1988-Chino MorenoLead vocals
Stephen CarpenterGuitar
Abe CunninghamDrums
Frank DelgadoKeyboards, turntables, samples
Chi ChengBass1990-2008
Dominic GarciaBass, drums1988-1991
Sergio VegaBass2009-2021
John TaylorDrums1991-1993
Emerging from the alternative-music scene of the 1990s, Deftones were originally lumped into the heavy metal genre and later into nu-metal, but they never wanted to be pigeonholed there (or anywhere else). The group was most influenced by non-metal bands such as Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Faith No More, the Smiths, and Portishead, and they weren't fond of the machismo and negativity they saw in the metal culture of their time.
Deftones often contrast soft and loud, moving from whispers to roars (literally and metaphorically) and back again several times within a single song.
The group was most popular in the late '90s and early '00s, but they found a new generation of fans years later thanks in large part to social media. The new wave of fans dubbed the band "baddiecore," a designation that both confused and amused Deftones.
Hardcore Deftones fans refer to themselves as "Toners."
A key part of the band's unique sound is keyboard player and turntablist Frank Delgado. He made uncredited contributions to the songs "Minus Blindfold" and "Fireal" on the band's 1995 debut album, Adrenaline. His role expanded when he added fully credited parts to half of the band's second album, Around the Fur (1997). He became an official member in 1999.
Deftones will forever be linked to the vibrant skateboarding scene of 1980s Sacramento, California. Founding members Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter, and Abe Cunningham all attended C.K. McClatchy High School in that city, and all were serious skateboarders. Moreno wanted to go pro long before he'd even considered the possibility of being a rock star.
The band might not even exist without skateboarding, in fact. Carpenter took up guitar while recovering from injuries after getting hit by a car while skating. He learned by playing songs from bands like Anthrax and Metallica. In the early days, fans would often see Deftones skating around outside venues. In 2013, the band dedicated the music video for "Romantic Dreams" (released as the final single off their seventh studio album, Koi No Yokan) to the skateboarder Jason Park. Deftones even put a half-pipe in their rehearsal studio, named The Spot. Covered in Iron Maiden posters, it was a hangout for the band and their friends. They'd skate, make music, and party.
For years a rumor circulated among Deftones hardcores that the band funded their debut album, Adrenaline, with cash-settlement money from Carpenter's skateboarding accident. In 2007, drummer Abe Cunningham debunked those claims and said it was all just a myth.
Moreno once crowdsurfed himself out of his own show. Early in the band's career (the exact date is lost to the sands of time) at a venue in London (the exact location has also been lost, though Brixton Academy is frequently bandied about), Moreno leapt offstage and crowdsurfed all the way to the front doors, at which point he made the fateful decision to exit entirely. The doors immediately locked behind him. He ran to the back of the building but security didn't recognize him. Moreno could hear Deftones playing inside as he yelled at the guards in explanation. Finally they let him back in and he finished the show.
In their early years, the band pioneered "beer surfing," where a band member would crowdsurf to a venue's bar, get a drink, and crowdsurf back to stage. Legend has it that on one occasion fans successfully surfed Moreno back to stage with a full, wide-open cup of beer in his hand - and not a drop was spilled.
Deftones' first record label was Maverick, which was co-founded in 1992 by Madonna. She gave the band her personal thumbs-up after watching them rehearse, an experience Moreno later called "surreal" and "mind-blowing." She sent each band member a framed picture of herself in the nude as a gift.
Deftones stayed with Maverick until their sixth studio album, Diamond Eyes, in 2010. They later referenced the "Madonna model" of artistic evolution and said they patterned themselves after her example, referring to her gift for personal transformation.
The band has had their ups and downs over the years. During low stretches when he was struggling to find inspiration, Moreno brought in musicians from other bands to get some creative juices flowing, including Serj Tankian of System of a Down ("
Mein"), Maynard James Keenan of Tool ("
Passenger"), and Annie Hardy of Giant Drag ("
Pink Cellphone"). Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots provided uncredited backing vocals on "
Rx Queen," but that one was more about getting Weiland away from drugs than it was about Moreno's quest for inspiration. The group also recorded "Headup" with Max Cavalera of Soulfly, but that one spawned from a
uniquely emotional moment.
In 2016 Deftones entered into a partnership with Belching Beaver Brewery. The first beer to emerge from the collaboration was the
Phantom Bride IPA.
On October 5, 1996, Moreno and Cunningham were accused of starting the U-fest festival riot that reportedly caused upwards of $150,000 in damage. Tensions were already high at the festival when the heavily intoxicated Deftones took the stage and put on, according to eyewitnesses, a sloppy and rambling performance. When the band's mics were cut, they interpreted it as a snub (though the venue promoters say it was standard operating procedure at the half-hour mark), and according to some accounts, Moreno and Cunningham started egging the audience on to trash the place. The incident was
the subject of much debate.
