
“Success then isn’t something you’re after for a month or two,” he says. “You want to be evergreen. To sell for decades. To be classic. To make the backlist. To be a perennial seller.”
But I would hate to make this purely about charts and numbers. The Deftones have achieved longevity because of how hard they have worked. They were never really part of the nu-metal scene, despite there being so much industry pressure to conform to the rap-rock stylings of Korn and Limp Bizkit. And yet, here they are today, with their latest album Private Music having debuted at number five on the Billboard chart, and sellout tours across the world, closing out day three of the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. This comes more than thirty years after the band formed. They even sell not only their own brand of beer, but legal cannabis as well. While I’m no fan of weed or stoner culture, I guess it’s good news if the plant is legal in your locality.
It is precisely because they were never part of the herd that the Deftones manage to draw in such crowds today. Formed in Sacramento, California, they often drew comparisons with Korn. Here’s the thing though: you would never hear the tormented growls, or aggressive rhythms that the Bakersfield Boys were known for. Sure, 1995’s Adrenaline came close with tracks like “7 Words” and “Engine No. 9,” but the vast majority of the Deftones’ discography showcases a far greater emphasis on melody and harmonics than anything their supposed peers were doing. 1997’s Around the Fur showed even more class and sophistication. It was around this time they (in my estimation) kickstarted the whole “heavy cover of an eighties pop song” thing with their rendition of “To Have and to Hold,” the band’s contribution to a Depeche Mode tribute album. As for their originals, Moreno made a point of being so obscure in his lyrics, that he would almost completely conceal himself, forcing the listener to come to their own conclusions. And when White Pony came out in 2000, any comparisons with the nu-metal heap were well and truly invalidated. Not just the hit singles, but the album’s deeper cuts. Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan appeared on “Passenger,” making for one of the most incredible duets in modern rock and metal, as well as being one of the album’s high points.
“Back to School (Mini Maggit)” was made for radio, but the brilliance there is that the band only made it to prove a point about how easy it is to make a hit. Almost nothing on radio lasts anyway. Can you name any top forty song from back then? I mean, I could point to something by Britney Spears or NSYNC if I really forced myself to, but even then, all those songs kind of blend into each other to me. Verve, intensity, and emotion are things that stand the test of time. Not just pretty-looking cultural icons.
I remember seeing the band at Festival Hall in 2007. You had some heavier tracks, but the crowd really started to move when they started the opening chords to “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away).” Who would have thought the crowd of moshers could be so amped up by something… dare I say, mellow? It was amazing to see.
Is there a formula to the Deftones’ songs? Perhaps. Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, not at all. They’ve found their style, which is to evolve in all directions with every new release. That is the formula, if there even is one.
And as much as I love Korn and Limp Bizkit, who gives a fuck about what they’re doing? They did their thing, the Deftones did theirs; all parties have the respect across generations to show for it.
“It’s probably no different from when I was a kid discovering groups like Led Zeppelin,” Moreno said in an interview with The Guardian. “And I’m not saying that we’re as great as them, but those bands were around for many years before I discovered them. I was able to connect with what they created, and it’s a lovely thing. We’ve always made a constant decision to not date ourselves with the music we make. We were always afraid of being lumped-in with the nu metal groups that came up at the same time we did. Not that we felt we were in another league; we just wanted to have our own identity. So we would make certain creative decisions to try not to fall too deep into any category.”
“In the future, the great division will be between those who have trained themselves to handle these complexities and those who are overwhelmed by them,” author and strategist Robert Greene says in Mastery. “Those who can acquire skills and discipline their minds and those who are irrevocably distracted by all the media around them and can never focus enough to learn.”
I would say that the Deftones have succeeded in avoiding such distractions. Sometimes, not being the current thing can be key to an artist’s success and longevity. They may find themselves with more freedom to stretch and explore themselves. And the fans — the real fans, not just the trendy people — will stick around to watch the artist grow and develop.
