Twenty years later, Sacramento's Deftones continue to rock hard and redefine the rules

Of all the bands lumped into the '90s-era nu-metal diaspora, it seems like few persevered to carve out a distinct path.

Sacramento's Deftones, however, were one such band—and to great success.

Upon the initial release of its debut album 20 years ago this month—1995's aptly-titled Adrenaline—the band came screaming out the gate with ferocity. The album may have peaked at No. 23 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart but it ultimately went on to sell more than a million copies and paved the way for its legacy.

Over the years, the Deftones, who play this weekend's Monster Energy Aftershock Festival, experimented and dabbled with electronics and ambient, among other sounds. The result was a loyal and fervent following and seven very different records, including 1997's Around the Fur which went platinum, and 2000's White Pony, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart and nabbed the band a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for the track “Elite.”

The Deftones were dealt a heavy blow, however, when a 2008 car crash left the band's founding Chi Cheng in a coma. Cheng ultimately died from related complications in 2013.

Still, two years after his death, the band's core remains strong with drummer Abe Cunningham, singer-songwriter Chino Moreno, and guitarist Stefan Carpenter. Longtime keyboard-turntablist Frank Delgado, who joined the band in 1999, and bassist Sergio Vega, who joined in 2009, round out the lineup.

The band is currently in the midst of putting finishing touches on an upcoming new record; Cunningham sat down to chat with SN&R about the new album and tour plans, the impact of Cheng's death and his enduring love for Sacramento.

There’s been some misleading information in the press about the new album and its release date. What’s the status?

To be completely honest, we still don’t have a title yet. Our label came to us and said we could wait wait until the first quarter of the new year—which works much better for us. That’s the plan right now but don’t hold me to it. We don’t even have song titles nailed down yet. I couldn’t even tell you one now if I tried.

The Deftones stayed with Warner Bros. even after the band fulfilled the terms of its initial contract. Why?

Like any new band that started at the bottom, we had everything good and bad thrown our way. We’ve had ups and downs and had some pretty brutal times on Maverick [the Madonna-helmed subsidiary label of Warner Bros.]. There’s some good people still around in our industry that have been working at the label or distribution forever and we’ve seen regimes come and go. The fact is we have known many people there for years and have developed some great, lasting relationships. We’re a pretty simple, straightforward band from Sacramento and just like associating with good people.

Did you get much pressure to change anything when you first released Adrenaline ?

Believe it or not, our first three records we wrote, recorded and mixed without anyone’s input. It was quite nice to have that kind of freedom which many bands didn’t. It was a great time to be in a band. After White Pony came out and was a big success, the industry was starting to change and we had to learn how to adapt.

What impact did Chi Cheng’s passing have on the band artistically or even personally?

Chi’s passing has, no doubt, had a tremendous impact on us on so many levels. It wasn’t like he was in this accident and was killed. He held on for five years. Seeing him fight for that long and then losing him really put things into perspective. It taught us to be grateful, to be immediate, to respect each other and respect what we have created, to laugh and enjoy, and most importantly to be thankful of the time we have and that we are still able to rock. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.

How was this year’s tour with Incubus? The show at the Shoreline Amphitheatre show was sold out—or at least very close to it.

The whole Incubus tour was a killer run. The shows were huge and all the bands on the package including Death From Above 1979 and The Bots were our friends or are now.

The band has many songs in constant rotation in its live sets—any songs you’d like to add into the mix besides new material?

Dude, this is something we talk about all the time that we really need to work on. It’s very easy to get into a groove and play the same stuff over and over: on a run where we’re are not the headliner—such as the recent Incubus tour, you really don’t get to play a lot. It’s definitely time to switch it up and we do once in awhile. I see a lot of stuff on social media of people complaining about not hearing older songs and we definitely don’t want to be that band that just phones it in. What people don’t know is there’s also a lot of different tunings and we’ve finally figured out which blocks of songs work together for a good show flow. Believe me, when it’s our headlining show for the new album and we have much more time, there will be a lot of other songs getting worked in from the past.

What do you do in between the long periods between album tour cycles?

I should be practicing drums a lot more but I’m not. Really, I’m happy just enjoying my sons and my family. I enjoy checking out new places around Sacramento that I haven’t seen or missed and cruising around on my bike. Of course, I still love going to shows a lot in Sacramento and hanging with my buddies.

It’s been a minute since Deftones last played Sacramento at the 2012 Aftershock Festival. Any plans for a local headlining show?

That’s pretty much it for this year. We have a few Southern California shows, one in Vegas and an Arizona date before we head overseas to play France, Germany and the U.K. We don’t ever come here. It’s really odd that we’re a Sacramento band but we rarely play this town. With proper planning, this can and will be attained. We’re putting things together slowly for 2016 and when the new record drops we will be everywhere. At least now we’re able to pick and choose what we want and we most definitely love Sacramento. It will happen sooner than later.