Deftones

Deftones tend to get filed under the nu-metal wave, and the order of events does not allow it: they formed in Sacramento in 1988, years before that wave existed. When it arrived, it swept them into its category and left them sharing a shelf with bands they did not resemble, while they were looking for something else —atmospheres, whispers, textures— and finding it. Chino Moreno put it bluntly to Metal Hammer: the name of the genre was nu metal, and everything that is new will one day be old, and he did not want to grow old with that. He also said he had lost count of the times he said no to Korn. That deliberate distance explains why they are still current when almost the whole cohort of Limp Bizkit ended up as a snapshot of a period.

Sacramento, 1988, before the wave existed

Deftones formed in Sacramento, California, in 1988, with Chino Moreno on vocals, Stephen Carpenter on guitar and Abe Cunningham on drums. The bassist Chi Cheng arrived in 1990 and the man in charge of keyboards and samples, Frank Delgado, only in 1999, although his mark would turn out to be decisive in the sound that made the band famous.

The axis is Moreno's voice, which goes from scream to whisper within the same bar, and the contrast of that voice with Carpenter's riffs, tuned down and extremely heavy. Their first record, Adrenaline, came out in 1995, and Around the Fur in 1997: there is already a band with an identity there, more interested in building atmospheres than in hitting hard.

White Pony and the one award that proves it

White Pony, from the year 2000, is the record that separated them definitively from the rest. It is atmospheric, sensual and dark, with "Change (In the House of Flies)" and "Digital Bath" as its axes, and it changed the question they were being asked: they stopped being a heavy band with ambition and became an auteur band that also hit hard.

Out of that record came the one award that backs up everything said about them: the 2001 Grammy for Best Metal Performance, for "Elite". It is a fact that almost never appears in profiles, and it is the one that turns "the most respected of their generation" into something verifiable.

Then came the self-titled Deftones, in 2003, and Saturday Night Wrist, in 2006. Neither sounded like a repeat, partly because inside the band there was never a peaceful agreement: the tensions between Moreno and Carpenter about where the music should go have been documented since then.

Two facts that are not the same one

On 4 November 2008, in Santa Clara, Chi Cheng was coming back from his brother's funeral with his sister Mae. Another car travelling at 100 kilometres per hour hit them; the vehicle rolled over three times and Cheng was thrown out. He went into a coma.

It was not a coma of four and a half years without change, as it is usually told. In May 2010 he was following people with his eyes and answering with words. In February 2012 he was partially conscious and moved his legs when asked. There was a bout of pneumonia in June that year, although it is not established that it contributed to what came next.

Chi Cheng died on 13 April 2013 of a sudden cardiac arrest, at around three in the morning. His mother summed it up by saying his heart simply stopped. They are two facts separated by four and a half years, and the second is not the inevitable consequence of the first: it is worth telling them that way, because the chained version erases four years of partial recovery. Sergio Vega stood in for him from April 2009 and was the band's bassist until 2021.

The record they left in the drawer

When Cheng began to show signs of consciousness, Deftones took a decision that explains a good part of their following decade: they shelved Eros, the record they had made with him and which was never released, and in its place made Diamond Eyes, from 2010, with a deliberately brighter direction. The album cited as proof of their artistic continuity is in fact a direct consequence of the accident.

From then on they did not stop: Koi No Yokan in 2012, Gore in 2016, Ohms in 2020 and Private Music on 22 August 2025, their tenth record, which entered the top five of the Billboard 200 and was nominated for the 2026 Grammy for Best Rock Album, an award won by Turnstile. The current bassist is Fred Sablan, who has toured with them since 2022 and is a full member on Private Music. They have been on tour all through 2026 and have announced Día de los Deftones for 7 November in San Diego. No adjective is needed: the band is in full activity thirty-eight years after it formed.

What to remember

Deftones is not a nu-metal band that was spared: it is a band that predates nu-metal and refused to be absorbed by it, and that shows in the fact that White Pony aged like a rock record and not like a document of 2000. The Grammy for "Elite" is the only award that certifies it, and it is enough.

The other half of the story is Chi Cheng, and it deserves to be told precisely: a road accident in 2008, four and a half years of partial recovery, and a cardiac arrest in 2013. In the middle of that, the band put away a finished record because he was waking up and recorded another in its place. That decision, more than any statement, is the one that explains what kind of band this is.

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Sources

Deftones is an American band formed in Sacramento, California, in 1988 by Chino Moreno (vocals), Stephen Carpenter (guitar) and Abe Cunningham (drums). The bassist Chi Cheng joined in 1990 and Frank Delgado (keyboards and samples) in 1999. Their discography includes "Adrenaline" (1995), "Around the Fur" (1997), "White Pony" (2000), "Deftones" (2003), "Saturday Night Wrist" (2006), "Diamond Eyes" (2010), "Koi No Yokan" (2012), "Gore" (2016), "Ohms" (2020) and "Private Music", released on 22 August 2025. "White Pony" included "Change (In the House of Flies)", "Digital Bath" and "Elite", the track for which the band won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2001, its only award from the Academy. "Private Music", its tenth album, reached the top five of the Billboard 200 and was nominated for the 2026 Grammy for Best Rock Album, a prize won by Turnstile. On 4 November 2008, in Santa Clara, California, Chi Cheng was involved in a car accident while returning from his brother's funeral with his sister Mae: the vehicle was struck by another travelling at about 100 kilometres per hour, rolled over three times and Cheng was thrown out, falling into a coma. In May 2010 he was following people with his eyes and answering with words; in February 2012 he was partially conscious and moved his legs on request; in June 2012 he contracted pneumonia. He died on 13 April 2013 of a sudden cardiac arrest. Sergio Vega stood in for him from April 2009 and was the band's bassist until 2021; the current bassist is Fred Sablan, who has toured with the group since 2022 and is listed as a full member on "Private Music". The album "Eros", recorded with Chi Cheng, was shelved by the band and never released; "Diamond Eyes" was recorded in its place. Chino Moreno told the magazine Metal Hammer that he did not want to grow old associated with the nu metal label and that he turned down Korn's invitations on multiple occasions. There are documented tensions between Moreno and Carpenter regarding the group's musical direction. The band has been on tour during 2026 and announced Día de los Deftones for 7 November 2026 in San Diego. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Billboard, Metal Hammer, Wikipedia and other press coverage.