Yo V,
I don't have the scans but I do remember typing out the article on here back in the day...here it is:
Although the tentative title for the forthcoming Deftones release is Eros, drummer Abe Cunningham says the name (originally of the Greek god of love) isn't meant to imply that the Sacramento, California, crunch-art kings are serving up high-concept mythology metal on their sixth studio release. For the title's true inspiration, we can thank German TV.
"When we first started touring Europe a lot, many years ago, we would always be going through Germany and other countries in that particular area", recalls Cunningham, speaking fr his home while enjoying some time off, having completed tracking. "We'd be in our hotel rooms, and for lack of many channels, there'd always be some sort of German porn, and they would always say [in heavy, lusty accent] 'Eros.' It was just kind of funny, and it's been a joke for years. That's usually how things start; Just us goofing around. The working titles are all names of strippers, like 'Destiny.'"
The drummer says working to keep things fun is one of the keys to the band's longevity; the Deftones - which also include vocalist Chino Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, bassist Chi Cheng, and keyboardist-sampler Frank Delgado - have now entered their 20th year together, yet recording Eros they still managed to come to work with a smile. It's all the more impressive considering the group endured major turbulence in recent years, including some very near-breakups.
"We've come very close to breaking up, especially in the past three or four years, maybe even five years, while we were having some really terrible times," he says. "I thought the band was really done, and that was a shitty feeling. But this band is what we do. I had a minute where I thought, Well, maybe I could do something else, but it felt very odd."
One of the low points cam during the two-year process of recording 2006's Saturday Night Wrist, during which the band clashed internally and with famed producer Bob Ezrin (Kiss, Pink Floyd, Jane's Addiction), who never finished the album. When the tension reached a breaking point, Moreno took a hiatus from the band and toured with his side project, Team Sleep, leaving the fate of the Deftones undecided. Once tempers cooled and the singer returned, however, the re-tooled Wrist tracks drew praise from critics and fans alike.
"I love that record. I think it turned out really well, as difficult and insane a process as it was, and as long it took, and the amount of money it cost," Cunningham says. "Never again do I want to repeat that process; it was horrible. I aged many years."
So this time around, the group re-enlisted their longtime collaborated and master of the knobs Terry Date, who produced each of the released prior to Wrist, as well as Pantera's best albums. "Having him back was wonderful," says Cunningham. "We've done pretty much everything with him in the past, and he's just the greatest dude. It was very comfortable, and just good times."
Working on the new record with Date, in their hometown and in their studio, was a pleasant change for the band, especially compared with the Wrist sessions. From conception to mixing (which is being done at a seperate facility), Eros took about a year to complete, and the results, according to Cunningham, have "a pretty lush production" with "jarring, knife-in-your-neck parts, but with floating-on-clouds, beautiful things, too." Perhaps more important, it sounds as though this time the band didn't tear each other to pieces along the way.
"Wrist was a cleansing process for everyone, and we realized we're best friends. We're just dudes who've been making music for 20 years now and having a good time, and that's really what it was all about from the get-go," Cunningham says ."It made the process all the more enjoyable and easy. I think our future records will be much better becasue the line of communication is open, and it feels great."
Then there's a little blip that says this:
Vital stats:
Title - Eros (Tentative)
Release date - January 2009
Producers - Terry Date
Recording in - The Spot (band's studio), Sacramento, California
