Deftones Band • Page 114

They all pretty much hate that album so it's not surprising to me, although I would certainly love to see more songs from it as opposed to Adrenaline or ATF

 

S/t and SNW are both notorious for having severe turmoil during their respective recording processes.

 

So I’m sure they both have bad memories associated with them to the band members

 

And now Gore as well, right?

 

I would't say the turmoil was as extreme, but it's pretty clear that Stef wasn't happy with the album. Plus it was mostly written by Chino, Abe, and Sergio, so I'm sure Stef and Frank don't have nearly the same attachment or satisfaction with the album as the others do.

 

Yeah more creative differences, and apparently according to an interview Chino said he didn’t hold it against Steph.

 

Yeah I always assumed the difficulties around SNW is the reason it gets neglected.

It's a shame, coz "I haaate alll of my friends" is about as cathartic as it gets.

 

so is rapture, but i feel like it might be tough on chino after his surgery

 

yeah stef’s feelings on gore were always weird to me. it seemed like the way he was talking about it that it was gonna be closer to the lines of crosses, but it’s one of their riffiest albums haha.

honestly, he seems like a kinda weird dude

 

I didn't know any of this...Gore is easily my favorite of theirs

 

I think it's clear that the 2003-2006 period was a very miserable time for them all in almost every aspect. I think three of them got divorced, some them were having struggles with drink and drugs, they were completely disconnected as a band, probably exhausted from all the touring they'd done as well. They barely toured the self titled after 2003 and obviously when they went in to do SNW, they weren't getting along with Bob Ezrin - rumour has it that Chino and, especially, Abe took against him. And then they nearly kicked Chino out the band when he suddenly left in the middle of it to do Team Sleep.

On Gore though I believe Stef was just going through some personal things and couldn't for whatever reason contribute as much in the writing process. I think people made a bigger deal out of that than was necessary. That's just normal band stuff.

 

Abe definitely hated the SNW sessions with Ezrin and he’s gone on record about that. I read a Modern Drummer interview with Abe back during the SNW days and one of the things that really stuck with me was how Ezrin forced him to record drums to a click, which Abe never did for every Deftones album prior (which is crazy because most drummers record to a click and many play live to one too). There was a lot of other stuff I can’t remember, but Abe hated working with him.

Then again, in Ezrin’s defense, the band did not come prepared for the recording sessions for SNW. There’s been a lot documented about how relaxed they were working with Terry Date and even Date noticed the lackadaisical approach the band took to the ST so I’m sure it was a huge shift for the band to then work with a different producer for the first time in their career.

Now, as for Gore, the shit Stef was saying about the album was so weird and his comments definitely blew up in the media because he made some fucked up remark about how Hearts/Wires made him feel and how difficult of a song it was for him to get into. It was said that Stef later came around to that song, and the album in general, but I imagine sure he’s never vocal about wanting to play any of those songs live, especially when considering all the set staples the band has as well as their desire to always play, like, half of Around The Fur these days.

 

I always assume it's because they remember they included Pink Cellphone.

 

I need a really good documentary to be made about this legacy some day.

 

I need to try and track down a download of Entertain Me one of these days

 

Or ask someone on this forum if they'll be kind enough to send it to you...

 

I've posted about this before, but there is so much going on in that song that sort of gets lost with Chino's vocals over it. There was a better instrumental video on YouTube at one point but it got deleted. This one still gives you a good idea.

Those choruses morph a little as guitar lines and keys are added to each iteration. Super cool.

 

Mark me down as a SNW skeptic. Some truly great stuff on that record, but I don't think it's nearly as fully realized as most of their work.

 

That's it really. Half of SNW is really great, a few other songs are alright, and two or three just completely miss the mark. It's the work of a dysfunctional band.

My least favourite of the eight and I still think it's at worst a 7/10.

 

Hole in the Earth, Beware, and Cherry Waves are among their best songs for me and, depending on the week, I could be convinced that any combination of Rapture, Xerces, Rats Rats Rats, Combat, and Riviere could be in my top 20 favorite Deftones songs

 

Okay pretty please does anyone have it

 

Maybe

 

What is Embrace Me?

 

Entertain Me

It was a film made documenting their time on tour in Oct-Dec of 2000, a few months after White Pony came out. It's never been officially released. The label at the time blocked it for being "too depressing". A few years ago, the guy who made the film tried releasing it but got quickly threatened with being sued, so took it down again.

 

Truth.