The James Logan Courier

By Carla Meyer
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

SACRAMENTO — The Deftones' "Diamond Eyes," out Tuesday, is the Sacramento band's first CD without Chi Cheng on bass. Yet his presence suffuses the album.

"It's all about him," Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham said. "How could it not be?"

Critically injured in a November 2008 car accident, Cheng remains in a minimally conscious state.
Lyrics such as "come wake me up" on the "Diamond Eyes" track "976 Evil" clearly evoke Cheng. But Cunningham said Cheng's influence on the CD is less specific, more all-encompassing.

Cheng's accident and subsequent struggles devastated his band mates before helping them gain new perspective, Cunningham and Deftones lead singer and guitarist Chino Moreno said in telephone interviews.

They're taking better care of themselves and avoiding those petty squabbles that arise in any band, especially one together more than 20 years. They value anew their longtime friendships.
"Our whole appreciation of what we have and what we did is definitely put back in the forefront," Cunningham said.

The Deftones enlisted former Quicksand bassist and longtime friend Sergio Vega for some dates in 2009, the recording of "Diamond Eyes" and subsequent 2010 festival appearances and tour dates that will go on for months.

Before the tour, Moreno, 36, who moved to Los Angeles a few years ago, and Cunningham, 36, who still lives here, got together to see Cheng, 39, in Stockton, Calif., where he is being cared for by his mother and sister.

"He is making progress, but it is slow progress," Moreno said. "The main thing is, when you look at him, it feels like he is still there. I think as long as we stay hopeful and positive, that is the best we can do."

"We treated it just like anything, just like we were homies," Cunningham said of the visit. "We put on music, talked (smack), had a beer, just like we would." In the period just after Cheng's accident, Moreno, Cunningham, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and keyboardist-DJ Frank Delgado were unsure of the band's future. The answer revealed itself when the band mates met, after four months without seeing each other, at their West Sacramento rehearsal space.

"Instead of us just sitting around and talking, everyone just sort of gravitated toward their instruments," Moreno said. "I think it was pretty therapeutic for us to work and just make music together."

The Grammy-winning alt-metal band's guitars are as aggressive as ever on "Diamond Eyes." But some songs, such as the hypnotic "Sextape," are more balm than blast, seeming to reflect the therapeutic aspect of the recording sessions. Moreno's breathy tenor sounds better — and younger — than it did on 2006's "Saturday Night Wrist," the Deftones' last studio album.

The experimental band always has mixed hard and soft, but never as smoothly as on "Diamond Eyes."

Moreno attributes the sonic cohesion to new producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver) and a new way of working in which the band crafted near-complete songs beforehand instead of working them out in the studio.

"I think us going in prepared, and really confident, had a lot to do with how the record sounds," Moreno said.

His voice sounds better because his general health is better, Moreno said: "It just seems so much easier to carry out notes."

A slimmed-down Moreno, 36, is exercising and following the un-rock 'n' roll concept of moderation.

"I will have a glass of wine, but I don't go out and get obliterated," he said.

Since Cheng's accident, the Deftones are "just appreciating that we have our health and we have each other," Moreno said. "We are just trying to take care of things and be responsible."

They also have shown a reverence for Cheng in temporarily shelving "Eros," an album nearly complete before the bassist's accident.

"If we were to finish that and put it out, it would have been tacky," Moreno said.

"Eros" took 1 { years and cost $500,000 that they will have to pay back to the record company. But starting fresh made sense in every way, Moreno said. Vega could contribute to the process rather than have to learn new songs he was not part of crafting. And the band could figure out how to put the musical pieces back together.

"When a strong element like Chi was taken out of the melting pot of what our band is, it was kind of left unstable," Moreno said. "I felt like we had to rebuild the infrastructure."

Recording a new album after Cheng's accident also let his band mates "take all these feelings we are all going through, in having this happen to our friend, and put them into our creativity," Moreno said.

Musically, the transition to Vega has been "seamless," Cunningham said. But, he quickly added, "I don't want to take anything away from Chi. ... Chi is still here."

The Deftones always remind people of that. In November, the group held two benefit shows in Southern California with fellow Sacramento group Far, P.O.D., Cypress Hill and members of System of a Down and Incubus. Cunningham urges fans to visit www.oneloveforchi.com for updates on Cheng's condition and donate money to help Cheng's family pay his medical bills.

"It has been a year and a half, and people have their own lives to live," Cunningham said. "So we are trying to bring as much (attention) as possible" to Cheng's continuing medical needs.
"The dude needs support."

(c) 2010, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).
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