Chino Moreno’s favourite Deftones song of all time: “Born out of basically two notes”

Posted On October 31, 2025October 31, 2025

Everything about the music of Deftones has been a beautiful contradiction.

Despite having detuned guitars and making some of the most disturbing songs of the nu-metal genre, their knowledge of mellow grooves and incorporating shoegaze elements into their sound have made them a favourite for those who don’t necessarily listen to metal. It’s all about keeping that balance, and Chino Moreno was always about maintaining both sides of the musical spectrum.

When Deftones were first starting on albums like Adrenaline, they were much more informed by the traditional sounds of rap-rock going on at the time, like Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit. As they moved on to different sonic textures on Around the Fur, they began to bring out certain parts of their sound that had been kept under wraps, including the pained croon in Moreno’s voice on songs like ‘Be Quiet and Drive’.

From there, Moreno wanted to aim even bigger, telling Metal Evolution: “Our early roots come from a lot of different places. From disco to the beginnings of new wave music. There’s so much great music in all these genres, so why not utilise the best of whatever you like and put it in and hopefully do it in a way that isn’t contrived?”.

In keeping with that mindset, Deftones added Frank Delgado as a permanent member of the group behind the turntables, bringing with him various soundscapes that informed their next album White Pony. Even though Moreno may have had problems with some of the first singles from the album, like ‘Back to School’, he did cite ‘Digital Bath’ as one of his favourite songs.

During the recording sessions for the album, Moreno had started to write songs on guitar, often trading different song ideas with lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter. Band’s bassist Chi Cheng wrote in liner notes: “This was recorded in the blistering Vegas heat at peak hangover time, early afternoon. It was a small, intimate deal, and I was glad we got to do this song stripped down, because I always hoped it would translate as well as it did.”

Although Carpenter was into the heavy sounds of their debut, the simplistic sounds of ‘Digital Bath’ resonated with Moreno, remarking to Revolver: “I like the fact that it was just born out of basically two notes and a drumbeat. Things that kind of happen quick and organically, those tend to be some of my favourite songs that I’ve been a part of.”

While the song has a slightly seductive nature, Moreno’s lyrics are some of his most twisted, talking about getting intimate with someone before electrocuting them in a bathtub. The emotional release towards the end of the song was also considered a highlight of their career by Moreno, going on to say that he liked “things that are made and not so thought-out. They’re just kind of a reaction”.

Moreno said of the song’s inception: “It was probably five in the morning, we were still up partying, and I just pictured this whole scenario of having this girl, bringing her downstairs and taking a bath and like, out of nowhere, just reaching back and electrocuting, basically throwing some kind of electrical device in the bathtub and then taking her out of the bath and drying her off and putting her clothes back on.”

For intrigued fans, ‘Digital Bath’ was one of many looks through the musical kaleidoscope on White Pony. Despite the mellow groove on the track, the band fluctuate through different styles throughout the record, getting aggro on the song ‘Elite’ directly after and bringing in Maynard James Keenan from Tool to add his signature flavour to the song ‘Passenger’.

‘Digital Bath’ is probably the easiest Deftones song for aspiring fans, but there’s always something sinister lurking underneath it all.

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