Deftones

Deftones
Grammy award-winning Deftones, an experimental alternative rock band from Sacramento, California, are often lauded as one of the more state-of-the-art and inimitable rock bands of recent years.

Described by a Time magazine critic as "furiously intelligent", Moreno's poetic lyrics are often reminiscent, possessing manifold meanings hidden in them. Moreno has cited Morrissey, Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, The Cure's Robert Smith, Bad Brains' H.R., and Depeche Mode's David Gahan among his favorite singers, and, beyond an occasional similarity in vocal technique, these singers' sweeping sense of drama is often evident in Moreno's vocals.

At 16, Stephen Carpenter was struck by a drunk driver while skateboarding and was detained to a wheelchair for several months. That is when he began teaching himself to play guitar. Moreno was able to land an audition after a relative happened upon Carpenter's garage and was impressed with what he heard as he walked by. Moreno, who had never performed in front of anyone outside his family before, persuaded Carpenter by impeccably copy Glenn Danzig's vocal style. When their original drummer, Winter Fayee, quit to join the band Rosary, Cunningham (who was in Phallucy with Joe Garcia) filled in until a permanent replacement could be found. However, Cunningham had prior commitments to other projects and Garcia often found himself sitting in for him. Bass was handed-over to Cheng ? Carpenter?s acquaintance through skateboarding.

After much persuasion, they were finally able to convince Cunningham to leave Phallucy to become their full-time drummer; Garcia left to pursue other interests. The name "Deftones" originated by simply combining the hip hop slang term "def" with the suffix "-tones," which was a popular suffix among surf rock bands and soul artists in the '50s and '60s. The name is also a notable play on the term "tone deaf." The name also means "deft" - meaning skilled or good, and "ones" - meaning the band members..

Pre-production on the Deftones' first proper album began in the fall of 1994. Terry Date - the producer, who at the time was most known for producing albums for Pantera, White Zombie, and Soundgarden, brought several ideas to the table for improving the structure of the music and helped the band produce their next three albums.

Adrenaline was released on October 3, 1995. The album sold well, and earned mostly constructive reviews. "Bored" and "7 Words" were minor hits. Delgado, though not an official member, contributed on several songs. As of Jan 2007 it had sold 965,925 copies (US)

On June 20, 2000, the band released their third album, White Pony. It was produced by Terry Date in the Deftones' own recording studio in Sausalito, California. It debuted at No. 3 in the US Billboard chart with sales of 177,000 copies. Hits included "Change (In the House of Flies)" and "Digital Bath."

Delgado was now a full-time band member, and he added greatly to the atmospheric album. Reviews were overpoweringly encouraging, acknowledging Moreno's increasing sophistication as a lyricist and the group's experimentalism: the fragile "Teenager," for example, incorporates elements of anomaly and trip hop, with programming duties carried out by Moreno's friend and Team Sleep band-fellow DJ Crook collaboration with singer Maynard James Keenan of Tool is present on "Passenger," and the refrain in "Knife Party" features vocals by Rodleen Giecek.

Deftones was released on May 20, 2003. It sold 167,000 copies in the first week and remained in the Billboard top 100 for nine weeks, supported by the first single, "Minerva." The track was featured in the video game NHL 2004 as well as True Crime: Streets of L.A.Later, the band shot a video for their second single, "Hexagram," with fans watching the band play the song in an indoor skatepark in Simi Valley, California. The band made a video for the track "Bloody Cape," but it was never released for play on television. The video was only made available on the band's official website for one day.

Much of the material on the album was written by guitarist Carpenter, which accounts for the album's heavier feel. Delgado plays synthesizer, keyboards or sampler rather than his previous turntables.

An odds-and-ends album titled B-Sides & Rarities was released on October 4, 2005. The CD includes various 'B-Side' songs and covers, while the DVD contains behind-the-scenes footage and every music video the band has made. This compilation includes a semi-rough cover of "Savory" originally done by Jawbox, a cover of "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Black Moon" featuring "B-Real" from Cypress Hill, among others.

Most noticeably absent from the album was "Lovers," a B-side from Deftones. Moreno had stated in interviews that the name of the album was going to be "Lovers."

. Johnny Loftus writes, "Rock critics usually reserve a special place for Deftones above or at least away from the rest of the turn-of-the-century nu-metal movement... Deftones have always seemed more curious, more willing to incorporate traditionally revered sounds like dream pop or D.C. hardcore into their northern California alt-metal."hn ?