August 21, 2025 • 12 mins
On the eve of the release of the new Deftones album, private music, we’re breaking down the band's “milk of the madonna" single.
Andrew and Dominique ask where the line is when it comes to an artist rehashing their ‘classic’ sound, and how private music is bound to be the quintessential Deftones album for the new generation of fans who just recently discovered the band and elevated the Deftones to arena-level.
Tell us about your first listen @AtFirstListenPodcast on Instagram!
Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of ‘At First Listen’!
Andrew and Dominique ask where the line is when it comes to an artist rehashing their ‘classic’ sound, and how private music is bound to be the quintessential Deftones album for the new generation of fans who just recently discovered the band and elevated the Deftones to arena-level.
Tell us about your first listen @AtFirstListenPodcast on Instagram!
Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of ‘At First Listen’!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome to a first listen to music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Today we're talking about the latest single by the Death Zones,
Milk of the Madonna, from their upcoming album Private Music,
which is due August twenty second.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I like the snakes.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, you got a white snake on a green background. Yeah,
it's very very stylist, stylistic, stylized, very stylized.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, it's all very I like the I like the
white snake with the Milk of the Madonna. It's all
this white like kind of sensuous, sensuous vibes, very biblical vibe.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Right. I forgot you're a reptile person.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh yes, I like ap I like snakes. But like,
you know, Madonna is the the pure late or she's
the bad one. Okay, I don't know the Bible not
the bad one. Well there's the Madonna.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Madonna is Mary Mary?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Correct, who's the one that is like was like Jesus's
girlfriend prostitute one?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Okay, thank you little theology lesson right there. So yeah, Madonna,
she was married and you got the snakes. You know
the original sin et cetera. So I and I it
just seems very it's very intriguing, especially like in contrast
with what I expect from Death Tones, Like I think
(01:51):
that's the end of their vibes since she was vibes.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, it's also a new like color palette for the band.
The album artwork very brat almost Oh, maybe they're trying
to do brat. Hey did you see that that awful
poser Guy young Blood has a clothing line called brat. No,
(02:13):
there's periods between the letters.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh so it's like brit Yeah, but yeah, yeah, well
I haven't but I did see someone when I was
landing in port Land a few weeks ago. I saw
someone or maybe it was Seattle, one of those two
somebody who was wearing a like a brat hat merch
and they were getting off the plane and they were
like the most drunkest person I've ever seen on a plane.
(02:40):
They kept taking other people's bags down, and people would
be like, that's my bag, and then they'd be like
oh oops, and then they'd be like this is and
then people be like that's my bag, and they were
like pretty different bags. Like I don't know if they
ever found their bag. I imagine eventually other people were like,
(03:01):
I need to go.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You find out later they checked their bag, their bag
was not in the over.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
They might not have had a bag, like I really
do not know. But it was actually so funny. Everyone
was really nice about it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But uh, it's so brad. It was very brad. It
was so brought, but so everyone's copying brass exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Deaf tones.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah that was a guy. Uh yeah, drunk eys on planes. Yeah,
ladies can get drunk on planes too. It's twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, it was very brat. The whole fit was very brat,
but it was Yeah, it was totally masculine presenting person.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, let's hear a couple seconds of milk with the Madonna. Yeah,
(04:06):
so total high energy the whole time. It's as classic
a Deaftone sound as I think they could have gotten,
which is cool, but it's also maybe the first time
they've totally like rehashed their thing. They're like, they're Deaftones
(04:26):
sing they're Deaftones, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right, Like it sounds like before version of them.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Like there's bands that have been for a decade already
ripping them off and now for them to sort of
come back around and be doing it. I guess maybe
it's empowering, but it's also like, I'm not sure I'm
gonna love this.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Album right because you're like, if I want to hear this,
I'll just listen to the original.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I can listen to any number of versions of type
of thing.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I Yeah, I think that it is always possible that
they're like, well everyone else is doing it, let's cash
in a little bit more on it as well, if
somebody else is going to make money off our sound
