We did three and a half records with Terry. When we first got signed in the mid '90s, our label [Maverick] asked us who we wanted to produce our debut album. We didn't know at first; we were just kids from Sacto. I think I was 20 at the time. Stephen [Carpenter] was the one who brought up Terry. He had done a lot of records we liked, especially Pantera, but he also had done Soundgarden and Sir Mix-a-Lot. All the bands he did sounded different. The newest Pantera album at the time [Far Beyond Driven] was heavy as shit and we were into it. But we kind of tied Terry's hands behind his back on that first album, because we told him, "We don't want to sound like Pantera." He was just getting into some of the newer technology at the time, like Pro Tools. He'd just done the White Zombie record [Astro Creep: 2000], which had lots of samples, triggered drums, and stuff, and we didn't want to do that. We wanted to sound raw, we wanted to record to 2-inch tape, and we didn't want the technology. As a result, I think that first record [Adrenaline] is my least favorite sonically. For the second record we let him do what he wanted. We had confidence then and we didn't set any guidelines. I think that the second and third records we did with Terry are our best sounding. Around The Fur is my favorite sonically, but I think the third record, [White Pony] is maybe the best sounding.
What made you decide to work with Terry on three records in a row?
