At every single step of the news cycle for Deftones' upcoming album Gore, we've been covering it. I mean from the initial rumors all the way up to the new song last week, we and every single major metal outlet have been on it. That means that Deftones are so popular that its members can just sit around and do nothing all year, and live off record sales… right?
Not quite. Chino Moreno explains in a recent interview with BBC Radio that if Deftones isn't touring at least a third of the year, the band's members won't be making any money at all!
"One of the biggest myths about being a rock star would probably, obviously be the word 'rock star' itself — you know, that everything is given to you. You make a few records, or you win a Grammy, or you have a platinum record and then… that everything's sort of easy. I remember when we first got signed in 1995, in my mind, I thought, 'Wow, we made it.' And then I realized that we left our town of Sacramento and went to the Midwest of America and we're playing for two, three people a night sometimes. So it's always constant work. I mean, even today, it's, like, if we don't tour for a good third of the year, we're not gonna be able to pay our bills. It's not like, I guess, how people perceive it — like, you're gonna get in a rock band and you're gonna be driving around in a Lamborghini. It's not gonna happen. Unless you're Justin Bieber or Adele or somebody, honestly, I mean, you have to actually work to earn a living. I mean, I'm not complaining about that all; I dig it. I like working, I like playing shows, I like making records, so…"
It's interesting Moreno comes out and says this, considering I think a lot of fans just think once you've made it then you're golden. I too was under the impression that these things just sort of worked themselves out a little better than they do, but that's the life of a professional musician!
