Deftones members Chino Moreno and Stephen Carpenter discussed disassociating themselves from Nu-Metal during their early days in a new Metal Hammer interview, and turning down tours with Korn.
Stephen Carpenter said that his band wasn’t particularly bothered by the various labels that were attached to the group’s sound. “We didn’t really pay much attention to that,” he said. “I remember when these subgenre names didn’t exist. It was just metal. So I don’t think we made a decision to step away from it — we’ve never paid attention to what anyone else was doing. We just did what we thought was right, and tried to make a killer album.”
Moreno admitted that Deftones carefully picked touring partners. “We did make a very conscious choice of who we were going to play shows with,” he said. “It was hard to be this young band and having to turn down tours. I can’t remember how many times I turned down KORN! And they got pissed at us. Jonathan [Davis, Korn singer] would say, ‘Why do you hate us?’ and I didn’t know what to say. I’d tell him, ‘Dude, I don’t hate you. I love you, guys. You’re my friends. But I don’t want to tour with you. I don’t want to be on the ‘Family Values’ with you and Limp Bizkit.’ The name of the genre was nu metal, so anything that is new is one day going to be old. And I didn’t to be old with it.”
