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I caught up with Frank Delgado of Deftones to talk about their upcoming tours, the Diamond Eyes album and things like the band's lack of Pro Tools usage and the Eros album. Then we talked about his keyboard samples and his early years as primarily being a DJ, in addition to topics like influences and the Chi Cheng benefit gigs. Read the chat below.

Andrew: You have a tour coming up in ten days time. Are you all prepared for that?
Frank: Yeah! We've been home for a couple of weeks and we start up gearing for this run in a week. It goes all the way into the fall tour with Alice In Chains and Mastodon and so forth, so we're really looking forward to it.

Andrew: What did you do in these two weeks at home?
Frank: A lot of stuff that needs catching up as far as home stuff, and a lot of relaxing. So I'm ready to hit the road!

Andrew: You'll be doing some of these shows with Baroness. How much do you know about them?
Frank: I know Baroness pretty well. I'm a fan and I've got the Red album. We actually tried to get them for the whole run but it didn't work out so then we got a couple of other bands breaking it up. So, it's always going to be fun to be playing with new bands you've never met, so it's going to be a good time.

Andrew: Black Diamond Skye is going to be a huge tour. How stoked are you for that!
Frank: Yeah, you know, I grew up listening to Alice In Chains. Out of the whole Seattle scene, I think many people gravitated to Nirvana or Pearl Jam but I gravitated to Alice In Chains. It was always darker. So I've been fortunate to have become friends with those guys over the years, so it's going to be a fun tour for us, specially with the Mastodon guys who are also good friends. It'll be a really good time to go out and put on a good show.

Andrew: I believe you'd be promoting the 'Diamond Eyes' album on this tour. How many new songs do you think you'd be able to play, specially in your headline shows?
Frank: We'll be playing anywhere from an hour to more. We just got back from Europe and did a bunch of festivals and stuff. We were playing 7 or 8 new songs and that's an indicative of how much fun we're having playing the new songs. So I think we're going to try and mix all of our records but you can expect a lot of new songs too, you know.

Andrew: For this album the band did not use Pro Tools. Do you think that was a positive step?
Frank: I think that's just a little misconstrued. We obviously use Pro Tools, like everyone does, as far as the tracking goes, but I think what was meant by that statement was that we didn't use Pro Tools as a writing tool. For the previous albums we went in with may be six songs and the rest of it we wrote in the studio using pro tools as far as layering and ideas and stuff like that. This record is different in the sense that we were able to play the whole record front to back in the studio. Once we wrote the record and were able to play it front to back, we laid it down and then yes we used Pro Tools. I think that's probably where people are getting that statement wrong. That was probably the big difference for us, not using it as a writing tool. It wastes a lot of time and it's costly. The writing process for this record and being able to play it from beginning to end saved a lot of headaches, a lot of time, specially considering what happened with Chi and the accident. It was flowing and we were able to capture that.

Andrew: The 'Eros' album was put on hold. It's supposed to be a dark album while this one has a totally different vibe. How did the band come up with these songs in such a short time?
Frank: I've been hearing people say that about 'Eros'. I think out stuff is always dark, whether it's the lyrical content or just the mood. The Eros stuff was a typical Deftones record in Deftones fashion. 'Diamond Eyes' had a lot to do with having Nick Raskulinecz as the producer and also having Sergio [Vega, bass], new blood. Coming off that accident, we took a chance with ourselves and it so happened that it was working. We went back to change our work ethic a little bit as far as utilizing our time and Nick had us focussed on initial ideas for the songs. He made sure we wouldn't stray too far from what the bulk of the idea was like for a song. All that kind of worked to our favor. I wish I could tell how we did it because then we could bottle it and sell it, but it's one of those things that just happened. Thank God it did, because it could have gone a whole another way.

Andrew: You create your own samples. How long of a process is that? Usually how long do you take to create samples for an album?
Frank: It depends from song to song. Sometimes I create where I just build patches, other times I try doing the soundscape thing whenever I have time to do it. I can usually get an initial idea of what I'm doing and I'd be able to process a recording, but it happens really fast. It all changes. When writing a record we all get together, and a song, whether it comes from a drum beat or bass riff or synth line, it all changes form song to song. So that's kind of where I fit in I think, now growing as a musician and being able to play as opposed to just building samples. So I mean, it varies and at most times you know what fits and what doesn't. On this record, everyone was playing their parts at the right speed and time.

Andrew: Do you modify any of those samples while playing live just to create an atmosphere kind of a thing?
Frank: Yeah, I mean that's pretty much what it is. I use a program called the Ableton Live and I'm able to twist and bend shit. So I can take a synth line and morph it. How far you want to morph it is up to you. So yeah things are constantly changing but for the most part, I set it up myself in such a way that I can play it live. You don't want to be pushing buttons all the time, you know.

Andrew: In the last few albums, I've noticed that you've given more emphasis on keyboards and synthesizers. Was that a thing you did on purpose?
Frank: Yeah it's just a growing thing. When I first came in to the band, I didn't really know how to make full use of my instruments and turn tables and I took aid of the technology, but it was just a matter of time before I was able to build and create on my own. So I still approach it the same way, but now the tools are different.

Andrew: In the early years why was it that you did not use the traditional DJ techniques?
Frank: It was just me trying to create different sounds. I think when people initially think Djs they're thinking scratching and things like that. Initially I tried to simulate and extend the sounds, playing the sounds by changing pitch. For example, for a song like 'Change', I played the melody that first occurred in my head and it moved on to what I'm doing now. So, I knew what I was doing but I knew but I didn't want to do.

Andrew: The Chi Cheng benefit gigs have been raising a lot of money and musicians from various bands have been taking part. That's a great thing and it means may be a speedy recovery.
Frank: Yeah, people can donate at oneloveforchi.com and it's a costly thing for him that needs everyday care. A lot of people have come forward in trying to help so that's a good thing for sure.

Andrew: Who has influenced you the most, musically?
Frank: I think it's just everything from my generation. I was a big metalhead as a kid growing up but I was into everything from Priest and Maiden to hip hop to new wave, and then just meeting friends who would try to do the same. A lot of the time I try to take in everything, but I get a lot of influences from the rest of the guys in the band. We have to make our influences work together and it's not an easy thing. That's the one good thing that about certain bands I like, those that are influenced by everything but are not ripping them off.

Check out Deftones' official website.