The Deftones are one of the most wholly original and inspiring heavy rock bands of the last three decades. They are always left-of-center, yet revered among a wider audience for their epic and progressive approach. Their seventh studio album is full of lush, winding soundscapes both beautiful and devastating and sets the scene for their sold out tour of Australia in May. Frontman Chino Moreno give Maniacs an insight into their world.
On Koi No Yokan being a return to Deftones definitive dynamic style
Its hard to say its a return to anything because thats looking backwards, yknow? Im sure it sounds like there are many things from our past that remind you of things but to me I really just thought whilst we were making it that we were kind of capturing that momentWhen its just the five of us in a room and we shut the world out and just make noise together, it works really well. The times when it was hard for us to make music was when we werent doing that and we were just sort of piecing things together and not everybody was in the same place at the same time, and right now everybody in the band is in a creative spot, which is really good.
On the Japanese phrase Koi No Yokan
Its hard to fully describe: its is a very optimistic phrase which roughly translates to love at first sight I guess and this idea is that there is something in the future that is very warm. Thats sort of the definition that I took from hearing the words, its quite poetic by itself. Were a heavy rock band and theres a lot of music like that thats naturally angry and I just felt like the music was coming from a more positive place or something more exciting, something to look forward to
On the art of Koi No Yokan
The artist Futura - is someone we are big fans of and his son is 13th Witness. This is the first time theyve been able to collaborate on anything together. So we thought that was kind of cool. Its one of those where you just see the picture and go yeah thats what this album looks like.
On side projects
“Honestly its really just something that I do when Im not on tour and Im at home, I like to sort of stay engulfed in creating and I love to collaborate. Its nothing more than that really, its just something that I do in my spare time for fun. Theres something that I get out of this that I cant get out of Deftones, I feel like I get plenty out of what I do here, musically I dont feel constrained by anything, its really just sort of having fun.”
On Chinos lesser known influences
A lot of British Rock and Roll, a lot of British New Wave music, Depeche Mode. I grew up listening to a lot of that kind of stuff. I didnt listen to Metallica till I was in high school, so my musical background came from a different place. At the same time as soon as I heard it (Metallica, Anthrax, etc) I liked it and I was able to take the themes I liked and put them through my artistic gateway to make it my own.
On fond memories of Australia
“When weve been there its always summer time so just hanging out with good summer time vibes. Weve done the festival type stuff but we dont too much touring on our own so Im excited to be doing that and play our own shows.
On cult films
"Yes I do enjoy them. Holy crap cult movies, I dont know how cult it is but the movie Labyrinth is pretty good. Every time I tour I watch it.”
Chino Moreno, what makes you a Maniac?
“Hmm, I dont want to answer this so boringly and say my job, my career, but its pretty weird when I think Im almost 40 years old and I go on stage and scream and sing for two hours every nightso when I think about it I think it makes me pretty crazy!
Koi No Yokan is available now!
