chino moreno, hayley williams
[Shutterstock/Jawn Rocha]

Flashback: Deftones bring out Paramore’s Hayley Williams onstage for “Passenger”

This is Flashback, where we’re reminiscing about some of the most iconic and obscure moments in alt-rock history. This week, we’re looking at when Hayley Williams joined Deftones onstage for “Passenger.”

There are many bright spots in Deftones’ discography, but their 2000 record, White Pony, was a landmark achievement.

Back in 2010, when Deftones played the Luxembourg music festival Rock-A-Field, the band were fresh off the release of their sixth album, Diamond Eyes. However, near the end of their set, they busted out the White Pony ripper “Passenger,” whose studio version features Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. This time, though, the band brought out a different guest. Paramore’s Hayley Williams, in the throes of their Brand New Eyes era, joined Deftones onstage for an unforgettable collab. The two vocalists complemented each other well as they bounced around the stage, and the performance even hinted at a future where Williams could be a metal singer.

Read more: Every Paramore album ranked

Though the collaboration seemed unusual to some, it made complete sense. Before she started playing in Paramore, Williams listened to a ton of heavy music, including Deftones. In fact, when the band were making their sixth studio album, This Is Why, Paramore pulled from their past for closer “Thick Skull.”

“[‘Thick Skull’] is a beautiful picture of so much music that we were inspired by for the last 20 years. [It] reminded me of when we all first met, listening to A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, Isola by Kent, Radiohead, Deftones. It’s just some really melodic but still heavy-hitting moments and rock music that we love,” Williams told Entertainment Weekly.

Watch the fan-shot video below.