DEFTONES are completing the mixing process for their as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2012's "Koi No Yokan" album for a tentative September 25 release. The band's keyboardist/DJ Frank Delgado told Diffuser last week about the songwriting process for the new CD: "This one was different. This one was a lot of starting and stopping, which I think is something we would've been scared of before." He continued: "For the last couple of records, we went in and we started writing and we didn't stop until we finished the record. This one we took our time and it was a good pace. Everyone needed that break to breathe, to go home to family. Now we're ready to be able to work like this. It allowed us to think about things longer as opposed to get something done by a deadline." Delgado added: "We're actually really good when we get together and find something that's cool. It's just a matter of hanging out long enough and waiting for it to happen. You can't really force it, know what I mean? You can make your environment as comfortable as possible. Sometimes a lot of things come fast and sometimes it doesn't." DEFTONES drummer Abe Cunningham concurred, telling Diffuser: "As long as the goal is there with everyone to complete something. Before, it's kind of typical with any band where you have your allotted time here's a month or a month and a half to be creative even if you're not. This was a nice way to just have breathers with family and just be normal." Asked how the new DEFTONES album represents an evolution for the band, or if it calls back to previous CDs, Cunningham said: "I don't think you can help sounding like yourself, and there's nothing wrong with sounding like yourself. We love sonics and we love the whole spectrum of it. From the very get-go, our first album had little bits and these things became more prevalent later on in our records, you know? It's a heavy guitar-based band but with so much more." Added Delgado: "If the songs come out heavy or if they come out softer, there's never been any set precedence of what we need to do or what we think is lacking, or what we think people want. It's literally just trying to make stuff that we like. It's selfish but that's kind of what's been happening." As previously reported, DEFTONES has tapped Jerry Cantrell (ALICE IN CHAINS) to lay down a guest guitar solo on the band's new album. Cantrell told Metal Hammer about how his contribution came together: "DEFTONES and I have known each other for years, and we're also under the same management. Chino [Moreno, DEFTONES singer] sent over the song file and I thought it was really great, cool and moody, so I worked on it that night and threw something down. He sent me a file of them jamming the song live, I sent it back with the idea I laid down, and Chino thought it was perfect. I waited until they got back in the studio and then came in and laid it down. So, it was pretty easy, and I think it's going to be a great song." He added: "Chino's a really talented guy and an amazing frontman, and they're a band that has a sound that's uniquely their own." According to Moreno, sixteen songs were written for DEFTONES' new CD, which was once again produced by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, CHILDREN OF BODOM, MONSTER MAGNET, WINDS OF PLAGUE).
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