Deftones singer Chino Moreno discussed late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and Tool singer Maynard James Keenan both appearing on White Pony in a new Strombo interview on Apple Music. Scott Weiland’s last birthday party photos were revealed yesterday.
Chino Moreno on some of the great White Pony collaborations
“Maynard being a part of the record wasn’t something that we sat and said, “Oh, who can we get to sing on this or that, whatever?” At that time, he was working on the Perfect Circle record, and him and I were hanging out a lot, and he’d play me songs that he was working on, and I would play … it was back and forth. Scott Weiland’s thing was the same thing. I was playing some music, and we were in the studio, and he just picked up a microphone. He started singing this little harmony in the background. I was like, “Damn, that’s sweet.” And to have the opportunity to be around people like that, at that time, was just … living in Hollywood at that time, the world was just huge, you know?
Chino Moreno on the 20th Anniversary of iconic album White Pony
“It’s crazy to think about, that that specific record, which was our third record, at that point, I already felt like we’d been a band for a while. And so to think back that that was 20 years ago, it’s definitely wild to think about. But it’s exciting, too. Listening to it, it’s one of those things where, like a lot of music does, it sometimes transports you back to the place you were when you first heard it. It does that for me. When I listen to those songs, that batch of songs, and the record, the sound of it, it reminds me of those times.”
Chino Moreno on upcoming Black Stallion project
“That’s a remixed version of the White Pony record, that had its 20 year anniversary, so we decided we were going to … the label wanted to reissue the album, and for the fact that we really didn’t have any extra songs or anything to make it special as far as being a bonus thing. We didn’t want to … they were talking about, “Let’s remaster it. Let’s remix and master it.” I was like, “No way.” I love whatever we did at that time, the sound of it and everything, it is what it is because it’s that. Remastering is not going to … I’m not interested in that. I feel like it’s special already, for what it is, and I don’t want to toy with that.”
Chino Moreno discussing “Genesis” off new album Ohms
“That was one of the songs that I think that when we wrote, it’s kind of like one of those, I guess, foundation, tent pole kind of songs, where I felt like it has the dynamics that we’re known for as far as having that heavy, infectious kind of groove, a guitar riff, single string, just bob your head kind of feel to it. The song itself, it sort of wrote itself. It’s one of those things that, when we get together, someone starts playing stuff, and the next thing you know, like an hour later, we’re sitting there with a song that didn’t exist an hour before. And everybody’s looking at each other with smiles on their faces. When something like that happens immediately, it’s always a good feeling, because it’s very organic.”
Chino Moreno on how Deftones came to be
“When we were kids, we all lived in the same neighborhood, and we’d just ride our bikes or our skateboards over to one another’s houses, and sit there without any agenda, but just hang out together, and create music, just for the sake of creating it. And it was just fun to see that we can do that. There still is a lot of us hanging out and not so much talking about even music, but just hanging out as friends, you know what I mean? And then just someone will pick up their instrument or whatever, and start playing something, and everybody flows and starts going in, and then everybody starts reacting to each other. I don’t know. I feel like just that organic experience, with the way that things unfold, keeps that excitement there.”
