In the age of the internet, nothing stays hidden forever—not even the face of a teenage metal icon in the front row of a pop concert in 1990. Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno, appearing as a featured guest on the latest episode of the “World Cafe” podcast, shared a humorous story about how eagle-eyed fans recently unearthed visual proof of his very first concert experience: the legendary Depeche Mode “World Violation Tour.”
While discussing his formative musical years and the band’s tenth studio album, private music, Moreno recounted the surreal experience of seeing his childhood heroes live at the Cal Expo Amphitheatre in Sacramento, only to have that memory validated decades later by internet sleuths.
Moreno explained that while Depeche Mode had been a personal favorite since middle school, seeing them during their Violator era was a life-altering event.
He said (as transcribed by theprp): “I just remember it was the coolest thing I’ve ever I’d ever seen. I mean, I’d already loved Depeche Mode. I think I was in sixth grade when I got my first Depeche Mode cassette, and it was the album Speak & Spell, which is still probably one of my favorite Depeche Mode records. But that was the Violator tour. So that was when Violator had came out, and that was when they were considered like, pop music. I mean, they were on the radio, You know? They started getting played. Because before that, Depeche Mode wasn’t played so much on the radio.”
He recalled feeling a sense of ownership over the band before they exploded into the mainstream, thanks to his sibling.
“I only knew it because I had an older sister, and, like I said, she gave me that cassette, and I felt very privileged to be listening to music that nobody at school was listening to. I felt like… you know, they’re band from from England and it’s so far away — especially when you’re at that age, that seems like a world away…”
However, the real punchline of the story is the photographic evidence that recently surfaced.
“So when the Violator record came out, they came to Sacramento and the funniest thing about this is that that was my first concert, and that I was there, and I made my way up to the front row, you know? [I] was blown away by it. And somebody recently — I don’t know how they did it — but they got, they found footage from that show, and they posted a picture of me in the crowd, in the front row, like 16, in the front row. I don’t know how. I don’t know how they found it. They got a still from a video, or something from me being at that concert. That’s hilarious.”
Chino (16) at Depeche Mode concert 1990
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The interview also highlighted Moreno‘s deep appreciation for 80s new wave, a genre that heavily influenced the atmospheric side of Deftones. Beyond Depeche Mode, Moreno heaped praise on Duran Duran, defending them against their 1980s “boy band” reputation.
“And musically. I mean, I think a lot of people, I think Duran, Duran got a bad rap in the 80s, because they were [considered] a boy band, because they were all these good looking dudes. And they were kind of like considered a boy band, but musically they were, and they still are, very talented. And Simon [Le Bon] is a very, I mean, he’s got a awesome voice, but his melodies he chooses, and again, his lyrics were always captivating to me.”
Moreno specifically cited frontman Simon Le Bon‘s abstract lyricism and the band’s cinematic music videos as major inspirations for his own creativity.
“It was as a kid, I remember, because I would read [Simon‘s] lyrics and and they were so abstract, but there was a lot of imagery in them. And I love that. I just always thought that was very creative. And I didn’t need to know what he was singing about. I mean, obviously I was probably too young to really understand it anyways, but I just thought it was awesome how he painted these pictures.”
He continued:
“And then along with their videos, which were super elaborate and weird too. Like, they’d be in Sri Lanka in a jungle or something… I just thought it was bigger than anything. It was like, ‘wow, this is the hugest band in the world.’ They’re standing on this mountain somewhere, singing the song. And it’s just, I don’t know, I’ve always just loved that band.”
This admiration culminated in Deftones covering the Duran Duran track “The Chauffeur” during the sessions for 1997’s Around The Fur. Moreno admitted the choice was partly driven by the “risque” nature of the original video he watched as a child.
“I just always loved that song. And again, the video, I remember, I saw it when I was a kid, and it’s a little risque… they had a few risque videos, whatever. So I kind of felt bad watching… I mean, [I felt] like I was doing something bad watching it. I think there’s some b**bs in it, or something like that. So as a kid… It made an impression. But I just always loved this song. It’s a beautiful song. I love the instrumentation of it, the words, everything.”
He also noted that recording a new wave cover was a strategic move to distance the band from their metal peers.
“And especially during that time, it was probably so odd for us to choose a song like that to cover. You know, why weren’t we covering a Slayer song? Or, I don’t know, whatever. It was just weird to me. I thought no one would expect this, so let’s try it. We pulled it off, yeah we did it like in a couple hours.”
This eclectic taste is exactly what Moreno credits for Deftones‘ longevity and their ability to escape the nü-metal label that trapped so many of their contemporaries.
“I think the conscious effort that we made to just not do the same thing that our contemporaries were doing, or just, or to even tour with our contemporaries as much as it was expected. So we always try to do things a little left of center, from the types of records that we started making — especially around the 2000s when we did White Pony, I think that was when we really started our kind of departure of just being fit into a box.”
He concluded:
“I never wanted it to seem like we were like, ‘Oh, we’re better than them’, or anything like that. I just felt like I just don’t want to be… if someone else does something, I don’t want that to affect us, right? I always felt like I just want to stand on our own two feet in some way, the most we can, right?”
