Chino Moreno on The Deftones’ Next Journey: Vision for Crosses and Mexican Adventures

Chino Moreno is set to kick off a new arenas tour with his alternative metal band Deftones on February 25th at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. This marks the first tour for the California-based group since 2022 and will feature collaborations with The Mars Volta and Fleshwater during some dates across the United States this spring.

Simultaneously, Moreno reveals that Deftones plans to release new music this year. Discussing his upcoming projects in an interview with Billboard Español in Mexico City, he shares: “So the plan is, obviously, to have a record sometime around that time [during the tour.] It’s getting very close to being ready, so yeah, we’re excited,” referring to what would be the successor album to their 2020 release Ohms.

Almost eight years have passed since Deftones last visited Mexico. In Latin America, including Mexico, they maintain a strong fan base. However, during this period of inactivity from Deftones, Moreno was involved with his other project, Crosses. He and fellow band member Shaun Lopez concluded their tour for the album Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete (2023) at the Pabellón Oeste of Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City after a grueling year-long journey from 2023 to 2024.

“We made it happen! We were gonna do a full Latin America tour, but it was just gonna be too much time and it was close to the holidays, so we decided we at least have to go to Mexico City,” Moreno shares. It was their first performance in the capital city, providing an unforgettable experience for both Moreno and Lopez who had never visited before.

During this trip, Lopez formed a unique connection with Mexico when he took on production duties for Mexican trio The Warning’s album Keep Me Fed (2024). This unexpected collaboration led to his first Latin Grammy nomination last year for Best Rock Song as co-author of the song “Qué Más Quieres.” Recalling the creation process, Lopez explains: “When we wrote it, it wasn’t in Spanish. Sometimes when you do songwriting sessions like that, you don’t hear anything for a year or more. I usually think they didn’t like what we did or me personally. But then my manager contacted me after about a year and said they were going to convert the song into Spanish.” This unique blend of English lyrics with Spanish vocals made it stand out as “the only song on the album that’s in Spanish.”

With Deftones’ tour schedule for 2025 set, Crosses will take a break before returning to the recording studio. Lopez is eager to pick up where they left off: “I don’t know how soon it’ll be but we definitely want to work on more music. We enjoy making it and yeah, I just would like to thank everybody for showing interest in our project.”

Deftones has recently discussed the possibility of bringing their annual festival from San Diego, California – Día de los Deftones (which mirrors the Mexican tradition of Dia de Muertos) – to Mexico. Moreno confirms this is under consideration: “We talked about it a lot recently so it’s definitely in discussions to do so. We would love to do!” While he cannot guarantee its realization just yet, Moreno expresses optimism: “I mean, I can’t promise but you know, it’s been growing really great.”