In the lead-up to this weekend’s Dia De Los Deftones festival in San Diego, California, Revolver reached out to some of the heaviest hitters from Dias past — including CHVRCHES vocalist Lauren Mayberry —to reflect on Deftones and their annual music celebration.
What do Deftones mean to you?
Lauren Mayberry I think, as a fan, something I really loved about Deftones is that they never felt like they really fit into a specific scene. Especially as a young female fan, I felt a lot more drawn to Deftones than a lot of other heavy bands that were around at that time. In any interview you read with Chino [Moreno], he talks about how much he loves pop music and how much he loves Eighties synths.
Deftones always felt really not gatekeep-y and there wasn’t that kind of machismo surrounding them that did feel like it was surrounding a lot of other bands at that time. Even if that wasn’t conscious or intentional of those bands, it did feel like you were excluded from certain things when you’re a young girl, even going to shows or listening to records.
I’ve always felt like CHVRCHES and Deftones both sort of fit in this middle ground of genre. Like, you’re not exactly pop or electronic or dance music. They’re not exactly nu-metal or shoegaze or anything else. You both make music in the margins and that’s kind of the juice of both bands.
Yeah, I feel like that’s kind of the blessing and the curse of the band — that it’s hard to pigeonhole sometimes. I feel like sometimes that’s been difficult in terms of playlisting or radio or whatever, because they’re like, “It’s not pop enough for some stations or alt enough for others.” But yeah, we definitely pull from the same playbook that Chino references from the Eighties and Nineties. Deftones have always been running their own race and making what they want to make. And if fucking “Digital Bath” came out right now, I think people would be just as excited about it because it is so unique.
What was playing Dia De Los Deftones like?
It was really good. It was really fun. They’ve been doing it for so long and it has a really nice energy to it. I feel like you’ve got to be pretty hardcore to be going to the Dia De Los Deftones. It just felt really celebratory… There’s just so much genuine love for that band, and I think it’s really lovely to be old enough to have seen it. I don’t know the stats, but it feels to me like they’re bigger than they’ve ever been and I think that’s fucking awesome.
What’s your favorite Deftones song?
I mean this is probably very basic of me, but I was going to say it’s a toss-up between “Change” and “Digital Bath.” Probably drum stuff, man — the former teenage drummer in me. Those are the ones, probably, and I feel like whenever that drum fill starts in a live show, everybody’s heads just come off.