DEFTONES Are Hoping To Release Next Album In Spring Or Summer Of 2024: 'That's Our Goal'

During an appearance on the "Gnostic Academy" podcast, DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter confirmed that he and his bandmates are working on their new album with producer Nick Raskulinecz (RUSH, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS). This marks DEFTONES' third collaboration with Nick, having previously worked with him on 2010's "Diamond Eyes" and 2012's "Koi No Yokan" LPs.

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for DEFTONES' follow-up to 2020's "Ohms", Stephen said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Just in the last couple of months, really — two or three months; well, maybe a little longer now, really; February is when we started — we're starting to work on new material for a new record. It's going good now. It was a little slow at first, but it always is; dragging our feet ain't nothing new. But we've got stuff up and going now, and we're on a good little momentum at the moment. And we hope to have it all done and out by next spring [or] summer. There's nothing official — no official date yet — but that's our goal."

Asked how the songwriting process works in DEFTONES, Carpenter said: "It's a combination of things. Most often, everything stems from us just jamming out some ideas, messing around, and someone comes up with something that maybe someone else or everyone else likes. And then we kind of just focus in on that for a little bit. That's what Nick's great at doing, too. Where we could just sit and jam aimlessly and plow through idea after idea without even stopping to recognize them, he's great at saying, 'Hey, that idea is really cool. Let's try to work on that for a minute. And then that other idea might be really cool with that one. Let's try putting them together,' and stuff like that. So that's what's awesome about him. He's like an unofficial bandmember at that point and good at giving us direction where we don't normally do that well on our own. I mean, we do it, but it's a much slower process on our own."

Stephen went on to say that coming up with great musical ideas is the most difficult part of the process. "I feel like making the record is easy once you've got the songs, 'cause then we're just talking about arrangement," he explained. "And then if you want to finetune on things, and I'm sure a lot of people do… Once we have the songs done, it's literally just arranging the songs at that point. We don't actually do too much adjusting at that point."

Asked if he is pretty comfortable in the studio after all these years, Stephen said: "I have my moments where I can get stuck in a rut, but generally speaking, no, I'm pretty good and comfortable in the studio. I've always enjoyed that process because it's always been that place where you could really show what you can do as far as, 'The red light's on. Let's make sure we got it.' But otherwise, sometimes it could jam you up, but it's not often."

Last year, DEFTONES recruited Fred Sablan as their new touring bassist following the departure of Sergio Vega. They were also joined by second guitarist Lance Jackman.

Sablan made his live debut with the DEFTONES in April 2022 at the opening concert of the band's spring 2022 U.S. tour at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter in Portland, Oregon.

Sablan is best known as the former bassist for MARILYN MANSON, having toured and recorded with the shock rocker between 2010 and 2014. He has also played bass for CHELSEA WOLFE and PETER HOOK AND THE LIGHT, and is a member of the punk-rock supergroup HEAVENS BLADE alongside YOUTH CODE singer Sara Taylor, ROB ZOMBIE bassist Piggy D. (on guitar) and SUICIDE SILENCE drummer Alex Lopez.

Vega, who officially joined DEFTONES in 2009, confirmed his exit in March 2022, just days after a new photo of the band without him emerged online on various digital service providers. At the time, he took to social media to share a video explaining his perspective on the split. In the Instagram video, Vega detailed the contractual issues that created a rift between himself and the group's core members.

Jackman is known for his work in Sacramento bands EIGHTFOURSEVEN, HORSENECK and WILL HAVEN.