Vanessa Monsisvais (Siva)
June 14, 2002
MUJER Festival

Bassist Vanessa Monsisvais talks about the genesis of rising band Siva, playing music in El Paso and what it means to be a rock 'n' roll woman in this place and time.

How did Siva get started?

Siva's had three different reincarnations. Siva started about two years ago with me, Danny and Serge were the two guitarists. We were without a drummer for a while and then Mike the drummer called me up one day and asked me if I would just jam with him and I told him I was already playing with these guys so I said, "Let's go over there!" so that happened September 26 of 2000. And I remember because that's the day I met him and we got married a month later. (Laughs)

When did Gregg come aboard?

Gregg joined last year in October. So we were instrumental for a really long time and it's kind of hard to get a singer because people were so used to us as instrumental.

So you managed to build a good name for yourselves being instrumental?

Yeah! And when Gregg came in, even here in El Paso it's still a little bit hard for us, but when we go on the road, since other places don't know we were instrumental before, it's a lot easier. They don't know any before's or after's.

So tell me about being on the road - how much traveling have you guys done since finalizing the line-up?

Not much - we've only done one tour so far. We went to the Midwest and stopped off in Austin for South By Southwest where we played a barbecue for Chorizo.com. We went all the way up to Chicago - that was the high point, and then we came all the way down. It was just two and a half weeks; it was really short. It was kind of like a honeymoon - we all loved each other when we left and we all really loved each other when we came back! (Laughs)

Now tell me about what it was like starting a band here in El Paso and everything you've been through, and what your aspirations are now.

Starting a band in El Paso is pretty easy because there are a lot of really, really good musicians. This town breeds really good people because there's not much to do. So if you're gonna pick up an instrument, that's what you're gonna do, know what I mean? So people really get good. The only thing is that's hard is that it's also a poor town, so you're working all the time, and schedules between the five of us are just crazy. I mean, sometimes we would have to practice at 3 a.m., sometimes like this morning our singer, Gregg, got a job out of town because there's nothing here for him. So he's on the road right now for about a month and a half. So he just came back this morning. We woke up early ass - well, it was like 10:30 (laughs) - it was early ass for me! I'm a bartender so I went to sleep like at 4:30. So we woke up early this morning and had our first practice today in almost two weeks. And then we just came and played the show and he has to leave in about three hours to go back out to a site to work. That's the only really hard thing. You don't get paid for playing shows here - very rarely do you get paid unless they let you keep full door and stuff like that. But it's just a lot of fun and I got blessed with the guys that I'm playing with. I mean, I love them all - and obviously one of them because I married him - but they're just all so fantastic and I'm just completely lucky because they're really patient with me, and I'm definitely the weakest link of the band.

Why would you consider yourself that?

Well, Danny and Serge have been having an affair now since they were in seventh grade. They started playing guitar together then and have never played with anybody else but each other, so they have this crazy language. Mike's been playing punk rock in El Paso since like '92. I started playing in '99, so I've grown with the band and they've been really patient with me - they're like, "Uh, dude, that note's not gonna go," and I'm like, "Why not?" (Laughs)

But you were pretty dexterous up there, I noticed - I mean, there's a lot of bass playing that goes on that's just very fundamental, very static, and you're pretty good. The band is very melodic for as hard as it is, so that's a really great thing. Tell me about not just having to learn to be a better instrumentalist as time goes on but also being a girl in a rock band in a town like this.

You know what? The only thing that I get - because I don't go up there in little skirts and tight shirts. Whenever I get ready to play I do this thing called The Boob Test where I go up and I'll pick my bra and my shirt and I'll strum really hard and if they're hitting me all over the place and if they hurt, I gotta change. (Laughs)

Damn, who ever thinks about the practical applications of being female in rock music.

Mike [wandering into the conversation]: From an outside perspective here, a lot of people don't realize she's even in the band.
Vanessa: That's what I was gonna tell her.
Mike: A lot of people think that it's a boy playing bass - not that she looks male at all, they'd just swear it's a guy by the mere fact that most bands are dominated by males.