It’s not uncommon to spot a zoomer in a Deftones t-shirt these days. It doesn’t cause me to bat an eyelash if a student is listening to them during an assessment (we allow playlists during tests). I liken it to my experience as a teenager. I’d had my fill of the artists of the day, and eventually found my way to Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, and others. I’d get the occasional limp-dick boomer telling me “That was before your time!” I don’t ever want to be like that. I’d rather take on the role of curious elder, spark up a conversation with one of these kids, and try and see what they’re seeing.
In fact, I’ve never seen as much love for the Deftones as I am now. So, kudos to the youth for that.
And onstage, the band members are instantly recognisable. Frank Delgado and Abe Cunningham man their DJ set and drum kit respectively, anchoring everything with such powerful precision. Stephen Carpenter takes the stage with an assortment of brightly-coloured ESP signature models, each complete with green camo straps. They go from six- to seven- to eight- and even nine-string varieties! However many strings there are, his guitars run through a wall of Bogner Uberschall amps and cabinets. These amps have an incredible low end, but the midrange and presence controls are key to shaping its sound. It’s one of the best amps for hard rock and metal, but it can do even more than that. It has a reputation for being really boomy, but any amp can have issues if the EQ is all over the place. If you are fortunate enough to get one, make sure you take your time with it and sort through the controls. You will thank yourself later on.
Moreno’s stage presence… well, in some ways he almost defies categorisation. He can make an impression without bashing himself over the head with the mic, which is always a plus in my book.
Between albums, he’s taken the time to work on various projects. He formed Team Sleep with his friend Todd Wilkinson, releasing one studio album in 2005. He then went on to start Crosses in 2011, with longtime friend and Far frontman Shaun Lopez. For what is essentially a side project, they still have a number of albums and EPs. Palms was something of a supergroup he formed with members of the post-metal band Isis. A lot of singers tend to be remembered for the one thing, but Moreno has proven to be a vocalist and guitarist of many talents.
Since forming in 1988, the Deftones have released ten studio albums, twenty-five singles, four EPs, three compilations, and an assortment of music videos and promos. They didn’t get to where they are today by having pressure on them to make the next “Freak on a Leash” or “Nookie.” A lot of artists end up doing that, whether by choice or by consensus. And if that works, then more strength to them. But again, the Deftones have earned longevity and respect from how hard they push themselves, to not just be like whatever’s happening. Not that everything they do is perfect, 2016’s Gore is their one album I can take or leave. Still, I can respect that they did what they did, some liked it, others didn’t. They could have just coasted on those hit singles in their setlist, like so many bands do, but they didn’t do that.
Some of my favourite songs by the Deftones are from 2010’s Diamond Eyes and 2012’s Koi No Yokan. Many artists will peak at one point in their career and just kind of flatline from there, if they even get that far. Fans will often revere the past, but I found myself liking Diamond Eyes even more than White Pony. This tended to get a few raised eyebrows from friends, and that’s fine. I never thought the band could put out anything that could even hold a candle to the latter, so it could be that I was most surprised out of all of us.
“Marcus Aurelius once admonished himself to be a ‘boxer, not a fencer’,” Ryan Holiday says. “A fencer, he said, has to bend down to pick up his weapon. A boxer’s weapon is a part of him — ‘all he has to do is clench his fist.’ In developing a platform, we eschew the promotional apparatus that must be rebuilt and picked up anew with each and every launch. Instead, we choose to bind ourselves to an audience, to become one with that audience, and to become one with our weapon.”
Artists like the Deftones are the ones I admire the most. Few have the longevity, such credibility across generations. They did the work, played the shows, and did things their way. It wasn’t easy, but they’ve built a career that most artists can only dream of.
Just as I did when I was in high school, I look at the Deftones and think, “Man, I want to be like those guys when I grow up.” And then I remember I’m thirty-nine and just sink into my chair.
Rock and roll.
Lawrence Deveney 