Q&A with Deftones Keyboardist/DJ Frank Delgado

In late 2008, Deftones were finishing up their sixth studio album when a devastating car accident left their bassist, Chi Cheng, in a coma. Now the platinum-selling Sacramento quintet is back with a new member and a new album, Diamond Eyes, which has been hailed by everyone from Spin  to the BBC. Keyboardist/DJ Frank Delgado reminisces about the band’s early days at the Cattle Club and what it was like to win a Grammy, and opens up about the struggle of moving on without “brother” Cheng.

You were almost done with a different album, Eros, when Chi Cheng got in a car accident in Santa Clara in November 2008. What happened?

He was in a car with his family members—another family member was driving. Essentially the car overturned and he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt so he had major head trauma, which led to him being in a coma. He was in the hospital for a while under care, but he’s at home with family—they have doctors with him, specialists.

I’ve read that Chi is “minimally conscious.” What does that mean and what’s the prognosis?

I’m not a doctor, but it’s a state of unconsciousness. So he does have sleeping cycles, but he’s not talking or walking. Abe [Cunningham, Deftones’ drummer] saw him on Easter, right before we left on tour, and said he looked good. So it’s just a matter of being positive and letting his body heal and his mind heal, and hopefully he can come back to us all one day.

What was the band’s reaction when you found out about the accident? How did you move forward?

It’s definitely a blow to have a family member or a brother taken down like that, and our initial reaction was just to go and see him, see how he was, hope for the best. It was rough. He was busted up pretty bad. The following weeks and months, we were just concerned with how Chi was. [Eros] kind of came to a halt.

It wasn’t until a couple of months later that we finally got together at our rehearsal spot [in West Sacramento] where we had been recording the sessions with Chi. It’s not like we wanted to have auditions or hire someone new, some hired gun to play Chi’s parts. We had called a friend of ours, Sergio [Vega, formerly of the band Quicksand], and he came. There was no master plan, we just jammed. It was therapeutic. The fact that Chi was not there—you spend half your life with this person—was awkward, but we just wanted to make some noise together. We ended up writing a song. It was the second song on the [new] record, called “Royal.” The following week we rented a rehearsal space in Southern California and it started happening really fast. We were writing a song once a day, once every other day, and two months later we had a record. So we moved forward with [Diamond Eyes]. But Chi was on all of our minds.

How would you describe the sound on the new album [which came out on May 4]? One single, “Rocket Skates,” is fairly controlled and then suddenly Chino [Moreno, the lead singer] is screaming “Guns! Razors! Knives!”

Yeah, that’s Deftones right there. Anyone who’s familiar with our band should know those dynamics, from the real heavy songs to the softer, prettier songs. I think we’re just getting better at our craft and writing a cohesive album. It’s been a struggle for us to make the last couple records—it took us a couple years. This was really quick. You can feel the urgency in the songs and through the record.

Diamond Eyes is Deftones’ sixth studio album, but your big breakout was 2000’s White Pony, which won a Grammy and went platinum. At that time bands like Linkin Park and Korn were really big. How have shifting popular music tastes affected you guys?

There was this big thing people were calling nu-metal, but we didn’t want to fall victim to it. Because, those scenes, you see them come and go all the time. We wanted to stand out on our own. And White Pony  opened up a lot of doors for us creatively. So now it’s not crazy for fans to hear us try an electronic song, and I think there are a lot of bands that couldn’t, say, play a Warped Tour and then play a metal tour and then play a radio fest. But I think our longevity is because of the touring. There was a lot of touring, around the world.

So when are you going to play in Sacramento?

I think we are soon. There’s nothing booked right now, but we plan on touring for a long time with this record. Right now we’re headlining shows in Texas, we did a festival in Mexico, we’re going to Europe. The Alice in Chains guys wanted to do a tour together, so we’re doing [the Black Diamond Skye tour] in the fall. When someone like Alice in Chains calls you and they want to tour and you know you’re going to Madison Square Garden, you don’t turn that sh-t down.

Do you have any favorite memories of shows in Sacramento?

We’ve always done pretty cool shows in Sacramento. I remember playing in Capitol Garage once, the first Capitol Garage [at 15th and L streets] before they moved, and it was nutty. It was a special secret show during the White Pony  time, and it just was packed, we could barely fit the gear in there, but it was a good time. And back in the day, Cattle Club [on Folsom Boulevard; it closed in 2000]. Man, when I first moved to the area, like in ’92, it was the only place that was really putting on shows. It was crazy to go to this spot and there are bands playing like Deftones, Cake and Funky Blue Velvet. A few years ago we did a free show in Cesar Chavez park, and 6,000 kids came out. We shut the town down.

You still live here. [Cunningham also lives in Sacramento. Moreno and guitarist Stephen Carpenter live in LA.] Do you ever DJ around town?

Yeah. My buddy DJ Crook is probably one of the best DJs in town. He’s got a Friday night at Golden Bear and [every other] Wednesday night at The Shady Lady, and when I’m in town I usually pop in.

Deftones have come a long way from the Cattle Club. Was there any moment when you felt, “OK, we’ve made it”?

Winning the Grammy kind of came out of nowhere. We were all blown away being nominated alone. Otherwise, it’s always been the same—we write, we record and we tour, and we’re still doing that. And thank God. A lot of bands are lucky to get two records and stay together. We’ve been through a lot of stuff, and it still feels like we’re kids and we’re still making good music.