Deftones star Chino Moreno gushes over ‘thumbs up' from Madonna

Deftones front man, Chino Moreno, just expressed how “mind-blowing” it was for him to get a “thumbs up” from Madonna when they were first signed.

The band were one of the earliest signings of Maverick Records, the label co-founded by the Queen of Pop in 1995.

Under the label, that folded in 2009, the iconic musicians released five albums, including their debut, Adrenaline.

Speaking to the Irish Times, Moreno said: “It was [A&R rep] Guy [Oseary] who discovered us first, and then he and [Maverick co-founder] Freddy DeMann flew us from our base in Sacramento to Los Angeles, where we played a couple of songs for them in a little rehearsal space.”

“That same day we were invited to the record-label offices in Beverly Hills, where I got to meet Madonna, which was mind-blowing,” he confessed.

The Cherry Waves rocker continued: “So, yeah, she definitely gave us the thumbs-up. It was crazy to be a 20 year-old kid and have somebody whose music I’ve been listening to since I was 10 years-old give us her approval. It was hard to take in.”

Moreno also spoke of a number of their concerts the Material Girl hitmaker has attended over the years, saying, “They were a little nerve-wrenching, because you knew she was watching you… One of the biggest artists in the world knew who we were. It was awesome and very, very cool.”

The Deftones front man also praised Madonna for not interfering with their creative direction mentioning that she “wasn’t as hands-on as maybe you would think. In no way was she dictating our creative direction or anything like that, and, in general, the label let us be us.”