Deftones’ new release, ‘Gore’, has been called a departure from the group’s recent albums— somber and a little less optimistic. Stephen Carpenter and Chino Moreno discuss filling different guitar frequencies with different numbers of strings, tone modeling, and keeping the inspiration alive for more than two decades. by TZVI GLUCKIN March 10, 2016 edit by: deftfan (DeftonesZone) Grammy-winning rock group deftones is a guitar- centric, the knowledge i had read up on, was told about, and riff-driven band. Since their 1995 debut, adrenaline, the alt absorbed from others.” Deftones new album—two years in legends have been revered as extremely passionate masters the making—builds on carpenter’s experience, of sonic layering. And gore, their eighth studio release, is experimentation, and vast tonal awareness. Moreno adds a a guitar tour de force, featuring low-tuned 8-strings, swirly different perspective to the mix. “if it sounds good in a delays, sonic soundscapes, and bone-crushing chunk. little room with all of us in a circle then there’s a good Stephen carpenter is the band’s primary guitarist, while chance it should sound good on tape or recorded,” he says. lead singer chino moreno started adding additional guitars Gore, produced by the band in tandem with Matt Hyde, is with their third release, 2000’S white pony. Together, they a guitarist's feast and is replete with swagger, low-end create a dense, colorful, musical wall. “it’s like the rumble, and ambient textures. It also features Alice in bulldozer effect,” carpenter says. “you just get in where Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell on the song “Phantom you fit in.” Bride.” Carpenter is the consummate gearhead. He runs his “It was one of those things that was meant to be,” Moreno signature esp guitars through a wall of fractal processing, says. “It doesn’t sound contrived, like we tried to do engl preamps, and orange cabinets. He likes to tinker, something outside of the box. It just sounds like something experiment, and modify gear—something he’s been doing that was very casual and really nice.” since his days as a tech. “i did everything: guitars, drums, PG spoke with Carpenter and Moreno (see sidebar) about and bass,” he says about his time working for a local 7- and 8-string guitars, low tunings, click tracks, sacramento band before deftones took off. “i took a guitar Carpenter’s battle with his digital rig, and Moreno’s need apart and put it back together the best i knew based on all for simplicity. (And no, we didn’t ask about the flamingos.) 1 When was the last time you played And you have both standard- a 6-string guitar? and baritone-scale guitars. Stephen Carpenter: It was about 15 Yes. I have both a standard-scale years ago. 7-string and a baritone. Throughout White Pony I used a What drew you to the 7- and 8- standard scale 7-string. I had it strings? set up like my 6-strings, but I The lower registers. Having that was using an extra high-E string option to drop down to the lower on the top, just like a drone. stuff—it’s just fun, really heavy to play, a little darkness. Darkness! How do you come up with riffs? How do you tune them? I’m not trained in any type of Nothing fancy, by any stretch. On my theory. I’m just noodling around 7-string tunings I used Ab or G#— until I find something I like. whichever you desire—and that was for the self-titled [2003] record. On And you like to play to a click the Saturday Night Wrist record I just track? drop-tuned the bottom string down to I play to a click track all the F#. I started playing the 8-string on time. I love it. The band doesn’t [2010’s] Diamond Eyes, and that’s play to a click track, but just the standard tuning that came on personally, I’ll write to a click the guitar: F# on the bottom and then track anytime. your standard B–E–A–D–G–B–E. Stephen Carpenter (photo by: Ken Settle) All I did for the next record, Koi No Do you keep the click on the Yukon, was drop-tune the bottom downbeat, or do you put the click about modern music. I love so many string down to E. That was about the on the backbeat and play games of the new bands that are coming out. time I met the guys from Animals as with it? I think everybody is just killing it. Leaders and Periphery. Tosin [Abasi] I really just put it on either eighths or Just amazing players out there. told me they were into dropped-E 16th beats. I don’t have any skills in Everybody is just shredding it. tunings. He said, “Hey you should it, but it’s on my very soon to-do check that out.” So I did. list—to improve my abilities in Anybody in particular? making a tempo map. That way I can Man, the list is long. That’s basically the bass register. really start going with whatever Yeah, of course, and it’s actually crazy ideas I want and just change it How have things evolved musically been quite tough for me. Not actually all the time, because that’s what I since Chino started playing guitar playing it on the guitar, but the love. as well? coupling in the band—because I wish Well, it’s been a mix. On one hand I had an equal on the bass. It’s just Do the clicks get in the way when there’s a part of me that loves it, not possible with the actual bass. To you start playing things in odd because I love the sound of two match it, you really need to have a meters? guitars. On the other hand, I’ve been synthesizer or something where you No, because I think all odd meters marginalized because of it—because can actually go down to that octave. still float around the exact same time. everything we do is just based around My biggest difficulty is really trying It’s just where you’re starting at— what he does all the time. If he don’t to mess with the bass without where you’re starting and stopping, like it, we don’t do it. sounding like me and the bass are right? playing a dual part. I haven’t given a And what’s the guitar? Do you write together or do you great deal of thought to it, but The guitar is like the ribbon around each show up with different parts whenever I’m jamming out, that’s the the present. You get the drums doing and learn the other guy’s part? wall I run into. But that’s largely in this time, the bass is going, We all jam it out together. If part because I don’t play in a metal everybody can be rotating around somebody’s got an idea—if band—I am the metal ingredient of each other and can come together, everybody is interested in it—we my band [laughs]. I think if the other play the exact same thing, and create work on it. This has been the guys were more interested in the this one effect. It’s up to the creative toughest process I’ve gone through in metal side they’d probably do what it individuals at that moment and how making a record because I was takes to get that register for me. they want to manipulate the sound coming out of the backend of fixing and time. That’s what is so awesome my rig while we were in writing about music and what’s so amazing sessions. I’m just getting myself 2 dialed-in to where I’m excited to play whole session through tone matching How is it set up now? on my rig again and the stuff of all the amps we had there. I said, “Look. I live in the real world, everybody was coming up with at the still, as a musician. I need a cabinet. time—I wasn’t very interested in. I I was fucking stoked on that. I was We need to dial that cabinet in and pretty much battled everybody the like, “Alright man, I’m going to go have my DIs as close as possible.” I whole time. back through the whole catalog and decided that my DIs would become get my sounds and this is going to be secondary to the actual tone that was There are some killer riffs on there awesome.” I got all my presets built coming out of the cabinet. I went though. with all these tone matches and my back to setting it up like an actual Oh no, it’s great. It’s blood, sweat, mentality at that time was that I amp. I also run through my Engl and tears—that’s what it was for me. didn’t want to use cabinets—I power amps and I’m running those I wasn’t living the dream on this wanted to go purely DI off the units. out into my Orange cabs—but I’m process [laughs]. We go into rehearsals, get ready to also going through a Radial JDX 48 go on tour, and immediately it was for the DIs off of them. My signal is What problems did you have with like my guitars vanished.