The woman from the cover of Deftones’ classic ‘Around the Fur’ has looked back at what it was like to become involved in one of the most iconic album covers of the ‘90s.

The record was released back in 1997 via Maverick and marked the highly-anticipated second record from the American alt-metal band – following on from 1995’s breakthrough ‘Adrenaline’, and featuring fan-favourite singles ‘My Own Summer’ and ‘Be Quiet And Drive’.

The cover featured a slightly provocative image of a young woman in a jacuzzi, and was shot from a unique angle, with the camera pointing down over her head and a fisheye lens being used.

Now, Jenkem has tracked down both the woman in the photograph, who is called Lisa Hughes, and the photographer behind the cover, Rich Kosick.

Sharing how he got the shot, Kosick told the outlet that he was invited to accompany the band in Seattle during their time working on the record, and instructed to simply “go there and have fun, hang out, shoot photos” – not aware that they were after a cover shot for the record.

“They were kind of in their party phase stage of the band, and so we went back to their their condo that they rented during the recording of this record, and there was this girl hanging out in the jacuzzi,” he continued. “And I just went up and took a couple… two photos. That’s it. Walked away.”

He then went on to share how the label got in touch after a few weeks and art director Kevin Reagan told him that they were thinking of using it as the cover.

“I was blown away. I was like, ‘This is so cool looking. I love it!’ Of course, I’m going to say I love it. It’s my photo. But, looking back, I was just really excited because it felt right after all the mockups and everything,” Kosick said.

Speaking to the woman on the cover, she told the outlet that she was completely unaware that the image would make it to the cover, and clarified to Jenkem that she was not there as a groupie, despite what some rumours over the years have said.

“I found those articles, you know, about like [me allegedly] being a groupie and this and that,” Hughes said. “I was like, maybe I should just start a little page just about myself and so people know that I’m Lisa.”

“I’m just this awesome chick from Auburn, and I like to have fun. And there’s no groupie action going on here. Just me having a kick-ass time, you know,” she added.

Looking back at the shot itself, she shared: “It’s a pretty cool looking shot, right? Like with the fisheye lens just looking down. You know, it’s kind of risqué a little bit with my breasts.”

“And people have asked, ‘Oh, look, you got a pimple there.’ I’m like, ‘Who gives a shit?’ What does that really matter?’ I’m a human being. I’m not a model and I could care less really,” she added. “That’s me. It’s just cool looking. And if you look at the whole shot and the legs going into the hot tub, it just looks pretty awesome.”

Frontman Chino Moreno also spoke about the album artwork last year in an interview with the Broken Record Podcast, and said that Hughes was “a friend who we befriended while we were there in Seattle”.

“I did see a thing the other day, it was cool, they showed like, you know, her then and now,” he added. “Who knew, right? Even when she was asked, ‘Hey, we want to use this for the album cover.’ [who would be] thinking that 30 something years later, whatever it is, that would be such an iconic photo with t-shirts and all these like teenagers now wearing that picture on their t-shirt.”

As for how the image was chosen, he said that a range of potential cover shots were spread out on a table, and “literally everybody pointed at that one” which was chosen.

Deftones released their 10th and latest studio album, ‘Private Music’, last summer. In a glowing five-star review, NME said that the project “once again finds the band as masters of beauty and brutality rolling over the horizon in one stunning but powerful storm”.

‘Private Music’ landed at Number 21 on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2025 list, with the single ‘Milk Of The Madonna’ coming in at Number 30 on our 50 best songs of the year rundown.

Later this year the band will play huge shows in Dublin and Edinburgh as part of their 2026 UK and European headline tour.

They will then hit the road in New Zealand and Australia with Interpol in May, and in autumn, will perform at the inaugural Texas edition of US festival Sick New World.

In August, they’ll deliver a bill-topping performance at All Points East presents Outbreak Fest 2026 at London’s Victoria Park. Support will come from IDLES, Amyl & The Sniffers and more.

Speaking to NME last summer, Moreno said Deftones’ music had always been vulnerable, pointing back to ‘Mascara’ on ‘Around The Fur’ as proof. He also admitted that his confidence to lay himself out in a love song had grown.

Over the summer of 2025, Deftones played a huge career-spanning gig at London’s Crystal Palace Park – just one day after pulling out of their Other Stage slot at Glastonbury 2025 at the last minute.

They also headlined the 2025 edition of their annual festival, Dia De Los Deftones, in San Diego, California, and performed ‘White Pony’ deep cut ‘Street Carp’ live for the first time since 2019.