Chino Moreno On Deftones’ Career Resurgence: “We Literally Are Bigger Than We’ve Ever Been In Our Almost 30-Year Existence”

In a recent interview with KROQ, Deftones vocalist and guitarist Chino Moreno spoke about the band’s renewed wave of success since emerging from the pandemic. While many of their nü-metal-era peers have plateaued, the Sacramento, CA-based alternative metal band has found a fresh audience thanks to social media platforms like TikTok, connecting with younger listeners in large numbers.

Twenty-five years after their career-defining album White Pony, Deftones have risen comfortably to arena headliner status. This resurgence has allowed the band to expand their operations, take bigger creative risks, and reconnect with a wider audience. The renewed fan interest has also resulted in a recent series of industry accolades, including platinum and gold certifications for their recorded works this past July.

Reflecting on this moment, Moreno told KROQ:

“It feels good, but I don’t think it’s something that… I think I kinda always had the mindset that it could go away at any moment as well, right? So I don’t ever invest too much of how I feel about us a band, or our music, or our records into that kind of stuff. It’s exciting, and it’s nice to know, and it is, how we literally are bigger than we’ve ever been in our almost 30-year existence. But it is exciting, we are very grateful. But I don’t think… Like, yeah, I think we are just in the moment, right? and enjoying it. Rolling with it.”

On the impact of this success on their performances and new music, he added:

“We wanna live up to it as well, I think in our live shows, and this record [‘private music‘] that we made, it also makes us want to be better — or as best we can be. It kind of pushes you a little bit, everybody says this about us, well, let’s try to be that, you know, more than ever.”

Deftones released their tenth studio album, private music, released on Friday, August 22nd.

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