DEFTONES Singer Says CHI CHENG Would 'Absolutely' Appreciate Band's New Album

Ronan McGreevy of The Irish Times recently conducted an interview with DEFTONES lead singer Chino Moreno. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Irish Times: Your new album is called "Koi No Yokan". Can you explain the title?

Chino: It is a Japanese term which roughly translates as love at first sight, but there is no literal English translation of it. It is a powerful term and something that a lot of people are lucky enough to experience in one way or another. It is always hard when you have to describe a record with a name or a phrase. A lot of times our titles do not mean anything, but this one has some meaning to it. The record is not a concept record at all, but the notion of it is very powerful. I think we made a very great record with a lot of very powerful emotional songs that people can relate to. We feel pretty good about it.

The Irish Times: I detected a hint of MASTODON about that song. You toured with them in the United States. Were you influenced by them?

Chino: Most definitely, I love them. They are great friends of ours and great musicians. There are few metal bands that stand out from the normal, straight-down-the-middle aggressive metal. They have so many different influences that they bring into their sound and I really appreciate it. I know that people say we are a metal band, but individually and collectively, we are influenced by so many different types of music that it would be hard for us to put a wall up and say that we're just a metal band and that's all we are.

The Irish Times: Do you ever see a time when [DEFTONES bassist] Chi [Cheng, who remains in a semi-comatose state as a result of a November 2008 car accident] might pull through?

Chino: Yes, I think so. That's what keeps us going. It will be four years since his accident. He's still alive, he's still fighting, he wants to make it through this. It has happened before in a lot of cases. We do keep positive and hopeful. It helps us to carry through and keep going. It could be the case that he never wakes up, but the best thing we can do is keep a positive mental attitude about things.

The Irish Times: Do you think he would like what you are doing right now?

Chino: Absolutely. Some of the best times in our lives have been together as friends making this music together and he's a very big part of it. I've been friends with him for most of my life. I think he would appreciate what we are doing now.

Read the entire interview from The Irish Times.