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I’m writing a story here." Īlthough the band initially did not intend to include guest musicians on the album, it features additional vocals by Maynard James Keenan ( Tool, A Perfect Circle) on "Passenger" and Rodleen Getsic (simply credited as Rodleen) on "Knife Prty". There’s a lot of stuff on this record that people are going to question me about, and I can just remove myself from it. Once I did that I was able to sing about anything I wanted to, I could be a lot more general. I took myself completely out of it and wrote about other things. I made up a lot of story lines and some dialogue, even. Bassist Chi Cheng explained, "We didn't feel like we had anything to lose, so we made the record we wanted to make." Moreno did not have an overall lyrical theme in mind, but made a conscious decision to bring an element of fantasy into his lyrics, explaining, "I basically didn’t sing about myself on this record. ĭespite being pressured to release the album sooner, the band decided to take their time making the album. Frontman Chino Moreno explained that the majority of this time was spent trying to write songs, and that the writing of "Change (In the House of Flies)" was the turning point where the band began working as a unit. Īfter a break from touring, the band spent four months in the studio writing and recording White Pony with producer Terry Date, the longest amount of time they had dedicated to an album thus far. The album received a 20th anniversary reissue, packaged with Black Stallion, a companion remix album of White Pony, in December 2020. The album includes two successful singles (" Change (In the House of Flies)" and " Back to School (Mini Maggit)"), the promotional single " Digital Bath", as well as the 2001 Grammy Award-winning track for Best Metal Performance, " Elite".
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White Pony is Deftones' highest-selling album to date, and it became their first platinum record certified by the RIAA on July 17, 2002. Upon its release and retrospectively, the album was met with critical acclaim, and is generally regarded by fans and critics alike as one of their most mature outings up to that point. It was also the first Deftones record which Chino Moreno began to contribute rhythm guitar parts. White Pony was also the first album to feature Frank Delgado as a full-time member of the band on turntables and synthesizer Delgado had previously worked with the band as a featured guest on their first two albums, producing sound effects on some songs. It marked a significant growth in the band's sound and is considered a turning point in their history in terms of experimentation, incorporating influences from post-hardcore, trip hop, shoegaze, progressive rock, and post-rock into the alternative metal sound for which they had become known.
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Recording sessions took place between August and December 1999 at Larrabee Sound Studios in West Hollywood and The Plant Recording Studios in Sausalito, California. It was produced by Terry Date, who produced the band's first two albums, Adrenaline (1995) and Around the Fur (1997). White Pony is the third studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones, released on June 20, 2000, through Maverick Records.
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