The music scene in the 90s was a mixture of brands. Different music genres had their own specific brand, their own label. Musical acts were placed in specific roles within that label. For some acts, that brand was hard to shift away. For Deftones, they understood the importance of staying true to their music.

It has been 20 year since Deftones released their sophomore album, Around the Fur. In the latest issue of Metal Hammer, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and guitarist Stephen Carpenter reflect on their anniversary of their album which was released back on October 28th of 1997.

Both Moreno and Carpenter express their thoughts on escaping the nu metal genre that had just started taking off. They also answered the long running question that had been following them like a lost puppy all these years.

Deftones turned down the opportunity to go on tour with Korn so many times, Jonathan Davies finally asked them; “why do you hate us?” Moreno would reply; “Dude, I don’t hate you. I love you guys, you’re my friends. But I don’t want to tour with you. I don’t want to be on the Family Values with you and Limp Bizkit.” he continued by saying; “The name of the genre was nü metal, so anything that is new is one day going to be old. And I didn’t to be old with it.”

According to the piece, while the Nu Metal genre was taking off, Deftones was trying to do their own thing. They weren’t aware of any movement that was going on at the time. For them, it was just about making music that was right for them.

Carpenter says: “We didn’t really pay much attention to that. I remember when these subgenre names didn’t exist. It was just metal.” He continued with, “So I don’t think we made a decision to step away from it – we’ve never paid attention to what anyone else was doing. We just did what we thought was right, and tried to make a killer album.”

The full interview can be found in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer which is now avaialble. The issue also includes Rammstein as the cover stars, and features Megadeth, System Of A Down and Beartooth.

Deftones are currently on their European tour. Earlier this week, they unfortunately had to cancel one of their shows after Moreno had broken his foot when he fell off a stage in Belgium.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat