"You don’t go to therapy once and they tell you how to not feel a certain way." Deftones' Chino Moreno explains why his sobriety is a work in progress

Chino Moreno performing with Deftones in 2024 — (Image credit: Josh Brasted/FilmMagic)

Deftones frontman Chino Moreno has addressed how his sobriety has affected his approach to songwriting for the band's new album Private Music.

In a new interview with Revolver, the singer explained the song my mind is a mountain was initially inspired by the title of a children's self-help book he hadn't actually read, but when he finally did check it out it turned out to be extremely relevant to some of his own mental health struggles.

"The book was actually written for kids to teach them about their emotions and how there’s ups and downs, and it’s OK to have emotions — which is something that I’ve been working on as I entered into sobriety a few years ago," he explains.

"I started taking these classes and one of the classes was teaching you that it’s the most natural thing to have spikes and emotions in all directions. It’s all about learning how to deal with them and then being empowered by that as opposed to just being a victim of that."

Revolver then ask if he feels he's in a healthier place than he had been previously.

"Most definitely," he responds. "As far as like mental health stuff, there’s no fix. You don’t go to therapy once and they tell you how to not feel a certain way. You’ve still got to work through stuff, but doing it with a clear head definitely is like, whoa, it’s a game changer. It’s one of those things where you just say, 'Why didn’t I try this a long time ago?'"

Moreno has previously spoken to Hammer about his decision to quit drinking, having now been sober for three years.

"I was having a bad day," he explains. "So I went down into the garage, and I have a little fridge in there with beers in it, and I cracked a beer, and I sat on an ice chest, and my wife walked in. She’s like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘I can’t handle this, whatever.’ So what am I doing? I’m opening a beer because I can’t handle this. So I was like, ‘Oh, well, that’s pretty telling right there, right?’ So, the very next day, I was like, ‘Alright. I’m going to try to make a change.’"

Deftones released their tenth studio album private music in August. The album peaked at number 5 in the US, marking their seventh album to reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. The band will host the sixth edition of their Dia De Los Deftones festival this weekend in San Diego and embark on a full arena tour of Europe and the UK early next year. For the full list of dates, visit their official website.

Staff writer for Metal Hammer, Rich has never met a feature he didn't fancy, which is just as well when it comes to covering everything rock, punk and metal for both print and online, be it legendary events like Rock In Rio or Clash Of The Titans or seeking out exciting new bands like Nine Treasures, Jinjer and Sleep Token.

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