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Interview: Chino Moreno of Deftones & Team Sleep (Pt. 2)

The Team Sleep aesthetic has that '70s washed out vibe, is that a time that’s always been really inspiring for you?

Yeah, anything like that is always really nostalgic for me. It really just comes from growing up then. To me, that’s what it looked like when I was a kid. All of the pictures that I have of my childhood, they all look like that (laughs). That film is all “Super-8” style. So it’s nostalgic for me. I love to find old videos and old footage from that era. With this, I’m trying to incorporate a lot of different elements. That stuff is really organic, and it kind of brings you back to the feeling of being in the 70’s and growing up [laughs].

It’s cool, because so much great art—both music and movies—came out of the time. There was something in the air.

I think so. It was also kind of creepy. A lot of that stuff really has a creepy vibe for me. That’s part of the reason I like it though. I like stuff when it’s very vague: any films, photos, music or lyrics in general. I’m really attracted to vague stuff that you really don’t know what to think of. For me, that’s a good feeling. That stuff has that fascinating seedy element too. It’s creeped its way into all of the stuff we do—whether it be via Deftones or Team Sleep. It’s in any music or video shoot we work on.

You’ve always been able to explore emotions on a transcendent level where you convey your feelings, but the lyrics are abstract.

That’s one of my favorite things about music and what I try to do. It’s taken from my influences, like Morrissey and The Cure, where I drew from that vibe. I remember I’d sit in my room as a kid, and I had all of The Cure tapes. The cassettes I had didn’t have the lyrics in them. So I’d play the songs over and over again and write the lyrics out by hand. Then I would just read the lyrics without the music. I remember thinking some of the stuff that Robert Smith was saying was so random, especially on Pornography. It’s very vague, but it leaves you with this feeling. He’s painting these little pictures, but in no way do you know what’s really going on. I honestly think that’s what influenced me to start writing that way. I didn’t realize I was doing it until I began to look back, because those were some of the lyrics I was really into. I based it on that.

What’s the plan for the digital EPs?

We have a lot of tracks ready. The quality is the way that it should be. It’s mostly electronic stuff, and I don’t think it should be re-recorded, because it sounds really awesome as is. It’s all going to be released for free online.

You’ve told me before how inspired you get from so many different forms of art. Are you going to branch out into other artistic avenues?

I definitely want to do more visual stuff. I also want to continue to make music for as long as I possibly can. Piano is one of my favorite things right now. I really want to try and advance in that. More than anything, I want to try and grow musically. Also I want to do video stuff. Scoring comes to mind as something I want to do. Possibly one day, I’d love to write, direct, score and produce a movie of my own. That’s an ultimate goal for me. I don’t how good it’d be, but it’d be fun [laughs].

Is it hard to still find inspiration after creating for so long and being in bands since you were a kid?

No, the music really is the inspiration. Any time I pick up a guitar or play a piano that inspires me right there. Two notes that come together will inspire a whole idea. It’s nice to be happy when you feel like you’re in kind of a bad place in your head. I think some good stuff musically will come out, but mostly you tire yourself living like that. I think over the last couple years, I’ve had a change in my personal life. It’s gotten way better, and I think it’s really helped me musically as well. Like with a lot of this new Deftones stuff, the writing we’re doing is probably some of the most expedited material. We’ve been writing, and it’s been going so quickly. Everybody’s been really open, and it’s been an amazing experience making our sixth record. We’re having fun doing it now. I think that’s the most important thing: to have fun while we’re doing it.

That’s why you play music and why you started.

The reality of it is that it can’t always be like that. There has to be ups and downs. I think the down period was over the last few years with the making of Deftones. That was pretty dark. When we went into making Saturday Night Wrist, I think that’s where everything just fell apart. Obviously, then everything came back together. From that point on, our relationships in the band have just been growing into something way more solid than they ever were. It’s a really positive thing right now.

—Rick Florino
12.12.07

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