from before.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But also the interesting thing about Deaftones, which we touched
on in the Diamondized episode, like this band got They've
been around for so long and then they got huge
so suddenly, And someone when I was talking to about
the latest tour they did, the Arena tour, mentioned how
(05:36):
so much of the crowd was people in their twenties
or teens. So on the other hand, it's like, maybe
they're just making a classic Deaftones album for those people
who've maybe not explored fifteen years back into their catalog
to like the Saturday Night Risk or the self titled Days,
because they haven't made this type of Deathtones record in
(05:58):
a while.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And it is a different there's a slightly different like
the singer is different, Like it's not the exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Some of the band members are different. Yeah. The singer Chino,
the guitar player Steven, the drummer Abe have all been
in the band the whole time. The bass player Chi
passed away. We talked about that the Bassis they had
to replace him. Sergio left the band after the last album,
(06:26):
maybe right before the last album.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So yeah, so like maybe it makes sense to kind
of explore your roots when so much has changed.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Maybe the uh, this is the second single. As I mentioned,
the first one kind of concerned me a bit. Their
last album, Owns was not a good record for me,
and I listened to it a lot, like really trying
to find something that I liked about it. And so
the first single, let me just find out what the
(06:58):
hell that was? Song is called Okay. The first track
on that Genesis was the first single, and it was
a song that was really exciting. Also, it came out
in twenty twenty when everything was bad. It for the
whole five minutes or whatever sounded like it was building
up to something and building up, and we were like,
(07:18):
oh man, Track two on this record is going to
be like the release of whatever tension they've built up
in this first song, and then it was kind of
just like nine more tracks that followed that sort.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Of pass edging the entire Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Where the thing I love about an album like Diamond
Dies is that it just like slams constantly, Like there's
that payoff with every one of those those tracks, it
seems like. So that was the vibe I got from
the first single, Milk of the Madonna's a bit more satisfying.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I will say I don't as the as like
a new new to deaf Tones person. I did enjoy
it like on its own, I really like. I very
much enjoyed the drumming. It's not like the most unique
beat ever, but I like how it was mixed.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I guess one of the things that they do really
well is you get the feel of the band from
their stuff on a lot of modern records, especially like
pop and hip hop, but it happens a lot in
rock and metal too, where you try to put everything
on the quote unquote grid, so even if someone is
(08:40):
playing a part, it'll be sort of time corrected to
be perfectly in line, almost as if to be robotic.
And one thing Abe doesn't do with his drums is
they don't correct any of his time, so you get
his particular feel and thus the rest of the band
and can kind of play off of him when they record.
(09:02):
So it's it's still in time and it's in tune,
but you know the rest of the band is reacting
a bit to the what the drummer is doing as
opposed to just they're playing their part to a metronome
and then it gets quantized. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I really enjoy that vibe. I really you know,
I don't like overproduced. I don't like when stuff is overproduced,
especially especially in rocky I was gonna say especially rock music. Yeah, sure,
Pop Charlie XCX, Britney Spears, Yeah, no one. But but
(09:42):
like if you have a band of people who are
like best friends and you know, always playing together, tour together,
and they like are passionate about their instruments, yeah, I
want to hear that. I don't want to. I don't
want to hear some engineers like correct of it. It's
not it's not necessary.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah. So uh, I'm kind of kind of lukewarm on this,
but still super happy, happy for the deaf Tones and
all the great things that have come their way. They're
a hugely important band and they're bringing metal to the
people and that's a good thing for me.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, I'm, I'm. It's fun like discovering a band that
has so much music and then they keep coming out
with more as well.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, especially if you just got into deaf Tones because
of like TikTok in the past five years. Now it's like, Okay,
I have this album of theirs that it can be
like my Deaftones album that I can sort of have
feel feel like I own with.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Them, Yes, exactly. And they're touring and a love.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, they're alive, baby.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Most of them, so many of them. Yeah. But the
but the but the band, the deaf Tones is a
live end. Well, yes, and we love that. I enjoyed this.
I enjoyed this little bit and I'm excited to hear
the rest of the album.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah. And by the time people listen to this episode,
the album will be just like one day away, exciting.
