Never one to shy away from pushing the experimental envelope, Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno announced formation of the supergroup Saudade in 2016 featuring Dr. Know and members of Bad Brains, Crosses and Cro-Mags. After one track was released, reports have come in from the studio that the ensemble is now finalizing the album anticipated for a 2018 release.
Supergroups are always a nice treat, especially when you can explicitly tell that there is chemistry, cohesiveness and the music isn’t forced from the band members. When Chino Moreno made the grand announcement of Saudade’s activity in late 2016, the expectations were inevitably high. The full lineup was reported to include Chino Moreno (Deftones), Dr. Know (Bad Brains), Mackie Jayson (Bad Brains, Cro-Mags), Chuck Doom (Crosses) and John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood). Moreno has also previously spearheaded his other side-projects Palms, Team Sleep and Crosses.
While it was known the project would take some time to fully materialize, bassist Chuck Doom has been taking to social media to post progression as recently as November and December from Applehead Recording in Ulster County, NY. This project gained more traction and anticipation in the recent documentary release of HR from Bad Brains entitled Finding Joseph I. The documentary was a telling tale of the triumphant career, life and struggles of HR. Chino Moreno was tagged to the project (a long-time supporter of Bad Brains) and produced a track made available to those who purchase the DVD documentary.
[Related: Bad Brains HR Documentary Released to Theaters]
Chino Moreno dropped their self-titled first track ‘Saudade’ in 2016 and confirmed that there will be a full-length album to follow in the near future, confirming “roughly 12-13 songs written.” Perhaps the reasoning for the release getting pushed would be due to health issues from Dr. Know two years ago (don’t worry, it has been expected that he has since made a full recovery) and Chino Moreno being engulfed in a hefty touring schedule following the release of the most recent Deftones record, Gore, in April 2016. Touring will not be expected once the album is released, however Moreno did offer up some additional insight of what to expect from a sonic perspective for the forthcoming release:
“Most of it is instrumental. There may be some stuff with me singing on it, but mostly I’m just playing guitar. It’s just fun. At this point it’s not so much a band as a project. These are guys that I admire and I’m lucky to be friends with them – so we made a batch of songs together.”
The single that was released is entirely instrumental – sonically it can be described as mysteriously-dark and atmospheric before transitioning and building to a heavier movement paired with Dr. Know shredding a nice guitar solo. Stay tuned for more updates as soon as they’re made available to us.
Watch: Saudade – “Saudad”
Related Links:
Deftones Website
Bad Brains Website
Cro-Mags Website
Article By: Brian Glaser