Welcome to Warlock's Kickin' Page of The Deftones
Deftones is a band out of Sacremento, CA. Chino(then going by Wong), Stephen, and Chi knew each other from highschool, and they used to jam together. The original Deftones featured the three plus John Taylor, the first drummer. A few years after the band started, John Taylor quit and joined Prayer Wheel. The Deftones then auditioned for a new drummer. During their auditions, Abe from the band Phallucy filled in as their drummer. After a while, Abe quit Phallucy and joined the Deftones. And that's how they came to be.
When they were still a small band in Sacto, they toured with KoRn, L7, and other local bands. In 1995, they signed with Maverick records and released Adrenaline, an awesome album.
Deftones are:
Chi Chang: Bass & Vocals
Chi Cheng is the bassist. He is Chinese. He has a wife named Heather and a son named Gabriel.
Abe Cunningham: Drums
Abe Cunningham is the drummer. He is married to Annalynn, and she sang in MX on Around the Fur.
Stephen Carpenter: Guitars
Stephen Carpenter is lead guitarist. He is 27 years old and his birthday is in august. He is half white and half Mexican.
Chino Moreno: Vocals
Chino Moreno's real name is Camillo Wong Moreno. The name appears in the CD inside covers. I've always thought that was Chino's sister or something, but apparently that's his real name. Chino is his nickname, and it means "Chinese" in Spanish. He is half Chinese and half Mexican.
Chino was born in 1973. His dad is Hispanic and his mom is Chinese/Irish/Native American/Hispanic. He was the 2nd of 5 kids. He is married, and his wife's name is Celeste. They have 2 sons: Kristian and Jakobi. I think Kristian appears in the 7 Words video; I'm not sure.
Links
Bio Of The Dftones
DEFTONES are not
so much a band as they are a hyper-dynamic musical experience.
Imagine the world spinning off its axis, and you'll have a good
idea of what these guys sound like. Or, as lead singer CHINO
MORENO says, "It's sweet, ruthless." With their wicked
rhythms, sinister riffs, speaking-in-tongues vocals and rabid
lyrics, the Sacramento, CA foursome build provocatively on their
Maverick debut album ADRENALINE
with the new AROUND THE FUR
. More powerful
than their first, it's a record that consolidates all their
strengths--the rhythmic dynamism, the jarring use of melody, the
industrial/rap undercurrents, "the bracing blend of
extremes," according to the Los Angeles Times--and radically
creates its own wavelength.
In the words of guitarist STEPHEN CARPENTER, the new album
"is passionate, heavier--it has more feeling than
ADRENALINE. It'll be just as destructive on your stereo."
DEFTONES triumphantly staked out their own turf with the October
95 release of ADRENALINE, which sold over 200,000 copies and
featured the nerve-shredding classic "7 Words." This
success was fueled by 13 months of great touring success with the
likes of Bad Brains, Korn, and White Zombie, a stint on the
Warped Tour, three rounds of headlining U.S. tour dates, and a
special appearance--performing the song "Teething"--as
the house-band for a "Day of the Dead" festival in the
The Crow: City of Angels motion picture. "Teething" was
also featured on the film's soundtrack album, while another
DEFTONES song, "Can't Even Breathe," emerged on the
Escape From L.A. soundtrack album.
In a recent Guitar School story, writer David Grad described
ADRENALINE as "DEFTONES' firestorm of noise, which blends a
sensibility for drop-dead grooves with a passion for precision
riffery. The ease with which the DEFTONES annihilate boundaries
among their audiences is no doubt enhanced by the multi-ethnic
makeup of the band." As CHINO explained, "We're two
Mexicans, a Chinese and a white boy. Metal and punk don't have to
be white, anymore than rap has to be black."
The band once
again joined forces with co-producer Terry Date for AROUND THE
FUR, which is undeniably DEFTONES in sound and structure and,
like ADRENALINE, every song has its own distinct style and fury.
"It's a lot like the last record in that I love every song
for what it is," says STEPHEN. "Every song really is
different from each other. They all have their own vibe, but
there is a general vein to each, which is energy." And a lot
of it. "I would just call it passionate; it's more about
intensity than any actual style or genre," says bassist CHI
CHENG when asked to describe their sound. Drummer ABE CUNNINGHAM
further explains, "I'd say, Grandma, it's just crazy!'"
AROUND THE FUR
opens with "My Own Summer (Shove It)," which instantly
gets your attention like using a hand grenade for an alarm clock.
The album then shifts and changes, expanding on the concept of
pure musical energy enhanced with obscure, yet personal and
grabbing lyrics.
Says
STEPHEN, "I would call this record a progression, but not in
the respect that it's better than the last one, it's just
different. We've all matured a lot and communication is a lot
clearer. I know what CHINO is going to do before he does
it." "Yeah," adds CHINO, "this album just
felt natural to us after all the touring."
This "natural" feeling, and the maturing sense of
communication and trust, allowed CHINO to go lyrically where he
had been apprehensive about venturing before. "On AROUND THE
FUR I say a lot of things I've always wanted to," explains
CHINO. "I've grown more confident where I can express more
personal things, and even if the guys don't agree with it or
understand what I'm saying, they know that I'm sincere and trust
me to do my thing."
The straightforward sincerity of the lyrics entangled with the
music makes them more compelling and relatable. In the album's
title track, "Around the Fur," CHINO conveys his
fascination with the dark and trashy side of the fashion, glamour
and prostitution worlds. Says CHINO, "It's basically about
being infatuated with the dirtiness of life. I'll do anything to
try to get into it and understand it, because I want to see where
everybody's coming from. I'm hoping that people don't take it as
a sexual reference, because it's not about that at all."
Another song that deals with similar issues is "MX,"
which conveys images of greed and high culture. For the song,
CHINO really wanted a girl to trade off lines with him throughout
the song, and the only one around at the time was ABE's wife
Annalynn, who at first had adamantly refused. After much
coercion, she finally gave in and provided a voice to contrast
against CHINO's musings about his longing to "let me think
about girls and money and new clothes," to which she finally
responds "f*cking rock star."
CHINO's
desire for a female voice to appear on the album also gives
insight to the inspirations for his melodic vocal stylings.
"My vocals on this album was really influenced by female
singers, really passionate ones like Polly Jean Harvey," he
states. "Lately I've been more into that as opposed to the
strictly hard-core style of singing. I just like the way that
girls can make their voices sound, and I know I can't really do
that, but I try to write in that way." This particularly
comes across in a hypnotic song like "Be Quiet And Drive
(Far Away)."
Tour plans
for DEFTONES? They plan to live on the road, bringing life to
AROUND THE FUR and building their unique bond with their fans,
whom they reward with shows that are transcendent and physically
draining.
One sold-out performance, at the Whisky in Los Angeles, had Sandy
Masuo of the Los Angeles Times observing: "STEPHEN
CARPENTER's guitar gouged into the groove one minute, then peeled
out of it the next, boosting the undulating rhythms of songs such
as Lifter' with relentless, repeating riffs. Singer CHINO MORENO
hurled himself around the stage as he spewed his abstract lyrics
through a startling assortment of vocal textures--from the primal
keening of Root' to the tuneful crooning of One Weak,' some
rapping, hair-raising howling and melodic mumbling."
It's that kind of passion and total commitment to their craft
that makes DEFTONES stand apart. With AROUND THE FUR, they've
delivered a work that will intrigue your mind, energize your body
and touch your soul.
Bio Courtesy of Maverick Records.
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