Deftones Interview - 'When We Make Music, It's Really Us Just In the Moment'

A couple of nights before the release of their 10th studio album, Private Music, the majority of the Deftones joined Loudwire Nights (Aug. 20) to celebrate getting to this point in their career.

Frontman Chino Moreno, drummer Abe Cunningham, keyboardist Frank Delgado and bassist Fred Sablan came together to reflect on their career, unpack Private Music and much more. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

"It feels awesome," Moreno answered when Loudwire Nights' Chuck Armstrong asked him how he's feeling.

"It's time to drop this puppy, we've sort of been with our heads down, noses to the grindstone and here we are, you know?"

When Chuck asked the guys if they felt a connection to their earlier work during the recording process of Private Music, Moreno was quick to respond.

"I don't think so in the creation part of it," he shared.

"Now in retrospect, there's little things that pop out and I feel like, 'Wow, that hearkens back to this record or that record.' But you know, when we make music, it's really us just in the moment. Us being us."

Though each album is a specific snapshot in time for the Deftones, Moreno did admit that there will always be things that make them sound the way they have for 30 years.

"There's going to be some of those constants that make us what we are," he said.

"But I definitely try to always expand a little bit on our sound without alienating ... It was a very organic experience making this record and just us sort of reacting to each other in the moment."

The Deftones' History With Ozzy

In addition to diving into Private Music, the band spent a little time reflecting on their history with Ozzy Osbourne and how he will always be connected to a lot of "firsts" for the Deftones.

"First arena tour we did was with Ozzy in '96," Cunningham said.

"We got our first tour bus ... It was such a mind-blowing experience to be able to take that all in, you know?"

As they all agreed how significant Ozzy and Black Sabbath's music was and still is, Cunningham shared another memory with the Prince of Darkness.

READ MORE: Henry Rollins Shares Incredible Stories + Memories of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath

"We had a chance later on to tour with Sabbath, the original reunion," he recalled.

"That was us, Pantera and Sabbath, which you can only imagine — we had toured with Pantera before, too, so it was like this combination...we were first, we were done and I got to watch Pantera and Sabbath play. It was such a wild experience, man."

What Else Did the Deftones Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• What the songwriting process was like for Private Music: "It was really just us being in the room together. These weren't long, drawn-out sessions. The majority of the record was written in these week spurts — maybe a month if you accumulated all those times, maybe a little bit more. It was obviously spread out over a couple of years from the inception to now."
• What it's like being TikTok superstars: "We're not doing TikTok dances ... But I mean, somehow it's fallen into that world and organically we just happen to have the discography for those people to go down a rabbit hole if they choose to."
• Selling out arenas 30 years into their career: "It definitely wasn't expected. I mean like, 10 years ago, I wouldn't foresee us being in our early 50s and being a band for 30, closer to 40 years, and we would be at this level. It's awesome and we definitely appreciate it, but it's not something that we strategically put together. I don't think there is a formula for it."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

The Deftones joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday, Aug. 20; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.