With all the excitement surrounding the release of the next Deftones record, you might remember there was a bit of drama on the last record, Gore. At the time, guitarist Stephen Carpenter told Ultimate Guitar that he "wasn't too interested" in the material the rest of the band had, implying that he hoped the band would go heavier "“It wasn’t the style or the sound I was hoping we would take. It wasn’t what I was expecting or wanting,” and this led to questions on if Carpenter was leaving the band. (He wasn't!) Good news for fans who worry, Carpenter was much more engaged in the recording of the new album.
Speaking to Kerrang!, frontman Chino Moreno clarified the misunderstandings about Gore and how Carpenter contributed to the new album.
Speaking of the Gore drama, Chino said “When you’ve made a lot of records with the same people, everybody has to be engaged. We’ve learned the hard way. A perfect example would be ‘Gore,’ when Stef basically admitted, like, ‘I didn’t have much to do with this record.’ And that was not because we didn’t want him – my favorite ideas of Deftones songs are ones that he spearheads!
He added “He was involved in ‘Gore’, let’s not get it wrong. ‘Phantom Bride’? Aside from the lyrics and drums, he wrote that all by himself. He did have something to do with the record, he just wasn’t fully engaged, and it wasn’t because we were like, ‘Our songs are better.’ It was nothing like that. He was going through something, and after the record was done he talked to me a little bit about it, like, ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t as available as I should have been.’ I was like, ‘Dude, you’re my brother, I totally understand.’ When the record came out, I think people felt that Stef wasn’t as big a part of it and that it may have suffered in certain areas because of that, so one of the most important things is that everybody is engaged and everybody is excited.”
And he made it clear that Carpenter was very engaged on the new album. “[The first single] was one of the first things written. Stephen sent a demo of the whole song three or so years ago. I love opening up my email and seeing something from him because it really feels like he’s engaged – that engages me like crazy.”
Don't worry, the rest of the album is heavy too, according to drummer Abe Cunningham. “Stephen’s guitar tone is so damn thick on that. It’s hard to get the drum and everything else sounding huge when the fucking guitar’s eating up all of that prime real estate!”
Based on all the teases, we should be getting new music tomorrow. Ohms was produced by Terry Date and is out September 25th.
