6. Hum – You’d Prefer An Astronaut
They’re a band from near Chicago. This is a heavy record, and it’s where Deftones get a big part of our influence from, tone-wise. There are these huge chords going on, a huge backbeat, rolling basslines going on underneath, a lot of that has directly inspired certain songs. There’s a wall of sound guitar, it’s heavy and even bombastic in a way, but it’s produced very well. We approached the producer about doing something for us, I think around our first or second record. I think the vocals are an acquired taste, he didn’t have the best singing voice and he talk-sings, but the lyrics are very scientific, he sings about the stars and astrophysics, really odd topics, but the songs are really warm, there’s a romantic vibe there as well. I knew I had to pick some records that inspired us that were older records, and this is one – I listen to this now and it’s stood the test of time, and Deftones were definitely influenced by it.
