DEFTONES Singer: STEPHEN CARPENTER Was 'Odd Man Out' During Making Of 'Gore'

DEFTONES singer Chino Moreno has commented on a recent interview with his bandmate Stephen Carpenter, where the guitarist admitted that he "didn't want to play" on the group's new record, "Gore".

Moreno told the New Jersey radio station WDHA 105.5: "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 that article 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."

Asked what he was most proud of on the new disc, Carpenter told Ultimate-Guitar.com: "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."

Carpenter has always been known as DEFTONES' resident metalhead and admitted a while back that he's not into the more commercial aspects of being in a band, like choosing radio singles. "I'm personally opposed to singles at all," he said. "I could care less about making a single, or a follow-up single, or what's gonna be the hit. You know? I just can't stand all that stuff, man. I really can't stand it. I'm not good at hyping us up, like, hype, hype, hype, blah, blah, blah, so singles, I don't relate to them."

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

"Gore" will serve as the follow-up to 2012's "Koi No Yokan", which featured the Top 15 rock radio hit "Tempest".