There's been talk of the "real meaning" of the title of
Saturday Night Wrist, the band's fifth studio album, particularly because of its dreamily erotic cover. The phrase is a reference to a real medical condition called "radial nerve palsy," which involves a person's wrist going limp and numb. It often results from a person passing out drunk with their arm draped over a chair.
Speaking of
Saturday Night Wrist, on the album's 15th anniversary the band released unused art from the
original artwork on their Instagram page.
Chi Cheng had been studying English at Sacramento State University during Deftones' early days and wasn't sure if he even wanted to record with the band because he wanted to teach English. He recorded a spoken-word album titled The Bamboo Parachute in 2000 and gave all profits to charities that bought musical instruments for kids.
The death of bassist Chi Cheng was a pivotal event in the band's narrative. Cheng joined the group in 1990 and was their bassist through most of their biggest albums. In November 2008, Cheng went into a coma following a car accident. At that point, the band brought in Sergio Vega to play bass on
Diamond Eyes, their sixth studio album.
Deftones had been experiencing a lot of internal strife when Cheng was hospitalized. The loss helped bring the band together again and get back to their roots, which had stemmed first and foremost from friendship. "The band started to reconnect on a friendship level," Moreno
told Spin. "We were having fun again - we'd get into our rehearsal spot, and no one would show up till like 8 p.m., and as soon as we'd get there, we'd play dominoes or Risk. We'd have games of Risk that would last weeks at a time. So we'd spend hours just playing games, talking s--t, just hanging out really. But as far as our work ethic, the music was coming together very slow, and it wasn't that great - a lot of meandering, a lot of jammy sort of stuff."
Cheng died on April 13, 2013, of cardiac arrest after years of medical problems. Brian Welch and Reginald Arvizu of Korn joined members of Slipknot, Sevendust, and some other alternative bands to record "A Song For Chi," donating all proceeds to the Cheng family.
At the time of Cheng's accident, the band were working on an album titled Eros. They worked on it from April to November 2008 but stopped upon hearing of Cheng's injuries. The project remains unreleased except for a song titled "Smile," which Moreno uploaded to the band's YouTube page on the first anniversary of Cheng's death (April 13, 2014). As for the rest of Eros, the band continued giving conflicting accounts for years afterwards as they tried to decide if they wanted to publish it.
Cheng and Carpenter had a close friendship and a contentious collaborative history. Most Deftones songs started with a Carpenter guitar riff, and his writing usually drove the songs, but Cheng didn't like to be led and would play parts the way he wanted to play them. This was particularly contentious in the band's early days, but it also led them to finding their unique sound, as each band member contributed their own approach to their instruments, even when that approach might differ from the expected one.
While recording their third studio album,
White Pony, Deftones moved into a mansion that had previously been owned by the rock icon Chuck Berry. The home supposedly had miniature doors and "Scooby-Doo" bookshelves, "and it was haunted as hell"
according to Cunningham. When the band arrived at the mansion, Cunningham stabbed a double-bladed knife into a fireplace. In a celebratory mood when they finished the album a few weeks later, he back-flipped onto his bed and unwittingly impaled himself on the knife. He recalls blood being "everywhere."
Moreno got his "Chino" nickname from his mixed heritage (his mother is of Mexican and Chinese descent and his father is Mexican). His uncles called him "Chino" because it's Spanish for "Chinese," as he looked predominantly Asian.
Guitarist Stephen Carpenter was PlayStation's #1 online golfer in the world in 2005. He said he played nonstop for about six months straight. Drummer Abe Cunningham claimed that the problem was so bad that they thought they wouldn't be able to tour because Carpenter needed a guaranteed internet signal to play the game. Cunningham eventually dealt with his online gaming as a
kind of addiction and moved on to mastering the real sport of golf.
Guitar World ranked Carpenter 4th on their 2025 list of the 10 Greatest Metal Guitarists.
Carpenter has dealt with anxiety so extreme that it got in the way of him touring. He never enjoyed flying in the first place but found his issues magnified considerably during the COVID era. "And that was because we were getting ready to go on a trip,"
Carpenter told Metal Injection, "we were going to travel to this far-off destination, and I was like, 'Look, you know, if I got to go all that way and then get stuck out there and then they want to jab me with something. I was like, There's no way I'm going to do that.' I mean, that's crazy. And so that didn't happen."
Moreno started adding his own guitar parts to the mix during the recording of White Pony, the band's third studio album. From that point on, the band regularly featured dual guitar parts in most songs. Moreno's contributions increased with Private Music in 2025, as Carpenter was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and began suffering health effects.
Deftones once inadvertently carried a knife through international customs. They'd been given a gift in Portugal and only upon getting to the States did they realize it was a blade.
Deftones have a lot of songs with parenthetical titles - "
My Own Summer (Shove It)," for example. That's the result of a compromise between the band and their label, which wanted compact, radio-friendly titles, while Chino Moreno preferred them more abstract and suggestive.
Early in their career, Deftones fans made a custom of giving the band gifts. This led to the Enchilada Taste Test, which was Deftones' standard operating procedure for having a fan take a bite of any food they gifted and waiting 10 minutes to see if there was an adverse reaction.
