In 1997, I moved from my home country Colombia to the beautiful country of Germany. To make a long story short, one day at school my friends Igor and Bastiaan where standing by the locker area talking about deftones. As soon as I heard the name deftones, they had my full attention. Bastiaan let me borrow "Adrenaline" and a few days later we went to see deftones at a very small club in Cologne Germany. The stage was literally below my knees, Igor and I where getting crushed since we where at the front row. Chino didn’t help us much, since he was using us as his stage for most of the show. This was the first deftones tour in Europe!
During their amazing set they where so loud and furious that the fans ended up taking over the stage. The band got scared and had to stop playing! Chino ended up climbing on the PA to avoid getting crushed and the only way they got all of us to get off the stage was by promising us some new songs from "Around the Fur". The next few days I thought I had gone deaf at the deftones concert.
Not even a year later, Igor and I went to see deftones at the Bizarre Festival in Cologne, Germany. This time deftones where playing on a huge stage, but yet again Chino used us as his stage and the constant waves of crowd surfers, who wanted to sing with Chino, crushed us! During their killer set the rain was pouring on all of us. Half way through their set the stage was one huge flood, so the band had to stop playing so no one would end up getting electrocuted! While the stage crew was attempting to dry the stage, Chino decided to come down to the floor area and started asking: "Who wants a little Vodka?" Igor and I didn't think twice and drank a few sips of Chino’s mix: Orange Gatorade with Absolut Vodka. Once it stopped raining, the show resumed. After the band finished their set with "Head Up", the fans wanted more. To this day many consider that performance, one of the best in the history of the band!
As soon as we got back to my place, we turn on the TV. There we are on TV with one of our favorite bands, playing one of their best performances ever! After we were on TV, people would recognize us when we went to shows. That is a memory that my brother Igor and I will definitely take to our graves!
Fast forward to November 4, 2008 when bassist Chi Cheng got into a terrible car accident. At the time the future of deftones was uncertain and for the next year they focused on raising money for Chi's treatment. Chi is currently in a minimally conscious coma and only a miracle treatment can bring Chi back to full consciousness. One of the treatments his doctors are using is known as "electrotherapy". As you can imagine, this is a very expensive treatment.
In order to afford to costs of such treatment, Chi's family started a foundation called "One Love For Chi". Thanks to the support of the fans and other artists, they have been able to raise almost $100,000.
What really amazes me is the support from all the artists within the Heavy Music community. The project that has helped the most is the instrumental song that was produced by Korn’s bassist Fieldy. The project, which was recorded last summer features: Jim Root and Sid from Slipknot, Munky and Ray Luzier from Korn, Dave Mc Clain from Machine Head, Robert Trujillo from Metallica, Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose from Sevendust, Brian "Head" Welch (formerly of Korn), Wayne Lozinak from Hatebreed, Wuv from POD, Mike Wengren from Disturbed and Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage. We encourage you to donate whatever you can to "One Love For Chi". All proceeds are going to Chi's family.
Deftones made the decision to continue making music without Chi, because they feel this is what Chi would want them to do. Sergio Vega from the band Quicksand is replacing Chi temporarily only. There is a lot of hope of seeing Chi back on stage soon; thanks to the treatment he is ongoing. This treatment would be would be impossible without everyone’s support!
The new deftones album titled "Diamond Eyes" will be released on May 4th through Reprise Records.
Here is the track list:
01. Diamond Eyes
02. Royal
03. CMND/CTRL
04. You’ve Seen the Butcher
05. Beauty School
06. Prince
07. Rocket Skates
08. Sextape
09. Risk
10. 976-EVIL
11. This Place Is Death
Here is the video for their new single titled "Skates and Rockets":
We want to dedicate this post to Chi Cheng! Keep him in your prayers and again we encourage you to donate anything you can to "One Love For Chi", even a penny makes a difference!
Related links:
"One Love For Chi"
Deftones Official Site
Deftones on MySpace
Follow Deftones on Twitter
By: JoSchuftan
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