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Deftones were one of the first groups to alternate heavy riffs and screamed vocals with more ethereal music and hushed singing -- spawning a fair amount of imitators in their wake. The group first formed in Sacramento, CA during 1988, when then high-school students Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Chino Moreno (vocals) first began to jam together. They chose the name Deftones and began playing out locally shortly thereafter, going through several different bass players before finding a permanent bassist in the form of Chi Cheng. Although the group was more heavy metal-based early on, the early '90s saw Deftones expand their sound even further, inspired by such groundbreakers as Tool, Rage Against the Machine, and Faith No More. A strong four-song demo was completed soon after, and it landed the group a recording contract with Madonna's label, Maverick. Enlisting the services of Soundgarden and Pantera producer Terry Date (who would eventually become a regular pr...