DEFTONES Guitarist STEPHEN CARPENTER Dismisses Split Rumors

DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter has dismissed the rumor that he could exit the band, following comments from frontman Chino Moreno that Stephen was "the odd man out" during sessions for the band's new album, and his own admission that he initially didn't want to work on the record.

Carpenter told TeamRock: "That could have been any day. That could have been any album. It could have happened on every record we've ever recorded."

The guitarist went on to blame social media for blowing the entire episode out of proportion. He said: "People are too emotional about their lives. I see it in my lives and my friends' lives, technology has given people so much information and it should have been something that freed us up and be more rational. Instead everyone is more emotional and stressed, and so heavily invested in the behaviour of other people.

"Remember before all this communication? When you didn't have your friends and a bunch of strangers feed coming into your life and you could just enjoy your own life without hearing about all this stuff all the time?

"You just got on with your life and your problems and it was all fine. So people need to cool off. It has to be understood that it's an awesome invention and it's an awesome platform for people to be able to communicate. But, like everything, it's just been saturated to the point where you can't say anything without all this fallout."

Carpenter admitted in a recent interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com that he "didn't want to play" on the band's new record, "Gore". Asked what he was most proud of on the new disc, Carpenter answered: "I think my proudest thing about my guitar playing on this record is just playing on the record, because I didn't want to play on the record to begin with. It wasn't until way later once I actually got into it. I look at all the songs on the record and they were all a challenge for me to get into."

Asked why the new music was so hard for him to get into, Carpenter replied: "When we were coming up with ideas and writing the songs, the stuff that was being written, you know, the other guys' ideas, I wasn't too interested in it. It wasn't the style or the sound I was hoping we would take. It wasn't what I was expecting or wanting."

Carpenter continued, "My band is going one direction and I am going another one currently," but when asked if that meant he might leave DEFTONES, he said, "I would never leave the band that I started, but the band started leaving me. I can't control that."

While the guitarist said he has "a great time for the most part" with DEFTONES, he admitted: "We have got issues that I do not want to leave home, but how things will be in the future, I do not know...there are some things that I will not do in the future because I just don't agree with it."

Moreno later told the New Jersey radio station WDHA 105.5 that "it was pretty apparent while we were making the record that [Stephen] was sort of odd man out, I guess, in a way. The main thing is he sort of put himself there. He was there every day, very present in the studio there... It totally took him awhile to get invested in what we were doing, and it wasn't our intention to exclude him. Obviously, he's one of my favorite parts of this band and what he brings to the plate is very important. But, you know, sometimes people are in different headspaces, and it's as simple as that. I think in the end, though, where [the interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com] may have come off like he was just not involved is incorrect, 'cause he was very much involved. It just took him awhile to get there."

DEFTONES will release "Gore" on April 8. The opening cut and first single is "Prayers/Triangles".

"Gore" will serve as the follow-up to 2015's "Koi No Yokan", which featured the Top 15 rock radio hit "Tempest".