When did you start the writing process for Gore?

“These were all written pretty much in the same way that we always do. We get together in this little room and just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. We’re a band, man, and no one really has anything fully written. It’s just the mood and the overall feel so we get in and bash it out.

“But we’re also brothers as well and it’s not always easy, especially after all these years. We’ve got better at being more efficient with our time and not wasting it because we’ve spent so many years just wasting time. There is a bit more urgency now. A lot of that came after Chi’s accident and then eventually his passing really made us have a better respect for time.

Chi’s accident and then eventually his passing really made us have a better respect for time.

“Getting back to your question, this time it was us in a small room just doing our thing. This time we did it a bit differently. Rather than, ‘Here’s two months to write a record, go write,’ we broke it up into maybe two weeks of writing, then we would go book a week of shows, then go home for a week or two. It took longer overall but it freed us up to be normal and still earn a living and still have fun writing and being in a band together. It’s really about balance for us at this point. You get in that grind, that’s very typical of the record industry, you can get caught up in this write-record-tour cycle. We did it for years. We’ve made it through to the other side.”

Is there a consideration with a new album that you have to give fans what they want from Deftones, while still progressing musically?

“We’ve always tried to do something a bit different each time. Even our first record, it was a pretty straightforward album but you could hear elements of things we wanted to try sonically and layers and soundscapes, there were little tinges of that. The second album was a bit more and then on White Pony we perfectly melded everything. There are some really heavy bashing songs but then it’s really beautiful making the perfect flow and mix.

“In my eyes that was the first time we achieved that. And it’s so important that we still make records, we try to make full albums. The intent is to have the person put it on and not take it off until it’s done. We put a lot of conscious effort into making things flow with the interludes and how it’s sequenced. I learned long ago that you can’t make everyone happy but you can certainly try.

“Quite frankly, we make music for us. We have to enjoy it. I’m thankful that people have followed us and let us go on our weird ways. I know people have been upset by it too but it’s got to be fun for us. We’ve got to keep it fresh.”

How does that come into play for your drumming?

“I don’t know. Stephen, our guitarist, and I have tremendous beef. Back in the day he and I would get together, jam everything out and get things going. Of course it takes the whole band to make the song but he and I would always, to the wee hours of the night, totally focus on getting stuff together.

Stephen, our guitarist, and I have tremendous beef.

“I’m not really a metal drummer. I love metal, but I’m not really a metal drummer. I don’t really possess the skills to do a lot of the stuff that he wants which has become our beef over the years. We’re brothers, I love him more than anything, but I don’t want to play that style.

“That’s what makes us us, too. He’s a rhythm player and he’s gotten more into syncopated matched-up double bass stuff and I don’t want to do that. Personally I don’t really possess those skills. But we’re all such different people, we’re tight as can be, but we all like different things.”