Deftones Guitarist Stephen Carpenter Didn’t Wanna Play on Gore: “It Wasn’t the Style or the Sound I Was Hoping We Would Take”
Excited for the new Deftones album, Gore? Well that’s just swell — ’cause guitarist Stephen Carpenter, it would appear, is not.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, Carpenter asserts that “my proudest thing about my guitar playing on this record is just playing on the record because I didn’t want to play on the record to begin with.” Uh… what?!?
“When we were coming up with ideas and writing the songs, the stuff that was being written, you know, the other guys’ ideas, I wasn’t too interested in it. It wasn’t the style or the sound I was hoping we would take. It wasn’t what I was expecting or wanting.”
So what was Carpenter expecting or wanting for Gore? “I just really like metal and I love all the metal that’s being played now,” say the guitarist, suggesting he was hoping the band would go a little heavier with their new album.
And if you’re reading this and worrying that Carpenter’s public stance on the album may be a sign of trouble within the band, well… this next quote probably won’t make you feel any better:
“I would never leave the band that I started but the band started leaving me, I can’t control that.
“I mean, I have a great time for the most part. This record has been a struggle and we have got issues that I do not want to leave home but how things will be in the future, I do not know. But I know what I will do and what I will not do and there are some things that I will not do in the future because I just don’t agree with it.”
Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road for Carpenter and the rest of the band, and not a sign of ongoing troubles. Carpenter does say that “way later” he “actually got into” Gore, so that’s good I guess. But there’s no two ways about it: it’s weird to hear a musician throw his own upcoming release under the bus like this. You kinda hafta wonder what was going through Carpenter’s head when he gave this interview.
Something you don’t have to wonder about: Carpenter’s stance on djent! While the guitarist calls the categorization of the sound as a new genre “dumb,” he does seem to be into it in general:
“I thoroughly can get djent, I even have great appreciation for the bands, and I mean Meshuggah is one of my favorite bands. But it’s just not a genre. It’s just metal.”
You can read the entire interview here.
[via The PRP]
