E ight years after the death of Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, a new spoken-word album titled The Head Up Project is being released with Buckle Up For Chi, an organisation created in his name to promote vehicle safety. The album, Cheng’s second spoken-word release, was Sacramento, California at the Paris Cafe.
We last spoke to Cheng, an inventive bass player and genuinely interesting guy to be around, all the way back in 2003, 13 years into his career with the Deftones. He was in a great mood, having recently met his idol Steve Harris (“I got a picture with him – I’m gonna get it framed!”), and keen to talk about the bass on his band’s then-new self-titled fourth album.
“For bass-lines, I like to get a CD of the guitar parts, put it in the rental car and go for a long drive. Then I hear them in my head, it’s the only way I can do it,” he told us. “Then I rush back to the studio and get it down real quick. When you’re subconsciously taking it in, and you’re processing it and you start to hear something over it, you’re not forcing it and it’s not contrived.”