The Deftones: Running on Pure Passion - May 98 Circus Magazine

The Deftones' Chino Moreno seems to be a contradiction of sorts. Live, Moreno could bounce from one end of the stage to the other, in and out of the pit. Yet he would vaguely resemble the man with the calm demeanor when he's not in concert. He seems to be just like the band's cuts - quiet, unsettlingly so, in one second and in the next, primal and fierce. He reflected on what it felt like to see a few hundred kids waiting in the pouring rain for hours to catch his band after a recent show. "You can't put a price or label on something like that," said Moreno. "That's why we do things the way that we do them. We don't ever think that we will get to a point where we forget something like that. It don't matter what happens from here. What matters right now is the show. We try to create a certain feeling when we play and we're really thankful that we are able to share that with people."

The Deftones run on pure passion for the music that has brought them so far. It shows on wax, in their attitude, and in live setting. Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, bassist Chi Cheng, and drummer Abe Cunningham make up the sound that created their powerful cut "My Own Summer (Shove It)" from their latest album Around the Fur.

Their two album catalog (Around the Fur was preceded by '95's Adrenaline) has been getting a workout on a tour that started in the fall of '97. When asked to comment on what makes his days worth it, it didn't take him long to come up with a response. "Everything really, it's hard to put a finger on something like that. Playing the shows has to be the best part of every day. The reaction of people who have waited to a long time to see your band is something that you can't really replace. We have met a lot of really cool people that have done a lot for us. I guess the live show is the only thing that I can say definitely is more satisfying than anything else."

That earnest attitude has proven to work for them.

They have been earmarked by many as the heavy bvand to watch for this year, which seems to be the difference between them and other units not selected for "buzz" status who earn it. Undeserved bands often form, sign a major label deal, tour, grab a hit, and disappear often within the space of less than five years. The '90s have not exactly been the decade for musical stability. Moreno seems to be taking the hype in stride.

"We don't really pay attention to it much, I guess. I mean some ways you think 'OK, that's pretty cool' or whatever, you know? But as a whole I can't see that we have really been affected by it. It's great that everywhere we go kids seem to really dig what we are all about. I think that it's all happening because people can see that we are a real band with real people that have real feelings."

Those real feelings began in Sacramento, California in the late '80s when Moreno, Cunningham, and Carpenter all met up in high school and through the local scene. Along the way Cheng stepped in, and the band began playing anywhere that would become a temporary home for their version of the world volume.

It was a live show that drew the attention of Maverick Records. At the time they were just another band playing out. The focus of that particular evening was not on jumping to the majors. In Moreno's words you could even say that the whole thing was an accident. "well, we didn't really try to set out with this big goal in mind or anything. We were just a band that was playing gigs around town. We played at, I'm pretty sure it was, The Roxy in Los Angeles. There were some people in the business at the show, who got to see us play and somebody asked us later on if we had a tape. We gave him the tape, and the next thing I know Freddie DeMann (co-founder of Maverick, and a powerhouse management firm) and Guy (Oseary, the A&R whiz for Maverick that brought to wax Alanis Morissette and Candlebox) are watching us practice. Everything has been real cool with us and them. I didn't know what to think at the time, but they just wanted us as we were. They don't ask us to tone down anything about us at all. We are in a good situation, I can't complain about nothing."

That situation gave them the chance and opportunity to tour the world in earnest as to further develop the dynamics of their sound. After recording Adrenaline, tours with Korn, Bad Brains, White Zombie, along with festival and headlining club dates put them in the driver's seat for their marketing destiny. Radio and MTV don't exactly give up air space to unproven bands this intense with open arms. They put themselves in the position to be heard regardless of what outlets were available to them.

Did it matter? Obviously, not since they still sold a respectable 250,000 copies of that first record, and drew enough attention to themselves to land the part a performing slot in "The Crow: City of Angels." The touring, the work ethic, and the grassroots buildup of a fan base set up the response to their sophomore record.

Over 39,000 copies of Around the Fur jumped off shelves on the first week of release. That's before video, before radio airplay record sales. Around the Fur's intensity owes just as much to the calm moments as it does to aggression. The musicians' dynamics constantly alternate within a song as much as there are songs on the album. Yet its tunes flow into one another, contributing to the album's dominant uneasy tension. Tunes of metallic glory ("Lotion," "Lhabia") sides along comfortably with roasters with tasty hooks and alternate riffs (the current single "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)"). All throughout, Moreno reaches out into his grabbag of emotional vocal techniques, from the often-used squeaking "megaphone? technique to his hoarse hollers. With his unusual style, it shows he's had more musical posturings than metal. That may be because Moreno never really sang metal music prior to this band, or it may be the influence and growth of valuable touring time. Either way Moreno is happy with the end result.

"You know I didn't really even really know how to sing this kind of music until I joined this band. I had to learn how to do this with these guys, but I think that's one of the main reasons it comes out that way. Well for my side of it at least, you know for what I do. Another thing is that we all listen to a lot of different types of music. We may be a heavy aggressive band, but we all think in terms of using our aggressive side to complement what we feel. I personally love all kinds of music. So in some way that is going to come out in our music."

At the end of the day what matters is the fans - the people that buy the records.