Deftones

Main article: Deftones

With his high-school friends Abe Cunningham and Stephen Carpenter, Moreno started
jamming in Carpenter's garage regularly circa 1988. After Chi Cheng joined the three,
Deftones was formed. Within two years, the group started playing club shows. They were
signed to Maverick Records after one of their representatives saw them play in Los
Angeles. Their first commercially released album was Adrenaline (1995), produced by
Terry Date. While the album wasn't an instant success, extensive touring, word-of-mouth,
and Internet promotion built the band a dedicated fan base, as well as helping Adrenaline to
sell over 220,000 copies without the singles "7 Words" and "Bored" (as well as their music
videos) receiving any airplay. For 1997's Around the Fur, the band expanded its sound,
spending more time with Date, and giving more thought to the album's production. The
record was highly anticipated and propelled Deftones to fame in the alternative metal scene
on the strength of radio and MTV airplay for the singles "My Own Summer (Shove It)" and
"Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)".

White Pony was released in 2000 to critical acclaim and unprecedented commercial
success. Frank Delgado had become a full-time band member, adding new elements to the
band's music, while Moreno himself contributed guitar lines in addition to vocals. With
influences of new wave, dream pop, and trip hop, the album is considered a turning point
for the band in terms of experimentation. Singles "Change (In the House of Flies)" and
"Digital Bath" supported the album's release. A single entitled "Back to School (Mini
Maggit)" was released as a rap-influenced reinterpretation of White Pony's closing track,
"Pink Maggit". While commercially successful and a fan favourite, the band have
previously strongly objected to its publication, although it is unclear whether this is still the
case.[4] White Pony was subsequently re-released with "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" as
the album's opening track. For the song "Elite", Deftones received the 2001 Grammy
Award for Best Metal Performance.

In 2001, Moreno developed a throat injury due to heavy screaming and was forced to miss
at least four shows. He suffered inflammation on his right vocal cord and partial paralysis
of the left vocal cord. During the rest of their supporting tour, bassist Chi Cheng took over
vocal duties that required screaming while Moreno sang the softer melodies of the lyrics,
despite recommendations by doctors to hold off from singing to allow time for recovery as
well as rumors that the band would be cancelling the remaining stretch of the tour with
Godsmack and Puddle of Mudd.[5]

The eponymous Deftones was released in 2003, and saw the band being praised for the
heavy album's progression and originality in the midst of declining creativity in
contemporary metal. Moreno was quoted as saying, "It's all on record. We told
motherfuckers not to lump us in with nu metal because when those bands go down we
aren't going to be with them." B-Sides & Rarities saw release in 2005, bringing together
unreleased and obscure material accrued since 1995. 2006's Saturday Night Wrist was
completed after a protracted and tumultuous recording process, nearly leading to Moreno's
departure from Deftones. Later he said it had been "a seriously unhealthy experience" and
he "wasn't sure if [he] was going to return" at the time the band was on a self-imposed
hiatus. After eventually finishing the album in early 2006, Moreno claimed it to be more of
a compromise between all of the members' influences, ranging from their brutal and
brooding heavy signature seen on Adrenaline and Around the Fur to the more experimental
sound heard on White Pony and Deftones. However, the band saw a significant decrease on
the album's first week sales compared to their two previous releases.

Moreno with Deftones at River City Rockfest in San Antonio, May 2014

Deftones were working on an upcoming album with the working title Eros, when bassist
Chi Cheng got severely injured in a car accident in November 2008, remaining in a
minimally conscious state and later a partially conscious state up until his death in April
2013. In 2009, the group had recruited Sergio Vega for his replacement and announced an
indefinite delay of Eros, stating "... we realized that this record doesn't best encompass and
represent who we are currently as people and as musicians."[6] With Vega, the group began
work on a new album, Diamond Eyes, which was released on May 4, 2010. It saw the
release of the popular singles "Rocket Skates", "You've Seen the Butcher" and "Diamond
Eyes". In November 2012, Deftones released their seventh studio album, titled Koi No
Yokan. "Leathers", "Tempest" and "Swerve City" came out as its