Missed deadlines and million-dollar fines: Chino Moreno revisits Deftones’ “White Pony” era

The terrible death of former Deftones bassist Chi Cheng in 2013 was commemorated on April 13th, and in recent days, a number of sites have republished some of the band’s material. One such piece to resurface is a band retrospective that was first released after being published by Metal Hammer in 2014. In addition to discussing the band’s beginnings, their deliberate efforts to break apart from the nu metal genre, and other topics, the article offers an intriguing anecdote related to their seminal album from 2000, “White Pony.” Although it is often considered the alternative metal band’s pinnacle, it also saw the group diverge from their nu metal contemporaries, causing some of the relationships they had built up until that time to fall apart. The Sacramento locals received a platinum certification in the US as a result of their audacious decision to redefine the band’s sound for decades to come. They also won their only GRAMMY Award to date for “Elite,” winning “Best Metal Performance.” But it took a long time and a lot of effort to fully actualize that vision, and it turned out to be incredibly expensive. The band’s label at the time, Maverick Records, was worried about how long it was taking them to create that groundbreaking effort, so they gave them a deadline to deliver the record by. The label went one step further and threatened to punish the group $1,000,000 if they didn’t make that deadline. In the end, that financial incentive directly clashed with their artistic endeavors. The group was compelled to pay the money after the deadline was missed.

It’s true. They just took it from us. There was nothing we could do because it was our fault. I mean, it’s a million dollars and I can’t act like that’s nothing but at least people liked the record and it’s gone down historically the way it has. Can you imagine what a million dollars looks like?