Guitarist Sergio Vega commented on the reasons for his departure from Deftones , announced in March of this year, after 20 years with the band.
In a recent interview with The Jasta Show (via Blabbermouth ), the musician acknowledged the openness and receptiveness within the band from a creative standpoint, but never had the opportunity to become a full-fledged member of Deftones due to financial reasons, as this would mean splitting the profits five ways instead of four.
“But for me, even in my position, with my requests or negotiations, they never talked about that. Not that it was possible. Being halfway through the band's catalog, you'll never see money from things you're not a part of,” he noted.
Despite his long tenure with Deftones, Sergio Vega only worked with contracts. “It was never even about money, because the publishing rights were there, everything was fine,” he said. “[My issue] is purely about belonging, just about wanting to feel like you’re part of [the band].”.
The musician also pointed out that he received pay increases over the years, but the issue "wasn't about that." "Part of this strange dynamic of having a dual role—being a main writer, arranger, and collaborator, but also being someone who's being paid a salary—created a dissonance. And it's not about me, but about the whole thing," he continued.
According to Veiga's account, this "dissonance" translated into certain charges where he was treated like an employee. "It was like, 'Oh, you're doing [some project], but we're paying [Deftones]'. I got a call where they told me, 'We're losing a lot of money on storage space and you...' And I was like, 'That's the problem: I'm being compared to storage space. I'm a line item.' It's not about the money. It's just the dynamics.".