no guitars for Chino

In an interview with mtv.com, Deftones‘ frontman Chino Moreno was reported saying that he won’t be contributing any guitar tracks for the upcoming album, and will only be contributing vocals.

“[Guitarist] Stephen [Carpenter] has been writing tons of songs, and he’s got some really great ideas,” Moreno said. “I don’t think I’m slowing things down by trying to change everything in the midst of writing it — I am letting them write the music, and I’ll take care of the vocals.”

Finally, some sense! Since their third album, White Pony, Chino has taken it into himself to write and play the 2nd guitar beside Stef, and the result was more than mixed.

Chino has a side-project called Team Sleep, an electronica and ambient band which is in itself a cult favourite. This side of him somehow seeped into tracks like “Teenager” in White Pony, “Lucky You” in the self-titled album and “Pink Cellphone” in Saturday Night Wrist.

This influence, although has progressed Deftones into an experimental act, and elevated its status as a gem in the alt-metal landscape, is putting me into dilemma. I want Deftones to stay Deftones. Team Sleep as Team Sleep.

This, in addition of Stef’s lack of input due to his obsession with online golf has made Saturday Night Wrist a hard album to finish. Combine that with numerous producer changes and creative clashes, they nearly spelt their own demise.

I want my favourite in the whole wide world to keep rocking hard. I want another Around The Fur.