INTERVIEW: ABE CUNNINGHAM OF DEFTONES

Alt-metal old schoolers Deftones are at their best when they’re mesmerizing with melodic, dreamy art rock, as on “Sextape” from 2010’s Diamond Eyes.

But drummer Abe Cunningham says Boston’s Bad Rabbits not only nailed the song in a 2011 cover (released as a free download), they may even do it better.

“They slayed that song,” Cunningham tells DigBoston.

“They smoked us. They’re really good. They have, like, talent.”

Cunningham said the two genre-bending bands, while hailing from opposite coasts (Deftones are from Sacramento), struck up a friendship after playing some dates together, and recently rekindled the relationship at a festival in Bangor this summer. Deftones are back with a new album, Koi No Yokan, which drops next month. The first tracks released, “Leathers” and “Tempest,” are vintage Deftones – marked by crashing cymbals, power-packed metallic riffs, dramatic highs and lows and emotional crooning from vocalist Chino Moreno.

“It’s all over the place, yet all reigned in too,” Cunningham explains. “I’m stoked about it. This is what we do.”

They just wrapped a sold-out U.S. tour with System of a Down and now hit the road with SOAD guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian’s side project, Scars on Broadway. Still reeling from the tragic loss of bassist Chi Cheng (he’s been in a coma since a 2008 car wreck), the influential band has pressed on with Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega, continuing their reign as kings of the post-hardcore/alt-metal underworld.

“You see a lot of bands that have come and gone,” Cunningham says. “We’ve been very fortunate to do what we do. It’s something pretty special.”

“We have a respect for it that we didn’t always have before, when we were young. You grow up a bit and realize everything can change in the blink of an eye.”

Instagram Photo by Ink361 | Vancouver, BC 10.14.12

DEFTONES
WITH SCARS ON BROADWAY

MON 10.29.12
HOUSE OF BLUES
15 LANSDOWNE ST.
BOSTON
7PM/ALL AGES/$40
@DEFTONESBAND
DEFTONES.COM