All our questions will be answered tomorrow exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Everybody. Now you're ready, you're juiced up for this exciting album.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
All right, So that was our first listen tell us
about yours at First Listen podcast on Instagram. Don't you
have a show at the end of the month.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yes, I have a show on August thirtieth at a
thirty pm. It's going to be at UCB All Black
Variety Show. It's going to be a blast. Come check
it out.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
All right, that's it for us this time. Thanks so
much for listening, and we'll be back next week. M
Welcome to a first listen to music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Today we're talking about the latest single by the Death Zones,
Milk of the Madonna, from their upcoming album Private Music,
which is due August twenty second.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
I like the snakes.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, you got a white snake on a green background. Yeah,
it's very very stylist, stylistic, stylized, very stylized.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, it's all very I like the I like the
white snake with the Milk of the Madonna. It's all
this white like kind of sensuous, sensuous vibes, very biblical vibe.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Right. I forgot you're a reptile person.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Oh yes, I like ap I like snakes. But like,
you know, Madonna is the the pure late or she's
the bad one. Okay, I don't know the Bible not
the bad one. Well there's the Madonna.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Madonna is Mary Mary?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Correct, who's the one that is like was like Jesus's
girlfriend prostitute one?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Okay, thank you little theology lesson right there. So yeah, Madonna,
she was married and you got the snakes. You know
the original sin et cetera. So I and I it
just seems very it's very intriguing, especially like in contrast
with what I expect from Death Tones, Like I think
(01:51):
that's the end of their vibes since she was vibes.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, it's also a new like color palette for the band.
The album artwork very brat almost Oh, maybe they're trying
to do brat. Hey did you see that that awful
poser Guy young Blood has a clothing line called brat. No,
(02:13):
there's periods between the letters.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh so it's like brit Yeah, but yeah, yeah, well
I haven't but I did see someone when I was
landing in port Land a few weeks ago. I saw
someone or maybe it was Seattle, one of those two
somebody who was wearing a like a brat hat merch
and they were getting off the plane and they were
like the most drunkest person I've ever seen on a plane.
(02:40):
They kept taking other people's bags down, and people would
be like, that's my bag, and then they'd be like
oh oops, and then they'd be like this is and
then people be like that's my bag, and they were
like pretty different bags. Like I don't know if they
ever found their bag. I imagine eventually other people were like,
(03:01):
I need to go.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You find out later they checked their bag, their bag
was not in the over.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
They might not have had a bag, like I really
do not know. But it was actually so funny. Everyone
was really nice about it.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
But uh, it's so brad. It was very brad. It
was so brought, but so everyone's copying brass exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Deaf tones.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah that was a guy. Uh yeah, drunk eys on planes. Yeah,
ladies can get drunk on planes too. It's twenty five.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
No, it was very brat. The whole fit was very brat,
but it was Yeah, it was totally masculine presenting person.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, let's hear a couple seconds of milk with the Madonna. Yeah,
(04:06):
so total high energy the whole time. It's as classic
a Deaftone sound as I think they could have gotten,
which is cool, but it's also maybe the first time
they've totally like rehashed their thing. They're like, they're Deaftones
(04:26):
sing they're Deaftones, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right, Like it sounds like before version of them.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Like there's bands that have been for a decade already
ripping them off and now for them to sort of
come back around and be doing it. I guess maybe
it's empowering, but it's also like, I'm not sure I'm
gonna love this.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Album right because you're like, if I want to hear this,
I'll just listen to the original.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I can listen to any number of versions of type
of thing.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I Yeah, I think that it is always possible that
they're like, well everyone else is doing it, let's cash
in a little bit more on it as well, if
somebody else is going to make money off our sound
from before.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
But also the interesting thing about Deaftones, which we touched
on in the Diamondized episode, like this band got They've
been around for so long and then they got huge
so suddenly, And someone when I was talking to about
the latest tour they did, the Arena tour, mentioned how
(05:36):
so much of the crowd was people in their twenties
or teens. So on the other hand, it's like, maybe
they're just making a classic Deaftones album for those people
