DeFtOnEs
The interview was done with Chino and Steph in a cafè in Milan ,Italy ,on Feb. 10th 1998...

Me:You have been touring even before "Around the Fur" was released...how did the crowd react to the new material?
Chino:I think it was still pretty good.....obviously it wasn't as good as it is now that the people know the music,but it was still pretty intense.... Me:A few months after the record was released ,is there something you would change?
Chino:No,not really.There were songs that we were still writing when we finished up the record and i wish we could have put on it but as far as the record goes,it's fine,it's good.There's a couple of little tiny things like vocals or whatever that maybe I would have...
Steph: (laughing) He's never happy...
Chino:What would you change?
Me:Nothing ,i would have just put the lyrics to the hidden song...
Chino:"Damone"?
Me:Yes
Chino:We put them on the internet....so everybody who's interested can find them there.
Me:I heard about a collaboration between you,Chino,and Max from Soulfly.Could you tell us more about that?
Chino:After he (Max) came in the studio and did "Head Up" with us ,he called me about a wek later and said he had such a good time workin' ,and he'd wanted to do a project with me.I said "okay" ,and we said what we'll do is just me and him ,and we'll bring some of our favourites,just to collaborate.....
Me: You already have some name for the project?
Chino:No...we haven't even started makin' it....perhaps is what we are gonna do with the summer.In July we are planning on recording some stuff but....he has just started getting Soulfly together ,so there is really no time to record stuff.Hopefully we are gonna have some time to record next year...or later this year.
Me: You always try to promote new bands, bringing them on tour with you and talkin' about them in interviews.Which are the new bands we can look forward in '98? Chino:I really like Will Haven ,really powerful.Human Waste Poject,System of a Down....
Steph:I heard them (System of a Down) here today,we got a demo.
Chino:It was okay...Snot are cool as well...
Steph:We played with Snot.....and another cool band from Sacramento are Tinfed ,they are excellent too.You can contact them at tinfed@aol.com ,and they'll send you some stuff.They are really good ,they' ve been around as long as we have...if I had to describe them ,they are like Nine Inch Nails....but I think better ,because they write songs...it's groovy ,but it's a different kind.I' ve been listening to their tape as much as Nine Inch Nails ,and not to down Nine Inch Nails, which is awesome...but i like the Tinfed tape even more...to me it's more songs...there is a really cool groove..
Me:Let's talk about the meaning of the lyrics now...."Lotion" for example has some angry lines on it.Is there any particular person you are referring to?
Chino:Yes,there is....there's a certain person that i can't really tell...a person who fucked with me.It's not about a girl though.....it can be about anyone.
Me:What does the song "MX" means?
Chino:The song was first called "Max" ,because when we wrote the song ,the riff was similar to something that Max ( Cavalera ,Soulfly singer) would make.When we went in the studio ,Steph took out the "a"...and it's now called "MX"....
Me:We know that your main influeneces, expecially when you were younger, were Depeche Mode,Duran Duran and stuff like that.Which are your "new" influences?I know you are massive Weezer fans...
Chino:Yes.I like anything that has some kind of passion....and i think Weezer rock.
Me:You (Steph) love them too,don't you?
Steph:Oh man....i love them!
Me:Are you gonna play some covers tonight?Like "Say it ain't so" from Weezer?
Chino:I don't know.Maybe...
Steph:I think we love playin it...what it's hard about it now is that people expect us to play that.
Chino:Whenever we do covers we never plan to play them, we just do whatever we feel like.Like last night , when we played a Bad Brains song.
Me:You'll be busy touring Europe until March.What's next for the band?Any chance to see you guys playin' with Korn at the "Family Values" tour or on the Ozzfest '98 bill?What's next for the band?
Chino:Probably just touring back and forth and doin' a lot of festivals here, and then going back (in the U.S.A.) and doing the "Warped" tour.Many festivals, and then we'll be going in Japan, Australia and we'd like to go in South America as well.
Me:Mtv and radio have never been very friendly with you music, and many fans can have info about the band,watch the videos or simply meet themselves through the Internet.What's your point of view on the whole "Internet" thing?
Steph:Good.I mean, it's just another meaning like the telephone,like the TV,like the radio...but all in one.And you can change it and dress it anyway you like it, it doesn' have to be in a certain way.It's cool that people from around the world can meet themselves and talk about everything, not only the band.I think the people that are afraid of it shouldn't be afraid of it 'cause there's nothing really bad into it, it's definitely a good thing.
Me:Did you find any difference between european and american audience?Like the way of moshing...over here many people just jump up and down...
Steph:I think it's much cooler like that.People here don't try to hurt eachother, while in the U.S.A....I can't say all the people ,but there'always some dickhead in the crowd that doesn't even know what it's about....and they get into the audience just to get involved in fights.I think people are starting to realize that.When metal was really popular it was more like of a "pit thing", everybody was always running in circles and just being a group kind of thing.....and then you got everybody throwing each other around and stuff...
Chino:There was a kind of punk influence to it....punk and metal....and that's when the people started getting crazy.
Steph:I think people are starting to realize that there is no need for violence in the crowd, do it (surfing) if you like to have a good time, but there's no need to hurt each other, have fun!
Me:You wrote a couple of songs for two soundtracks ( "The Crow 2" and "Escape from L.A."), and you even played in the Duran Duran tribute album.Have you got any new songs written for some future soundtrack or tribute album?
Chino:We have a couple of songs that we...actually we have one song that we didn't put on our record and some remixes for "Be quiet and Drive" that.....maybe someone wants to hear.But this time i think we'll try to pick up a movie better, we want to make sure that it is a good movie.The "Escape from L.A." thing is pretty ridiculous...i like the song we did for it, but i think the film it's pretty stupid.
Me:And what about the part that you played in "The Crow 2"?
Chino:I think that was more just an experience.Our first record wasn't even out yet, and i thik that we were just so excited that someone wanted us to be in a motion picture that we accepted to do it.After it's done i think it was just basically what it was...it was cool to go in a movie theatre and watching yourself on the big screen.
Me:What does d.j. Franco do live and on the record?Is he the fifth member?
Chino:Yep.....on the record he does the sounds....like in the song "My own Summer (Shove it)", in the middle part there is a little sound....that's his stuff.He's on Adrenaline as well ,like on "Minus Blindfold".....
Me:And now, the question many fans were waiting for...Chino, what do you say in "7 Words" after "squeal like a pig..."?
Chino:That's the question i get all the time...
Me:You always change it?
Steph: (laughing) No.....
Chino:The truth is that i don't say anything ,i just kind of inhale....and i think the only word that i know that i was saying was "fuck"....when we recorded the demo for that song ,we had only written the song about a week before recording it ,and i didn't have any lyrics to it ,so i wrote all the lyrics in the studio and i just made noises.When we recorded the record version of it, i just copied what i did on the demo tape ,which is basically just the same thing..i don't really say anything...
Steph: (laughing) We can't tell you the truth or we'll have to kill you....


I hope u enjoyed the interview.....and remeber that you can read the whole Deftones story in the March issue of "Cut the Edge" ,which is on the Loudside of the Web.