This photo story is taken from the fall 2025 issue of VICE magazine, THE BE QUIET AND DRIVE ISSUE, a Deftones special. We’ve sold out our copies, the only ones left are in stores—perhaps there’s one near you? Secure yourself the next 4 issues by subscribing.
Back in late summer, VICE sent Ahmed Alramly and photographer Bill Taylor to Los Angeles with a simple mission: to party with and photograph local Deftones fans, to buy them as many drinks as they wanted, and to find out what the band means to them.
This is a summary of what Ahmed and Bill heard while navigating the pool halls, dive bars, recording studios, and hillside beauty spots in and around the city, stories that essentially ranged from “they are just fucking cool” to more heartfelt thoughts on Latino representation in heavy music.
Nu metal as a whole would never have existed without Latin Americans. Latinos are historically well represented in the genre, there in the ranks of some of the Discman era’s most definitive bands, including Ill Niño, Coal Chamber, Korn, Static-X, Incubus, P.O.D., Papa Roach, Rage Against the Machine, Fear Factory, and a bunch more. Arguably the prize pig of the bunch, though they sit well outside the ‘nu-metal’ label now, is Deftones.
Hailing not from the predominately Hispanic Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, Deftones is embraced by fans across California and beyond for its Latin connections. The father of frontman Chino Moreno and the mother of lead guitarist Steph Carpenter are both Mexican (Chino’s mother also has Mexican ancestry, as well as being part Native American, part Irish, and part Chinese).
The band, for its part, has tended to take the popular Gen X position of shrugging off labels. When asked about their identity early on, their usual response was to say that they’re from a “mixed” area of California and bill themselves as, simply, a metal band. “I don’t think we really think of it at all,” Moreno told an interviewer in 1997, who remarked on them being “two Mexicans, a Chinese guy, and a white dude.” But they’ve leaned into their roots more in recent years, be it through their annual Dia de Los Deftones festival held on the Day of the Dead, or acknowledging the connection they share with fans in certain parts of the world.
“I notice we have a big Latin following and it’s awesome to see faces, familiar faces, that you don’t know, but they look like my brothers and sisters, my cousins,” Moreno told GRAMMY.com in 2020. “There’s this connection that’s there, that’s just sort of unspoken.”
Below, Angelenos tell us what role Deftones has played in their lives.
MIA
“You know, in Latino culture, music’s fucking sad. It’s heavy, it’s sad, it has a lot of strings, and I think that is a natural gateway to getting into emo and like, hardcore shit. Everything’s deeply emotional. It conjures up shit. You know, Deftones is straight-up crooner shit. Chino’s a crooner! It’s very much boleros and classic Latin music. I opened for Deftones once, and Chino came up to me and said, ‘That was a good set.’ I always loved that he did that.”
Amor (below, far left)
“My older sister put me onto Deftones—I was probably in like, sixth grade, and White Pony was the first album I heard. I love them so much. Seeing a Latino frontman singing the kind of music that he was, pioneering their own type of genre—people call it ‘nu metal’ but really they are their own thing—like, a Mexican doing that was really cool. Now, as an adult, I resonate to that. For me and everyone else who appreciates seeing Black and brown representation in these alternative genres of music, Deftones is important.”
Gabrielle
“I moved to LA 11 years ago, to dance. I took ballet and jazz classes, then fell in love with pole dancing. I’ve been dancing at Jumbo’s Clown Room forever. I grew up in Palm Springs and my parents were into grunge, so I always liked rock. I love dancing to Deftones. ‘You’ve Seen the Butcher’? Best song ever; sexiest song in the world. I’m dancing my life away to Deftones, wherever it takes me. I’m a witch, I’m over 100 years old (laughs). Witchy in life.”
Christian
“I’m 29. I skate, I’m in a band with my brother—we have no name yet, but we’ve been jamming every day since I was 14 and he was 12. Growing up in middle school, people were always like ‘Wassup rocker?’ I got in so many fights, but I’ll beat your ass in skinny jeans.
“Our backyard shows now are in the hood, so you get all types of fools pulling up. Random ass cholos just doing NOS. I don’t know my real dad but I’m lucky to be here, I beat all the statistics. My stepdad gang banged, and my mom had me at 15 in Inglewood. She low-key held it down, she made sure I wasn’t fucking up too much. With Deftones, it was just cool to see people do shit that looked like me.”
Creative Director: Ahmed Alramly
Photographer: Bill Taylor
Make-Up: Selena Ruiz
Hair: Anastasia Terebova
Casting Director: Alex Carranza
Featuring: Giselle Lopez, Mia Carucci, Gabrielle, Christian Chapo, Amor Morales, Andrew Bahena, Boogz
Fixer: Speedy
Intro Text: Emma Garland
This photo story is taken from the fall 2025 issue of VICE magazine, THE BE QUIET AND DRIVE ISSUE, a Deftones special. We’ve sold out our copies, the only ones left are in stores—perhaps there’s one near you? Secure yourself the next 4 issues by subscribing.
The post Angel Eyes: Why Los Angeles Loves Deftones appeared first on VICE.
