"Rocket Skates" is a song by the American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

band

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...

. It was the second single released from Deftones' sixth studio album, ''

Diamond Eyes ''Diamond Eyes'' is the sixth studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones, released on May 4, 2010, by Reprise Records. It was the first album to feature bassist Sergio Vega, who replaced original bassist Chi Cheng. An album tenta ...

''. It was also the first single released without bassist Chi Cheng, who was in a coma during its recording, following a car accident in October 2008. The single was recorded with former

Quicksand Quicksand is a colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a ...

bassist Sergio Vega, who played bass on the entirety of ''Diamond Eyes''. It was later released as a limited edition 7"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

single for international

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

on April 17, 2010, serving as the second overall single.

Release

Deftones began incorporating "Rocket Skates" into their live set list as early as October 2009. As part of a promotion for ''Diamond Eyes'', a free download of the single was made available for 24 hours on February 23, 2010 through the band's website, accompanying new information about the album. The surge of visitors trying to download the track

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

the website's servers, resulting in temporary technical difficulties. It was later made available on digital music retail sites such as

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and

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after the free download expired. As a part of international

on April 17, 2010, 3,000 copies of "Rocket Skates" were released in a limited edition

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

format with a "picture sleeve" supporting the unofficial holiday. The vinyl edition featured a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of "Rocket Skates" by French

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band M83. The remix was also given away as a free download to anyone who placed a

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

for the CD version of ''Diamond Eyes''. A music video directed by 13thWitness was released on March 9, 2010.

Reception

The song was well received by music critics, and compared to Deftones' older and heavier material. Amy Sciarretto of

Noisecreep Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. The site was created by AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an Ameri ...

claimed the song was "heavier than granite and very Deftones circa '98", while

Annie Zaleski Annie Zaleski is an American music journalist and author. Career Zaleski is a regular writer for mainstream media outlets such as The A.V. Club and NPR Music, and a columnist at ''Salon''. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio where she has won firs ...

of ''

Riverfront Times The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') is a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, in the U.S. state of Missouri, that consists of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galler ...

'' stated, "Calling it 'heavy' doesn't do it justice".

Track listing

Digital single # "Rocket Skates" – 4:14 7" single # "Rocket Skates" – 4:14 # "Rocket Skates ( M83 Remix)" – 5:45

Chart positions

Personnel

;Deftones *

Stephen Carpenter Stephen "Steph" Carpenter ( /ˈstɛfən/ ''STEF-ən''; born August 3, 1970) is an American musician, known as the co-founder and a guitarist of the alternative metal band Deftones. His guitar technique makes use of both ringing open strings an ...

–

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Abe Cunningham Abraham Benjamin Cunningham (born July 27, 1973) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the alternative metal band Deftones. Life and career Abe Cunningham was born in Long Beach, California. When he was young, his family moved ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Frank Delgado –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, samples *

Chino Moreno Chino Moreno (born Camillo Wong Moreno, June 20, 1973) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and contributing guitarist of the metal band Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sl ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Sergio Vega –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

;Production and recording * Paul Figueroa –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

– mastering *

Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, mixing ;Artwork and design * Frank Maddocks – art direction and design * Ryan McVay (

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

) – original cover photo

References

External links

"Rocket Skates" music video
at

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{{Authority control Deftones songs 2010 singles Record Store Day releases 2010 songs Reprise Records singles Songs written by Stephen Carpenter Songs written by Abe Cunningham Songs written by Chino Moreno Songs written by Sergio Vega (bassist) Songs written by Frank Delgado (American musician) Song recordings produced by Nick Raskulinecz