When you see Deftones play live, frontman Chino Moreno is an extremely compelling presence. He jumps around the stage. He screams. He wails. So it's a bit of a surprise to learn that he's always had a little stage fright.
"Every time before I go on stage, I'm still nervous," he says. "I think there may be something healthy about that, as well — that I still do have these nerves that work."
It's true. Anxiety often means you care deeply about the thing that's causing your nerves. Perhaps, that's why Deftones has always seemed to stand apart from many of their contemporaries from the '90s and early 2000s.
"We always try to do things a little left of center from the types of records that we started making," Moreno says. "Especially around 2000. We did White Pony. I think that was like where we really started our kind of departure ... I always felt like I just want to stand on our own two feet in some way the most we can."
Now, more than three decades into the band's existence, they've released their most critically acclaimed record yet. private music has been lauded as the work of a band who has perfected their sound while still finding new ground to cover. It's also up for best rock album at this year's Grammy Awards.
Today, Moreno joins World Cafe's Raina Douris for a career-spanning conversation. He talks about how the band creates soundscapes, how he overcame his shyness over the years, and how Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran influenced Deftones' sound.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.
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