Right - they don't even give it a second thought and just assume it must be all guys up there.

Vanessa: It's crazy because like I said I don't exactly go on in sweats or a beanie or anything but I guess because I'm not wearing skirts or high heels or anything and I'm a bassist and I stand by the drums in the back, I've gotten I can't tell you how many times…. I work at the Regal Begle, I'm a bartender there, and this guy came up and said, "I really wanna play a show with Siva," and I was like, "Well, I don't think we can play that date," and he said, "Well, why don't you ask them?" It caught me off guard but I said, "I'm in Siva and I know we can't play that day." And he just said, "No, you're not!" (Laughs) He said, "Dude, I've been to every one of their shows since they got Gregg and I've never seen a girl up there." I explained how I stand way in the back by the boom stand because I don't like to be in the front, and he just kept insisting there was no way I was in the band. So I finally said, "Okay then, I will call Siva and ask them if they can play and call you later," because I wasn't gonna sit there and argue. I also get "the girl that hangs out with the guys from Siva". A lot of people now know Mike and I are married but before they didn't and it kind of bothered me sometimes because I'd hear, "She's just in the band because she's married to him." And they don't understand that he came in after - he was one of the last to join along with Gregg.

I guess until you get a certain level of notoriety or fame, people don't necessarily care about the history of things - it's just what they see right then and there, and they make their own interpretations of it.

Vanessa: Exactly. Most of the time I let it roll off my back and it doesn't really bother me because I know the kind of town I'm in, and I love this town and I accept it. But I can tell you so many stories…once we were playing at Wildhare's and we were all getting ready and I was carting in my amp and some guy said to me, "That's so fucked up that your boyfriend is making you take that up." And I wasn't about to say, "This is mine," so instead I told him, "You know, you should take it up for me - thank you so much!" And after he set my stuff up for me and put the head on - like an 80-pound head - I was like, "Thank you so much - I play the bass." He's all, "Was the bassist not able to come?" I was just like, forget it - I couldn't make him understand. I was tuning the bass and some other guy walked by saying, "You're such a devoted girlfriend - I could never find a woman that would tune my guitar for me." You can't make these guys understand! After the show was over the first guy came up to me again and said, "You weren't bad for a girl!" and I said, "Thank you, but does that mean I'd be shitty if I was a boy?" What exactly does that mean?

What's the scene like for women in rock here right now - are there many girl bands at all?

There are some girls in bands around…there's about six or seven that I know of and I'm pretty sure that's all there is.

There aren't any bands that are solely girls?

No. When I was in this band named Sarah Song, it was me and this girl Naomi and there was an all-girl band before us but they broke up and then for a while it was just me and Naomi. Within the music community of El Paso, nobody cares if you're a boy or a girl or a hermaphrodite, you know? It's all good. If you can play, you can do it. It's mostly the outside perspective, and I'm talking way outside - I'm talking the rancheros, the fifty and older men with mustaches and in hats. I can pigeonhole El Paso as being a macho city because it's different mentalities, but the circle I'm in, I don't get that. Amongst the musicians who are here, it's usually that you either suck or you're good and it doesn't make a difference if you're a girl or a guy.

Do you guys have any releases out?

We put our own out - the night before we went to tour we were sitting there cutting out cardboard and putting our inserts in and stuff. (Laughs) That's all we have right now. This man named Tony from Sonic Ranch was really nice enough to let us record there for free, and we recorded four songs - this was when we were instrumental. Gregg came in and we put vocals over two songs and sold it as merch while we were on tour. But as far as a full-on release, we're still trying to save money to go into the studio. If we do that, it cuts down on practice time…it's kind of gross the situation we're in right now but at the same time it makes it all that much better…we're just really hungry for it - we just wanna play, we don't care where!

And it makes you tighter because you have to go through all this stuff.

Exactly. Like I said before, I wish they were here - they're the most awesome guys in the world! I've seen them grow taller, you don't understand! (Laughs) They just amaze me.