©ROCKSOUND (08/2000)
Interview: Rosanna Slater
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With the new album “White Pony” riding high, rocksound joins Deftones
frontman Chino Moreno to excavate the Intricacies of his mindset.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS?
Chino: Yeah, I believe there’s other life, but I don’t necessarily believe in aliens in the
way that other people believe in them. I believe aliens could be micro-organisms, if you
know what I mean. This is just one solar system and there are so many others that we’d be
idiot to think we’re alone.
WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF PERFECT HAPPINESS?
Chino: Numbness. A lot of times in life, day after day there’s this constant poking going
on my side. Whether it be alcohol or sleeping, it’s good to have something to take
away that constant irritation. Universal numbness.
WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF HELL?
Chino: Interviews. Ho ho ho! Seriously though, I’m very claustrophobic. I hate being in
a situation I don’t wanna be in and when I feel that there’s no way I can get out.
WOULD YOU PREFER TO BE DEAF OR BLIND?
Chino: Probably blind because I’ve already got to see what world looks like and if I were to
close my eyes right now, I’ve still got the memories of how to picture stuff, but if I was
born blind, that would be different. I most definitely wouldn’t want to be deaf, being a
music fanatic and all that, it would really suck. Music can really move you.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST RECENT DREAM?
Chino: I had a weird dream last night, or even this morning…What was it? Oh I remember – it
was that my wife and I were having an argument. When I woke up, I was trippin’ and really
wanted to call her but I couldn’t because of the time difference. I’ve yet to phone her, to
see what it was all about and whether she had a dream that I was arguing with her.
IF YOU COULD TRAVEL BACK IN TIME, WHAT ERA WOULD YOU VISIT?
Chino: The 1950’s because it looked like such a fun time, really carefree teenage fun. The
youth seemed like they realised they could be bad. Every time I watch old films from the 50s,
I always think ‘man – that would have been the coolest time to be a kid’.
WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ?
Chino: The Marilyn Manson autobiography and actually I liked it, I didn’t plan on reading it,
but I picked it up and started looking at it on an aeroplane and the next thing I knew, I
was getting into it and it was prettly interesting.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR?
Chino: Drowning…Plane crash…
IF YOU HAD 24 HOURS TO LIVE, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND IT?
Chino: Just with my wife and kids, sipping some wine…
HOW MUCH MONEY WOULD YOU HAVE TO BE OFFERED TO KILL ANOTHER PERSON?
Chino: I don’t know. I don’t think I’d kill anyone unless I was really out of mind. But then,
if I was completely out of mind – money probably wouldn’t be any good to me, anyway!
WHAT IS THE ONE MATERIAL POSSESSION YOU COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT?
Chino: Probably my belt, I don’t know why. I need a belt every day. If I have no belt – I have
no pants.
WHAT’S THE WORST CRMINAL ACTIVITY YOU’VE EVER BEEN INVOLVED?
Chino: When I was younger, I stole some explosives from this old Vietnam veteran who lived
across the street and he had this shed at the back of his property and my friends and I
broke into it. We found all these explosives from the war and were lightning them off and
shit outside the house. The fucking bomb squad and everybody came. It was really funny.
Thankfully my dad got me out of trouble somehow and I talked my way out of it.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A GHOST OR HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE?
Chino: Yes. Recording the record I saw something at this house we were staying at in Hollywood.
It was haunted and scary as hell. One morning I woke up and I saw something floating in the
left hand corner of the room. I was like ‘Nah! That shit ain’t fuckin’ there’ – so I shut my
eyes but when I looked again – I saw the same thing but it had moved a little bit. I couldn’t
tell what it was but I could tell it was looking at me. I had this uncomfortable feeling, so I
fuckin’ stood and walked out of the room. I didn’t really tell anyone about it until Abe told
me a story about the same kinda shit. The guys from Orgy were staying at the house before us
and when they heard we’d stayed there, they were like ‘did any crazy shit happened to you?’
and they started telling us what they’d experienced.
WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING SITUATION YOU’VE EVER BEEN INVOLVED IN?
Chino: Being caught in a lie, maybe. I hate liars, I hate deceit, but sometimes I lie, but I
don’t realise I’m doing it. It’s embarrassing and it can happen to anybody.
WHAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL EMOTION, LOVE OR HATE?
Chino: Love, definitely. Hate is easier because love is harder to maintain. But saying that,
to me, even hate is hard to maintain.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?
Chino: Not really. I believe in spirituality but I don’t know if I believe in reincarnation
and that I’m gonna have another life after this one.
DO YOU SURF ON THE INTERNET?
Chino: No, not too much – I don’t own a computer. I’m very computer illiterate.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN?
Chino: The biggest cliché my parents always enforced on me was that if you put your mind to
it, you can do anything you want – and it’s true as well, I think a lot of it has to do with
confidence. Confidence is one of the most important things in your life and with it, you can
do pretty much anything you want.
WHAT WILL YOUR EPITAPH SAY?
Chino: It would probably be something funny – rather than be too serious. Ask me again when
I’m not so high!
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