a wild ride
an unbearable, sharp pain in the head. A horrible realisation. A torrent of blood. Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham, relieved at finally finishing White Pony after four months of nonstop recording and partying, had ripped off his clothes and jumped backwards onto his bed for the best sleep ever. Only, there was a doubleended knife sticking out of the fireplace he was using as a headboard. He’d stabbed it in there a few weeks earlier, just to be cool. Now, he’d impaled himself.
“It was terrible,” he laughs today. “I was naked, and I just knew. ‘Fuck! I just hit that fucking knife, that goddamn knife!’ And I froze up. There was blood everywhere.”
It was a fitting conclusion to the chaotic creative process for one of the greatest heavy albums of the 21st century. There had been bloodshed, in-fighting, videogame obsessions, cocaine-fuelled parties and unexpected celebrity guests, these multiple voices and experiences fuelling the explosion of originality heard across White Pony’s 11 tracks. It was an evolution of their sound, an anomaly in the metal scene, and confusing for their fanbase. No one had seen it coming.
Deftones had formed in Sacramento in the late 80s and signed to Madonna’s label, Maverick, before releasing their debut album, Adrenaline, in 1995. It was a raw outburst of impulsive young energy, taking 90s alt-metal and mixing it with unhinged screams and blunt, abrasive riffs. Two years later, follow-up Around The Fur bumped up the quiet-loud-quiet dynamics and showcased more range and depth, propelling them to major festival stages and headline tours. In many people’s eyes, they were a nu metal band. But for album number three, they had something else in mind. Rather than continuing steadily along the same path, or adopting the swagger-filled posturing of rising peers like Limp Bizkit, they pushed into a new universe of endless atmosphere, unearthly textures and abstract lyrics.
Instead of putting out party metal, they made ambitious, timeless, mind-expanding music while partying.
“We came off a couple of records that were pretty successful,
