Alternative metal icons Deftones have completed tracking their forthcoming ninth studio album. Per The PRP, speculation is the record will be released sometime in the back half of 2020, possibly around their summer North American tour.
In an interview, Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham discussed the recording process and waxed nostalgic on the bands extensive history.
“Twenty-five years is a long time, but we still get together in the same place that we’ve had for ages and it falls back into place,” Cunningham said. “We get in the room, we argue, we fight, we laugh, we talk a lot of shit and we see what we can come up with.”
The band formed in 1988, but the mention of 25 years in the past is significant, as 1995 is when it released its platinum-certified debut studio album, Adrenaline. The record featured several hit singles, including which featured several popular singles including “7 Words,” “Bored” and “Root.”
The process for this album sounds like it was both different from their typical approach, and more like the debut album, which took seven years from formation of the band to release. Cunningham discussed how this time around things took years rather than “blasting through it in one go.”
“We did things a little bit differently this time. We stretched everything out over the course of a couple of years,” Cunningham said. “The process has been mixed with about a year-long break, that we all agreed upon. Being rested and taking that time off really made us appreciate what we’re doing even more.”
Fans are assuredly hoping the process leads to a creation as prodigious as 2000’s White Pony. That seminal, platinum-certified album celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and marked an evolutionary turning point for the band. Hits like “Digital Brain” highlight the band’s growth and willingness to incorporate broader musical elements such as post-rock and new wave into their sound.
Cunningham discussed the process behind that album in his interview. “At the time, what we were trying to do seemed impossible – it was like trying to carve our name in granite using a plastic fork,” he said. “Still, if we hadn’t done that, I don’t think that we would be the band that we are now, in the position that we are now.”
Deftones recently wrapped an Australian tour, and will begin a global tour on May 1 at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. That trek will traverse Europe and end on July 12 in Moscow.
After a short layoff, the band will begin a North American tour July 27 in Portland, Oregon. It will finish up September 5 in Denver, with the new album possibly coming out sometime during or shortly after the tour.
Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
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