I'm really not impressed by Sergio's singing - in fact I think it's really terrible and I don't know why the band lets him sing at concerts.
I understand that towards the end of a long tour Chino's voice is starting to take strain from all the abuse and maybe he feels he needs some help at certain points in some songs.
However I think that no matter how tired Chino is sounding even if he's having a really off performance, he will still sound 99999999 times better than Sergio.
I would really prefer it if Sergio just stuck to playing the bass and left the singing to Chino.
It was a different situation with Chi - I loved his low screaming/growling and in his case it really added something to the performance and complemented Chino well, especially on songs like 'Headup'.
In fact I always wished that the band had included more of Chi's screaming on the albums - it really worked well on 'Needles and Pins' which is one of my favourite songs.
It just doesn't work the same with Sergio.
Sorry I love the guy and I'm forever grateful that he stepped in and helped keep the band together - I love his bass playing, just not his singing.
He has such a great attitude and I think Deftones needed a good friend and someone with his positive attitude to help get them through hard times and think they might have called it a day if they were faced with recruiting a bass player they had no ties with. The band has a new sense of appreciation for each other which is very evident in interviews and I think Sergio helps nurture that.
After saying all this about Sergio's singing I watched a live video of Deftones on Youtube the other day and it was the first song that Sergio didn't sound too bad in. I can't remember which song it was or the date of the performance so I don't know if it was a freak occurance or if he is indeed getting better.
What are your opinions - maybe you can post some performances that show he is improving, if that is the case.
I'm not even sure - is singing something you can get better at or is it a case of being stuck with what you've got?
All this talk about Sergio has also got me wondering what he and the band will do when (and I say when because I refuse not to keep positive about it) Chi finally comes back.
I think it would take Chi a while to 're-learn' the bass and Sergio and the band would probably have done a few more albums together by that stage.
I really hope that when Chi comes back, Chino will do a side project with Sergio or maybe include him in Crosses.