Maynard James Keenan of Tool participated in the creation of Passenger, and RX Queen was recorded jointly with Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. Moreno also stated that in the song Teenager they used some elements of trip-hop and electro - DJ Crook, Chino’s friend and his side-project Team Sleep bandmate took part in the creation of that track. In 2000 Deftones issued White Pony, which got even more interesting sound: Frank Delgado became a permanent member of the band. After the release of Around the Fur the band went on a tour and performed at several major festivals, such as Warped Tour, Roskilde Festival and Ozzfest.

It was well received due to such compositions as My Own Summer (Shove It) and Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), which are among the band’s most recognizable songs. They worked really thoroughly on that album, paying special attention to its sound. The second studio attempt titled Around the Fur was issued in 1997 and it brought a real success to Deftones. By 1999 more than 500,000 copies of Adrenaline were sold and the band’s debut album was certified Gold. 9 was covered by Korn and Suicide Silence. The first album Adrenaline was released in 1995 and after numerous shows in support for that record Deftones gained a huge fan base. During one show Deftones were noticed by the representative of Maverick Records and soon they signed the contract with that label and started working on their debut record. Later they were playing gigs in San-Francisco and Los Angeles with their colleagues Korn.

At the beginning of the musical career the band performed in local clubs. Frank Delgado became a permanent member of Deftones closer to the release of White Pony and he had been a guest performer on the group's first two albums. Soon they found the bassist Chi Cheng, and the band recorded its first demos. Later they started to set up jam sessions in Carpenter's garage. It was formed in 1988 by Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter and Abe Cunningham, who have been friends since the very childhood. The legendary band Deftones is considered to be one of the founders of nu-metal and alternative.

The deftones albums