On January 31st of this year, the 'Tones once again played in Stockholm, this time at Klubben and with support from Will Haven.
This time Martin spoke to bassist Chi Cheng and guitarist Stephen Carpenter. The following is a compilation of both interviews.

A THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Have you ever had the feeling that a conversation you've started with a specific purpose, say interviewing a band, didn't start off the way you wanted it too? This was the case when I sat down with bassist Chi Cheng and guitarist Stephen Carpenter in a small conference room at their hotel in Stockholm, to speak of what had been, what was, and what was to come for the Deftones.

Seeing as how I already had some background info on the band from my previous interview I tell the interviewees that we could delve deeper into the story of the Deftones and perhaps speak of other things as well.

"Great!", Stephen exclaims. "Humans were spawned from aliens." Eh what? Where did that come from? Chi smiles as Stephen obviously has been down this road before, and of course I can't leave it alone. Rock stars speaking about aliens. Front page stuff, if there ever was.

"Sure", Stephen continues, "humans aren't descended from apes. We're a crossbreed between aliens and apes." That last sentence brings some rather nasty and graphic images to mind, but let's forget HR Giger for a while and explore this idea further.

"The whole idea of us being descended from mudfish crawling out of the sea is weird", Stephen says. Oh. And apes breeding with aliens is not? It feels like this is going nowhere, so to get the interview back on track we speak of the beginnings of the band.

The Deftones formed in 1989, when Chino Moreno (vocals) introduced Abe Cunningham (drums), who he knew from school, to Stephen, who he knew from his neighborhood. The lineup was completed by "a guy named Dominic on bass", as Stephen puts it. When Abe left for another band, Dominic moved to drums and bassist Chi Cheng joined the band. Later Dominic also left and the band tried a number of drummers.

"Everytime we got rid of a drummer, we had Abe sit in for shows we had", Stephen says, "so finally we just said, come on, man, join the band full-time, this is ridiculous. So he did." With the lineup complete and permanent, they started gigging extensively and began looking for a record contract. Finally, in 1995, after being approached by a number of record companies, they got a contract with Maverick Records and began recording their debut album "Adrenaline" with producer Terry Date (previously worked with Soundgarden, White Zombie and Pantera) at the helm. The band, however, was heavily involved in the production work.

"We pretty much did everything except turn the knobs", says Chi. "Terry is more of an organizer."
"Yeah, Terry is a guiding force", Stephen adds. "And if we fuck up, he tells us we fuck up." Despite this great communication between band and producer, the Deftones were not really satisfied with the end result. With this in mind it might seem strange that the band decided to use Date once more for their second album, "Around the Fur". Vocalist Chino Moreno has a quick answer for that.
"Any producer responsible for Pantera's "Vulgar Display of Power" has to be able to do better than "Adrenaline", and Terry was exhausted after working with White Zombie for six months. Besides, we work well together with him."

With the past out of the way, we move on to the present. The current European tour started in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17th and will end on March 7th. Through the whole tour, as well as on the Deftones' previous US tour, support comes from young Sacramento band Will Haven.
"They're a good band", Chi says, "and we're in a position to help another band up. It feels good doing it for a band we know and like. They might never have made it over here on their own."

Oh yes. Over here. Many bands feel that there is a difference between American and European audiences, and the Deftones are no different.
"Kids here are so emotional about the music," Stephen says. "If a gig is canceled they get really upset, which shows that unlike many American kids they actually go to gigs because they like music and not because it's the cool thing to do. I'm not saying all American kids are like that, or that it doesn't happen over here either, but I think it happens more in the States."
We touch briefly upon the subject of music videos, and particularly their latest video, "My Own Summer (Shove It)", where the four band members stand on shark cages out in the water, perhaps somewhere in Alaska.
"We had absolutely nothing to do with how the video turned out," says Chi. The video was directed by Dean Carr, who previously did "Sweet Dreams" for Marilyn Manson as well as videos for Dave Matthews and the Verve Pipe.
"We were all pawns of Dean's dark visions", laughs Chi.

