Chino Moreno admits that Deftones rely on touring for a third of the year to make a living.
The 42-year-old says that forging a career in music is “constant work”, adding that he warns his musician children to have a back-up plan to secure their future.
Chino tells Radio 1: “I have to give advice to my two sons who are both musicians and they’re both totally different. One of them is totally punk, in a thrash, skate-punk band. The other kid is a DJ, an electronic musician.
“I’m very encouraging to them to have fun making music, but it’s really hard to ‘make it’ in music. If they want to have families, children and get married and this and that, it would be good to keep in school and be a kid while you can.
“I think it’s great and I like the fact that the music they do is very much what they choose to do. But I’m the parent now, and I’m telling them to have something to fall back on. I think it’s important to know that.”
Moreno recalls the startling realisation that the rock lifestyle isn’t always what it’s cut out to be as his own band were finding their feet.
He adds: “When we first got signed in 1995, in my mind I thought, ‘Wow, we made it.’ Then I realised that we left our town of Sacramento to go to the midwest of America, and we were sometimes playing for two or three people at night.
“The bigger myth about being a rockstar would be the word ‘rockstar’ itself – that everything is given to you, that you make free records and win a Grammy, you have a platinum record and everything comes easy.
“It’s always constant work. Even today, if we don’t tour for a good third of the year, we are not going to be able to pay our bills.
“It’s not like how people perceive it. You’re not going to get in a rock band and be driving around in a Lamborghini unless you’re Justin Bieber or Adele. You have to actually work to earn a living. ”
Deftones’ upcoming album Gore will be released on April 8 and is available for pre-order via iTunes. The band also made track Prayers/Triangles available to stream.
The band have a number of US and European shows lined up for this year, including an appearance at Download on June 11.
DEFTONES LIVE DATES 2016
Mar 05: Costa Mesa Musink Festival, CA
Mar 16: Mission Never Say Never Festival, TX
Mar 19: San Antonio Lonestar Events Center, TX
Mar 20: Dallas South Side Ballroom, TX
Mar 22: Houston Revention Music Center, TX
Mar 24: Lubbock Lonestar Pavilion, TX
May 08: Kannapolis Carolina Rebellion, NC
May 13: Atlanta Shaky Knees Festival, GA
Jun 03: London SSE Arena Wembley, UK
Jun 04: Mendig Rock AM Ring, Germany
Jun 05: Nuremberg Rock IM Park, Germany
Jun 10: Paris Download Festival, France
Jun 11: Donington Download Festival, UK
Jun 12: Nickelsdorf Nova Rock, Austria
Jun 14: Cologne Palladium, Germany
Jun 15: Berlin Columbiahalle, Germany
Jun 17: Aarhus Northside Festival, Denmark
Jun 18: Reykjavik Secret Solstice, Iceland
