Deftones may have come up during the nu metal explosion of the late 90s
but they always stood apart.
Whiler they loved Faith No More and Primus as much as their contemporaries
their sound was just as indebted to the Smashing Pumpkins, Jawbox and even The Smiths.
Alongside this was a fierce intelligence and experimental streak
that further separated them from the pack.
And this fully came to the fore with their third album, 2000's White Pony.
Led by the album's only true single, "Change (In The House of Flies),"
it took heavy music and Deftones into wholly new territory.
Though their fanbase didn't get it straight away, it would be their defining work.
But how did Deftones go beyond nu metal?
This is the story of White Pony.
Formed in Sacramento, California in 1988,
Deftones consisted of Stephen Carpenter on guitar, Chi Cheng on bass,
Abe Cunningham on drums and Chino Moreno on vocals.
They signed to Madonna's Maverick label in 1994, preempting the new wave of heavy metal music,
before releasing their debut Adrenaline in 1995.
It went gold in the US, as did their follow-up, 1997's Around The Fur,
but only due to their relentless touring schedule.
Their sole charting single, the swooning "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)"
had climbed to number 39 on the Modern Rock Chart.
Beyond the frantic heaviness of their debut and a track like "7 Words,"
"Be Quiet..." showed a more nuanced take on the band's sound
and hinted at the shape of things to come.
As Deftones were becoming one of the most exciting heavy acts in America,
other metal bands with an affection for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine
and the works of Mike Patton were bothering the mainstream.
Korn were the first to enter the public consciousness,
before Coal Chamber, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot joining them.
And because they were heavy, playing Ozzfest and talking up Faith No more in interviews,
Deftones got lumped into the mix,
which they were less than happy about.
They had issues with this nu metal.
Before headlong diving into LP 3 the band had bits and pieces to get them started,
the most significant being the track "Korea,"
which they had debuted during their Ozzfest shows in summer 1999.
The chorus alludes to the album title Moreno had already dreamed up:
As 1999 wore on, while Deftones were still riding high,
they had been promoting Around The Fur for two years straight.
They were tired but they knew their next release would be critical for the band
and potentially their future legacy;
their true test to show they weren't just Korn-lite torment-merchants.
They needed to go beyond nu metal.
Coming off a short break and not wanting to rush anything,
in August 1999 Deftones rented houseboats in Sausalito, California
to start work at The Record Plant.
Though they talked to Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and Rick Rubin about producing,
the band stuck with Terry Date who'd produced their previous two albums
as well as career-defining work by Pantera and Soundgarden.
All in all, Deftones took four months to record White Pony
twice the time as Around The Fur.
Some of this was down to half the record being written in studio,
but their distractions were numerous:
mimosa sessions, extended bike rides
and most prominently the group often became glued to the studio's Playstation setup.
While the extracurricular activities gave the sessions a laid-back vibe,
the band not really caring about time pressure as their label was paying for everything,
there was some minor inter-band tension.
In an effort to further his creative input in the band,
Moreno had started learning how to play guitar while on break.
At first this didn't sit right with Carpenter, Moreno stepping on his turf.
But after writing "Change (In The House of Flies)" together, things began to click.
Musically the album is more diverse than what came before
with "Elite" and "Street Carp" pushing the heaviness
contrasted with "Teenager" and "Digital Bath,"
the record is most melodically inclined, adding ambience to their punishing guitar crunch,
and swirls of dream pop, trip hop, shoegaze and post rock to their alternative metal.
Meshuggah, the Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, Jawbox, Faith No More and Tool
were all mentioned to be influences in interview.
The free-wheeling "Passenger" even has the latter group's frontman,
Maynard James Keenan guesting on vocals:
The guest spots didn't end there.
Stone Temple Pilot's Scott Weiland, newly freed on probation, supplied chorus harmonies on "RX Queen:"
and Rodleen Getsic, whom Moreno had met playing pool in the studio lounge,
furnished "Knife Prty" with her operatic sing-screaming:
The inspiration for "Knife Prty" came from an unusual occurrence on tour:
Thematically the whole album is more dreamly nightmarish than their previous output,
with scenarios shifting from murderous sexual fantasies, grimy limo backseat tales
and horrorshow love ballads.
