Rock and Roll through Texas

he journey for women in music has always been challenging but is getting a lot less lonely -- especially when it comes to women in indie rock and roll. From headliners like super group Boygenius to local bands being signed to record labels, it’s hard to ignore the rise of women in rock.

Acid Wave is a local all-woman band signed with Hogar Records. The band was formed in 2018 by drummer/vocalist Audrey Villalobos, guitarist/vocalist Eva Vasquez, and bassist/vocalist Isanette Olivarez who came together through a shared passion for music and drive to coalesce indie alternative and bedroom pop. Two additional members were added to the band in 2021, keyboardist/vocalist Jet Gil-Robert and drummer/vocalist Mary Moreck.

This month, Acid Wave is releasing sophomore album “heart2heart,” a dream pop collection of songs that reflects upon the joy created by making meaningful connections, and will also be embarking on the band’s first-ever tour across Texas.

“We’ve never done a tour before and it’s really special to have all five of us on stage. We’re going to have two guitarists. Usually, when we play live shows it’s just one guitar -- so this is going to be super fun,” says Olivarez.

Acid Wave’s new album and first tour mark significant milestones in the band’s lifespan and raise important questions regarding gender, representation, and respect.

The first question: Why are there so few women in the music industry?

A study published in 2022 called “Inclusion

In the Recording Studio?” was the fifth annual report of its kind focused on gender equality in the music industry and reports that the representation of women, both in recording studios and music charts, has not significantly increased within the last decade.

Women account for 51 percent of the population, and yet the study reported that a whopping 78 percent of recording artists were men and only 22 percent women from 2011 to 2021, with only 14 percent of songwriters being women.

But things are changing -- loudly.

Women recording artists are gaining momentum and inspiring new generations along the way.

Before contemporary women-driven acts like Wet Leg, Soccer Mommy, Beabadoobee, and La Luz were touring, inspiring, and being nominated for Grammys, their predecessors like Haim, Florence and the Machine, and Alvvays took festival stages by storm in the early days of social media, themselves being influenced by femaleled bands from the 90s like No Doubt, Sonic Youth, Garbage, The Cranberries, and the cycle of influence can be traced on and on.

Today, an ecosystem that supports women in music is being cultivated in El Paso and beyond.

“I think women are learning to be less silent. I think there’s never been fewer women who play music, it’s just now they’re getting more comfortable, like actually going out and doing that in public,” says Moreck.

Another question: How do you start a girl band?

For Acid Wave, the members came together with different skills and a desire to play.

“I was in school band for eight years from elementary to high school then stopped because of college,” says Vasquez, who adds that she and Villalobos were in bands together while students at Montwood High School. “We stayed friends after high school, and then decided we should just make a band,” she adds.

Villalobos, who serves in the U.S. Air Force and attends college in Oklahoma, recorded a handful of the songs from the band’s first album in her college dorm room and has music flowing through her veins.

“I started getting involved in music because my dad was a bass player and still in bands today,” she says. “I started Acid Wave because I was like ‘there are no girl bands in El Paso so I want to start one.’ That’s where we are today.”

“Heart2heart” showcases Acid Wave’s maturity over the course of the last few pandemic-filled years and reflects on the connections and relationships formed in between.

“You can totally hear the difference in our writing and producing from our first album, so I feel like we’ve definitely matured a lot,” says Villalobos. “But it is like a love letter, that’s what we’re trying to go for. I have to thank my current partner for being my main inspiration for the songs.”

Acid Wave, with members like Gil-Robert influenced by British rockers Siouxsie and the Banshees, are inspiring other young women who attend their live shows to sit behind a keyboard, pick up a guitar, or grab a pair of drumsticks.

“I think that’s what’s special,” says Gil-Robert. “It’s girls being inspired by other girls. Sometimes we overhear a couple girls in the front at our live shows say they should make a band.”

With the triumphs come the online trolls and sexism, but the members of Acid Wave are as comfortable speaking up for themselves as they are performing on stage. Plus, they’re a solid support system for one another when faced with disrespect and inhospitable treatment compared to male bands playing the same shows on the same stage.

“We stay professional, but we also need to tell them how it is, and hopefully it’ll get through their brains that they need to treat women the same way they treat males,” says Vasquez.

Ditto for online harassment, to which the band takes a particularly thoughtful approach compared to many online commenters (often male).

“We’ll usually have a discussion first before we decide how to approach it,” says Moreck. “I’m not saying men don’t do that. But I have a feeling they’re kind of more reactive. But we’re considerate enough to take it in and discuss it first. We’re not reactive, we definitely discuss it first. And it’s kind of stupid because we shouldn’t have to.”

Despite the sometimes grim reality of being a woman in the music industry (and world), the members of Acid Wave are able to delight in the dreamy world of the new album and be proud of their journey thus far.

“Most of the songs are love songs, but they’re really good. It’s a really great album,” says Olivarez. “It’s definitely happier than our older songs and has a slightly different sound. We’ve definitely made progress.”

Acid Wave will be touring through Texas from May 19th through May 26th, with additional summer dates to be announced. For now, the band has two requests:

“Support your local girl band. Start your own local girl band.”