Sergio Vega left alternative metal band Deftones roughly a year ago. The news of his departure would come out much later, a month ago. The band themselves didn’t address the bassist and vocalist’s departure, Vega went public with the news and also released a statement on the matter.
Vega talked about why he wasn’t a member of Deftones anymore, revealing that the group didn’t want him to be a full-time member. The main reason he cited was that the band’s four members would have to give a percentage of their own shares to Vega if he were to become a full member, and the group apparently didn’t want that.
In an interview with Talk Toomey, Vega also revealed that he came in during a time when Deftones was working on an album, which got rejected by their label.
Vega revealed he joined Deftones when they were working on “Eros”, which is an unrelated album. Their label Maverick wasn’t planning on releasing it, as they weren’t excited about it. The former part-time member revealed Deftones were gonna part ways with the label.
American record producer Nick Raskulinecz came into the picture and the severance money went to fund “Diamond Eyes”. The band decided to give it another shot with another record, and all of the trauma and energy from before went into creating that studio album.
Vega said that when he joined the band, he was open for anything from playing bass to playing the banjo. He just wanted to help his friend in need. Vega recalled he was told that he can contribute by doing what he did with Quicksand. Chino Moreno also told him that there are plans to bring him into the band over time, just like they did with Frank Delgado. That didn’t seem to ever come to fruition.