Moreno has stated in the past that he learnt how to write lyrics from trying to decipher
what Robert Smith was singing on The Cure's Pornography album
and that almost graspable somnambulistic lyricism is present all through White Pony.
While having toured with the band and added guest textures onto their first two albums,
Frank Delgado became an official member of Deftones just before the recording of White Pony.
As such his presence is felt a lot more readily.
Unlike the percussive scratching of Limp Bizkit's DJ Lethal:
Delgado uses his instrument as a sampler and replacement synthesizer.
"Change (In The House of Flies)" is the track that truly paved the way for the rest of the album,
the point where its sound came together.
Its creeping slowburn
that wormed to a crushingly cathartic chorus
was built around ambient washes, the band's now dual-guitar attack and a Cure-esque atmosphere.
As impactful as the demo had been,
it wasn't until Moreno added vocals at Larrabee Sound in West Hollywood
that it made itself the obvious first single:
Moreno's process for lyrics would be to loop the instrumental of a song
and mushmouth a potential melody until words would come to him.
Larrabee was initially booked for two weeks for Moreno's vocals
but not having any lyrics written beforehand it took him two full months to complete.
During their time at Larrabee the group moved into a supposedly haunted mansion,
formerly owned by Chuck Berry.
But because of the chilling atmosphere Moreno moved into a motel after a week.
The move to Hollywood increased the partying that partially fueled the album,
cocaine and strippers being of particular interest.
White Pony was released in June 2000
and peaked at career-best number three in the Billboard Album Charts.
Such was the anticipation for the album,
the day it came out the band played "Change..." on David Letterman.
The song would also reach number three in the Alternative Charts.
Despite this their fans took a while to warm to the album,
being that it lacked the relentless heaviness and rhythmic vocal attack of their previous work.
It sold well but not as well as the new releases by Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach.
Their label Maverick wanted Deftones to be their Limp Bizkit.
Feeling that the album lacked a second single, the label didn't release one,
and instead requested Deftones create something a bit more in vogue with rap verses and hit potential.
The last track on White Pony was the monolithic "Pink Maggit"
which takes its name from the Doctor Dooom track, "No Chorus":
At seven minutes in length, "Pink Maggit" was not the obvious choice for single number two,
but the label had their own ideas:
Dubbed "Back To School (Mini Maggit)," the label loved the new track so much
they released it as a single in January 2001.
Its on-the-nose video featuring Moreno and the rest of the Deftones disrupting a school day
was directed by Paul Hunter who'd previously made Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize"
and Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show" clips.
Despite the video's now iconic status, the song itself barely scratched the top 40 of the US Alternative Charts.
It was no "Nookie"-style hit.
Also much to the group's dismay, a 2001 re-release of White Pony
featured "Back To School" as track 1,
a position where it remains on most streaming platforms.
In the face of label fuckery, White Pony has endured.
Back in 2000, Kerang! ranked it third best album of the year
behind Queens of the Stone Age's Rated R and At The Drive-In's Relationship of Command.
It is now arguable that White Pony has surpassed those landmarks of rock
and become one of the most important heavy music albums of the 21st Century.
White Pony's afterlife story is similar to the way that Faith No More's Angel Dust was deemed lesser
than The Real Thing on release,
its awkward complexity, lurches in genre and jagged beauty
too much for those that just wanted "Epic" again,
but in time superseded it in sheer impact on the rock landscape
At first Deftones fanbase were unsure about these additional layers of ambience, shoegaze and post rock
but now White Pony stands as their definitive release.
Its complex and adversarial take on heavy music
has inspired the whisper-to-a-scream dynamics of Rolo Tomassi,
the metallic shoegaze of Deafheaven,
the intelligent post-hardcore of Thursday,
and even the hard-hitting electro-ambience of CHVRCHES,
plus countless others.
White Pony would be the perfect cult album story,
if it wasn't for the fact that it is Deftones' biggest selling album.
It was also the point where they truly separated from the more pop-accepted likes
of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Papa Roach,
making the conscious decision to not tour with these groups,
even though it would have increased their profile in the short term:
With White Pony the band had metamorphosed,
no longer nu metal, we watched them change into something entirely their own.
Two decades on they remain outside of any scene or movement but golden all the same.
Still Deftones ride on.
Thanks for watching.
What's your favourite track off White Pony?
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