who've maybe not explored fifteen years back into their catalog
to like the Saturday Night Risk or the self titled Days,
because they haven't made this type of Deathtones record in
(05:58):
a while.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
And it is a different there's a slightly different like
the singer is different, Like it's not the exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Some of the band members are different. Yeah. The singer Chino,
the guitar player Steven, the drummer Abe have all been
in the band the whole time. The bass player Chi
passed away. We talked about that the Bassis they had
to replace him. Sergio left the band after the last album,
(06:26):
maybe right before the last album.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So yeah, so like maybe it makes sense to kind
of explore your roots when so much has changed.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Maybe the uh, this is the second single. As I mentioned,
the first one kind of concerned me a bit. Their
last album, Owns was not a good record for me,
and I listened to it a lot, like really trying
to find something that I liked about it. And so
the first single, let me just find out what the
(06:58):
hell that was? Song is called Okay. The first track
on that Genesis was the first single, and it was
a song that was really exciting. Also, it came out
in twenty twenty when everything was bad. It for the
whole five minutes or whatever sounded like it was building
up to something and building up, and we were like,
(07:18):
oh man, Track two on this record is going to
be like the release of whatever tension they've built up
in this first song, and then it was kind of
just like nine more tracks that followed that sort.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Of pass edging the entire Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Where the thing I love about an album like Diamond
Dies is that it just like slams constantly, Like there's
that payoff with every one of those those tracks, it
seems like. So that was the vibe I got from
the first single, Milk of the Madonna's a bit more satisfying.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I will say I don't as the as like
a new new to deaf Tones person. I did enjoy
it like on its own, I really like. I very
much enjoyed the drumming. It's not like the most unique
beat ever, but I like how it was mixed.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I guess one of the things that they do really
well is you get the feel of the band from
their stuff on a lot of modern records, especially like
pop and hip hop, but it happens a lot in
rock and metal too, where you try to put everything
on the quote unquote grid, so even if someone is
(08:40):
playing a part, it'll be sort of time corrected to
be perfectly in line, almost as if to be robotic.
And one thing Abe doesn't do with his drums is
they don't correct any of his time, so you get
his particular feel and thus the rest of the band
and can kind of play off of him when they record.
(09:02):
So it's it's still in time and it's in tune,
but you know the rest of the band is reacting
a bit to the what the drummer is doing as
opposed to just they're playing their part to a metronome
and then it gets quantized. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I really enjoy that vibe. I really you know,
I don't like overproduced. I don't like when stuff is overproduced,
especially especially in rocky I was gonna say especially rock music. Yeah, sure,
Pop Charlie XCX, Britney Spears, Yeah, no one. But but
(09:42):
like if you have a band of people who are
like best friends and you know, always playing together, tour together,
and they like are passionate about their instruments, yeah, I
want to hear that. I don't want to. I don't
want to hear some engineers like correct of it. It's
not it's not necessary.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah. So uh, I'm kind of kind of lukewarm on this,
but still super happy, happy for the deaf Tones and
all the great things that have come their way. They're
a hugely important band and they're bringing metal to the
people and that's a good thing for me.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, I'm, I'm. It's fun like discovering a band that
has so much music and then they keep coming out
with more as well.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yeah, especially if you just got into deaf Tones because
of like TikTok in the past five years. Now it's like, Okay,
I have this album of theirs that it can be
like my Deaftones album that I can sort of have
feel feel like I own with.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Them, Yes, exactly. And they're touring and a love.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, they're alive, baby.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Most of them, so many of them. Yeah. But the
but the but the band, the deaf Tones is a
live end. Well, yes, and we love that. I enjoyed this.
I enjoyed this little bit and I'm excited to hear
the rest of the album.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah. And by the time people listen to this episode,
the album will be just like one day away, exciting.
All our questions will be answered tomorrow exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Everybody. Now you're ready, you're juiced up for this exciting album.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
All right, So that was our first listen tell us
about yours at First Listen podcast on Instagram. Don't you
have a show at the end of the month.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Yes, I have a show on August thirtieth at a
thirty pm. It's going to be at UCB All Black
Variety Show. It's going to be a blast. Come check
it out.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
All right, that's it for us this time. Thanks so
much for listening, and we'll be back next week. M
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