Sergio Vega on why he left Deftones: “It was never about money, it was about a sense of belonging”
nme.comDeftones, saying he left the Californian alt-metal outfit back in March because it didn’t offer him “a sense of belonging”.Vega first performed with Deftones in 1999, filling in for bassist Chi Chang on a tour preceding their ‘White Pony’ release.
After a serious car accident forced Chang to leave the band in 2008, Vega was brought as his full-time replacement. He appeared on the last four of Deftones’ studio albums, starting with 2010’s ‘Diamond Eyes’ and most recently, 2020’s ‘Ohms’.
But in a new interview with the Talk Toomey podcast (transcribed by The PRP), Vega alleged that he was never formally made an official member of the band.
He explained: “Over the years, it started to become like ‘Hey I would really like to belong to this,’ and whenever it would come up, it was really more like they were good with the status quo.”The bassist – who also performs in Quicksand, and has a solo project of his own – went on to say that his exit from Deftones was “not financial”, noting that although the band wouldn’t agree to include Vega in their formal business dealings, they did offer him a raise.
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