Deftones released Around the Fur on October 28, 1997, through Maverick Records. Their second studio album captured a band growing more assured after the touring behind Adrenaline, with producer Terry Date helping them give that confidence a fuller, heavier sound. “My Own Summer (Shove It)” and “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” became its singles.
The pace alone marked a change. Adrenaline had drawn on songs developed over years; the follow up came together in roughly four months of writing, recording and mixing. Speaking to Uproxx in 2020, Chino Moreno credited the experience they had gained on the road with making them a better band. They had already made one record, and they could hear how much further they were capable of taking the next.
Work began in a Sacramento warehouse where the band had built a skate ramp. Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham and Moreno initially rehearsed without Chi Cheng, who was living in San Diego. Once Cheng returned, they assembled six or seven songs before heading to Seattle’s Studio Litho. The rest of the album was still waiting to be written, including its opening track. Carpenter told Guitar World in 2017 that much of the existing material had already been recorded when Date encouraged them to write more. “My Own Summer (Shove It)” emerged during that stretch, along with the title track.
Date also encouraged them to reconsider how the music should sound. Carpenter had wanted the first album to echo the punch of Metal Church’s debut. For Around the Fur, Date proposed putting more emphasis on the low end. In a 2019 Metal Hammer interview, Moreno described the decision simply: “we just had to let Terry be Terry.” They gave their returning producer room to shape the recording, and the heavier result excited the band. Cunningham paid attention to the differences between individual songs, too, using a different snare drum on almost every track. That detail matters on an album where the drums announce themselves immediately: “My Own Summer (Shove It)” starts with Cunningham before Carpenter’s riff enters.
The writing left room for restraint as well. Moreno pointed to “Mascara” as a Carpenter composition, challenging the idea that the guitarist supplied only heavy riffs while the singer handled everything mellow. He remembered the sessions as a period when their ideas fit together easily and neither needed to force a direction.
“Headup” added a different kind of connection. Max Cavalera collaborated on the song in memory of his stepson Dana Wells, who had introduced him to Deftones. Moreno recalled the session as uplifting despite the loss behind it, giving the musicians a way to respond together.
Around the Fur debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 and earned U.S. gold certification in June 1999. Its success also changed the starting point for White Pony. Moreno described approaching that album with the confidence gained from Around the Fur and a desire to explore beyond it. By the time the follow up arrived in 2000, the band had pursued more of the electronic rhythms and textures they were hearing in artists such as DJ Shadow and UNKLE.
