DEFTONES Writing Process Is 'An In-The-Moment Sort Of Experience'

DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno was interviewed on the April 18 edition of "Whiplash", the new KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On why DEFTONES' new album, "Gore", was delayed by several months:

Chino: "Oh, we just like to shatter expectations. [Laughs] Nah. I mean, we never really, actually were too adamant on trying to get a record out [by a certain date]. We really sort of took our time on purpose making this. And we didn't… We weren't actually… I wanna say we spent a good year and a half, I think, from the time we started writing it 'till now, I guess. But we really took our time in that time as far as, like, we didn't work that whole time; we did, like, little short spurts of writing and then took a few months off and then went in for, like, a week. We all live in different cities now too. We're all sort of spread out around the country, so for us to get together, it kind of has to be planned. So, yeah, we just picked these little pockets of time and in those times got together and worked. There were a couple of little hiccups, I guess, in mixing and things like that, that pushed it back a little bit further, but, for the most part, we just kind of did it at our own pace, and it felt really comfortable doing it that way."

On DEFTONES' musical goals for "Gore":

Chino: "You know, sadly, we don't have any goals — I mean, in that way. We don't talk about what we're gonna try to do. We really try to make it an in-the-moment sort of experience, and it seems to be the most exciting way to make records. I feel like if we talked too much about it, or planned it out too much, or decided what type of record we were gonna make, we'd sort of be boxing ourselves in to have to stick to that. So we kind of just let it happen. I mean, we don't write before we get in there, as far as… everything is pretty much written together while we're all in the same room, and for that reason, I feel like it has this sort of live communal kind of feeling to it. Everybody very much shines, I think, in the right way. And hopefully, we do evolve when we make records. I think that's sort of important for us to try to challenge ourselves and try to think outside the box as well. Not completely; I mean, obviously, I feel like it's still very much a DEFTONES record, but like with anything, I think it should progress and it should expand on what it was before, and I felt like we did that."

On DEFTONES guitarist Stephen Carpenter's recent comments in which he expressed being unhappy with the direction of "Gore":

Chino: "We question ourselves, as well as others around us. I think we are pushing the boundaries of what we're doing. And Stephen, like, not understanding stuff right away… You also have to understand, Stephen actually wrote a huge part of the record too, so he's not just speaking like we wrote songs he didn't like; he's talking about the songs he wrote too. And also, after speaking to him, he didn't say that he didn't like it; it just was harder for him to get into and wrap his head around it. And I think that it a good thing sometimes too, because when things are too… When you don't have to actually question things and look deeper into things and figure it out, and if you're just going and following a formula, you're not really challenging yourself at the same time either. And because of that, and because he's brutally honest and we all are brutally honest with each other and sometimes with the media, it seems like it's a weird tension thing, but it really isn't. It's just us working through trying to create an art piece together that everybody has their hand in, you know what I mean? And people have different ways of approaching that and pulling it off. And us as individuals definitely do have different ways of doing things. But when it works, it's one of the most beautiful things."

"Whiplash" airs every Monday night from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the Los Angeles radio station 95.5 KLOS. The show can be heard on the KLOS web site at 955klos.com or you can listen in on the KLOS channel on iHeartRadio. Full Metal Jackie also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, which can be heard all over the country.

To see a full list of stations carrying Full Metal Jackie's show and when it airs, go to FullMetalJackieRadio.com.

"Gore" debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200, having shifted 71,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 14. It is the band's highest-charting effort since their self-titled fourth album bowed and peaked at No. 2 in 2003.

DEFTONES' 2012 album, "Koi No Yokan" debuted and peaked at No. 11 (65,000 in sales).