Deftones

Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter and Abe Cunningham were Sacramento skateboarding friends when they started Deftones around 1988. Chi Cheng joined on bass, and after years of local shows the band signed to Maverick Records in 1994. Their debut Adrenaline followed on 3 October 1995, produced mostly by Terry Date at Bad Animals in Seattle. Frank Delgado added sound effects to two tracks as a guest, the start of a long association with the band.

Around the Fur arrived in 1997, and in 1999 Delgado became a full member on turntables and keyboards. White Pony, released by Maverick in June 2000, was his first album as part of the line-up, and its song “Elite” won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2001. The band continued with the self-titled Deftones in 2003 and Saturday Night Wrist in 2006.

On 4 November 2008 Chi Cheng was seriously injured in a car crash in Santa Clara, California, and was left in a coma and later a minimally conscious state. The band shelved the album they had been recording, known as Eros, and Sergio Vega took over on bass in 2009. With Vega they made Diamond Eyes in 2010 and Koi no Yokan in 2012. Cheng died of cardiac arrest on 13 April 2013, at the age of 42.

Gore followed in 2016 and Ohms in 2020. Vega left in early 2021, which was announced the following year, and Fred Sablan was brought in as bassist in 2022. Deftones returned on 22 August 2025 with private music, their tenth studio album, again produced by Nick Raskulinecz and released through Reprise and Warner Records. The band kept touring through 2026.

Current line-up: Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), Frank Delgado (keyboards, turntables)