Stephen Carpenter, the guitarist of alternative metal pioneers Deftones, has spoken candidly about his battle with Type 2 Diabetes, a condition he unknowingly endured for several years before receiving a diagnosis around 2024.
In a recent interview with Premier Guitar, Carpenter reflected on how the disease impacted him physically and mentally during the writing and recording of Deftones' latest album, private music. "I had no clue what I was going through. I'd just been so out of it for the past four or five years–all the things that go with poor diet and poor exercise, that's what I experienced," he said.
Carpenter detailed the struggles he faced while recording guitar tracks. "During the whole writing process, I was just tired, but I was not connecting how I felt to what I was doing. When we went in to start tracking the music, thankfully we got all of our scratch tracks done, because shortly after that, something had got me all messed up. Like, every day, I was just shy of crying from pain that was in my right arm. I couldn't even move it."
He added, "I did what I could to just take care of myself–at least as best as I understood what I was going through. And thankfully, when it was time to actually track my guitar parts, my body was feeling better, and I was able to physically do what I had to do."
For years, Carpenter attributed his health struggles to aging rather than an underlying medical issue. "I just thought it was old-man life shit," he admitted. "I was self-medicating, hoping I was doing the right thing, and always hoping things would get better so I wouldn't have to do any of that. But unfortunately, you can only kick a can so far down the road before you run out of road."
Now, with medical guidance and lifestyle adjustments, Carpenter says he feels more in control. "I'm very glad I got help. Type 2 diabetes was affecting me on a number of levels for a long time, and I'm grateful to have that information now and be able to deal with it. I'm also really grateful to everyone else in the band – their positive energy really carried me through that period of time, and really carried us through the making of the album."
Even amid serious health concerns, Carpenter found moments of humor. "I've had two MRIs in the last year, and each time, I found myself thinking, 'Man, how can I bring a recorder in here and record it?' The sounds those machines make are so wild. The techs were like, 'You can listen to music while we're doing it.' And I'm like, 'No – I want to listen to the machine!'"
