Meet Tan Madonna, the student band bringing surf and psych-rock to the Central Coast
When Ethan Norton and Jack Aguilar met in Tenaya Hall of the South Mountain dorms in October 2021, they quickly bonded over the band T-shirts each of them was wearing. This initial connection led to the creation of the rock band, Tan Madonna, made up of three best friends.
The surf, punk and psych-rock band combines the talents of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Ethan Norton, bassist Aidan Dillon and lead guitarist and occasional drummer Jack Aguiler.
After Norton and Aguilar first met, they agreed to meet up and try writing songs and playing together, which proved to be successful.
Shortly after, they agreed on the name “White Lighter” and started to find their sound. After practicing together for months, they agreed that they needed something more.
“We decided that we just wanted to go a different route with what our music sounded like,” Norton said.
To bring about some change, Norton and Aguilar posted on the band’s Instagram that they needed a bassist in October 2022, and Dillon was quick to respond. The day after he reached out, he jammed with the band and quickly found himself to be their newest member.
“We clicked right away — not just with music but just the way we act and how we think about things, and it just worked out really well,” Norton said about Dillon joining the band.
After finding the missing piece to their puzzle, the band changed its name to “Tan Madonna.” They got the name idea after watching a surf video with the same title.
Later, Tan Madonna played their first show at the vintage store A Satellite of Love, which brought them closer together.
“That was really fun and definitely very inspiring to keep playing shows,” Dillon said.
Tan Madonna hopes to play more live shows in the future and to keep writing more songs, and they have plans to do just that. Their next song, “Impending Doom,” is set to come out in the next few weeks.
In the future, they plan to record a lot of songs and gradually release them over the course of a few months. The three band members work off of each other in the writing and production process, allowing them to explore new sounds and write impactful lyrics.
“The collaboration just makes it better,” Aguilar said.
For now, Tan Madonna is exploring new genres of rock to integrate into their sound and playing gigs wherever and whenever they can. They are also on the hunt for a drummer.
“If you are a drummer and you’re interested in playing, we are looking,” Norton said. “We’re starving,” Aguilar added with a laugh.