As far as visions go, the Deftones, unlike many other bands that play similar music, have no political message in their music and lyrics.
"We're different people", Chi says, "so why limit ourselves to one point of view? It's stupid. We just wanna offer people an escape from their gray and mundane reality, not make a political statement." Stephen agrees, once again.
"I mean, we all have political opinions, but why let them surface in our music and our lyrics? We don't wanna preach."

// Martin Larsson

Having supported the Deftones on their recent American tour, Will Haven seem to have no problem warming the crowd up for the noise to come. A young and up and coming band, they also hail from Sacramento, California, but rely on pure heaviness instead of the powerful melodies that sometimes can be found in the headlining band's songs. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

Will Haven start their sonic barrage with "Ego's Game", taken from their 1997 album "El Diablo", and then there's no stopping them. Their massive wall of sound carries us through eight songs, taken from their self-titled debut EP and their album, with highlights including "Stick Up Kid" and "I've Seen My Fate", their finest moment yet.

Vocalist Grady Avenell is in his own little world as he seems to try and eject his lungs through his mouth, while Mike Martin seems intent on turning Klubben into a pile of rubble with his rumbling bass along with Wayne Morse and his thundering drums, and guitarist Jeff Irwin tries to win the award for "weirdest sound out of a guitar". The end result is somewhat reminiscent of Oakland's Neurosis (sans the tribal stuff) or Sweden's own Breach. Frighteningly heavy.

In the end, however, one cannot help but feel a little numb (or is that what it feels like to be run over by a freight train at full speed???) and wonder what it had been like had they played a full length set, as some of Will Haven's songs sound pretty much the same, and the sound is somewhat too massive for comfort. Avenell's reluctance to acknowledge the crowd with more than a few words doesn't help, but there's no denying the immense display of frustration and rage that Will Haven put on, or the quality of their songs. Right now they're good. In a year or two they'll be awesome.

There is barely time for the crowd to catch their breaths before the Deftones take the stage, and the moshpit goes apeshit as the band explodes into "Lotion", taken from their second and recent album, "Around the Fur". At this point you realize what it means to be a great live band. Will Haven were good but they pale and fade to nothing compared to the mighty Deftones.

Vocalist Chino Moreno stalks the stage, charisma oozing from every pore, one moment calm and composed, the next rage incarnate. He seizes the crowd's attention by the collar and drags it, kicking and screaming, onto the stage, and then he doesn't let go. It's almost scary to watch.

Through it all his voice never falters, as it goes from a soft caressing whisper, worthy of and perhaps even surpassing the likes of Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan or Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, to ear piercing screams, rivaling Pantera's Phil Anselmo or Korn's Jonathan Davis in their most insane moments. Chino Moreno is perhaps the best vocalist and frontman in a rock band today. And that's saying a lot.

Without the rest of the 'Tones backing him though, he would be nothing. Bassist Chi Cheng flails his long dreadlocks wildly and backs Moreno up with some ear piercing screaming of his own, particularly during the intense "Head Up", a tribute to Max Cavalera's (formerly of Sepultura) dead stepson Dana Wells, while massive guitarist Stephen Carpenter churns out those trade mark, tuned down riffs, and Abe Cunningham belies his small size with some truly monumental drumming.

Tonight there is also a mysterious fifth band member present, who turns out be sound wizard Frank Delgado (responsible for f/x on both Deftones albums), operating a turntable at the back of the stage, scratching and making some truly odd background noises. Very interesting.

During almost an hour and a half, the Deftones prove, once again, that they are indeed one of the finest live bands out there today (if not THE finest!!!). Mixing old and new songs, as well as mixing melody and intense heaviness (not many bands can deal with the delicate harmonies of a song like "Mascara" and in the next breath run the crowd over with the full on charge that is "Engine no 9"), they manage to pull off what few bands can, which is to hold an audience captive and attentive through a whole gig. Some say they're the next big thing. I'm not so sure about that "next" part. This year, the Deftones will conquer the world.

// Martin Larsson, certified head banger

[ photos: Pär Almqvist ]