Drummer woman: Sandra Alva

[the_future_modernes]

An interview with Sandra Alva

In 2003, Jessica Hopper penned a piece for Punk Planet called "Emo: Where the Girls Aren't." It focused on the burgeoning genre of rock that was drawing youth to live shows; a genre of music that was becoming about a new look and a lifestyle, at least more so than it had in recent years. Emo and hardcore music was evolving as its own scene, and even though there were thousands of bands partaking in the sound, there were still so few women participating. Why? Hopper said it was because the music had become all about faceless, nameless women who were heartbreakers, bitches and all around unworthy of the men singing the songs.

Where would a girl find herself in that?

"It truly did not occur to me to start a band," Hopper writes, "until I saw other women playing music." She cited the riot grrl movement and bands like Babes in Toyland and Bikini Kill as inspiring her to pick up a bass guitar. And now that riot grrl is unfortunately a thing of the past, it's time for females to take part in this otherwise male-dominated subgenre of emo and hardcore music.

Enter Sandra Alva.

The 22-year-old drummer from Los Angeles has almost 20,000 followers on Twitter. She has fans intent on reaching her, sending her photos of them in her T-shirts, having her sign their CD covers. She also happens to be a lesbian.

Alva first became well-known as the drummer of Black Veil Brides, a metal group that performs donned in black paint. After leaving the band last fall, she joined up with Modern Day Escape, an otherwise all-male screamo group. But situated behind her drum set behind four guys, Sandra still steals the show.

"When i was about 10 years old, my cousins joined this band," Sandra told AfterEllen.com. "They practiced at my cousins house and I would always sit and watch. I thought it was so cool how they were able to make their own music, so I decided I wanted to be a musician too. I tried the guitar, the bass, but wasn't feeling it. Then I sat behind the drums, and I easily started playing beats." She said it was a hidden talent, and she kept up with her newfound love of drumming.MORE

Comments

[laughingrat]

Hopper said it was because the music had become all about faceless, nameless women who were heartbreakers, bitches and all around unworthy of the men singing the songs.

Oh my god, I was just talking about this with someone. It's a real musical wasteland out there these days, in a lot of ways.

[chasingthunder]

I had a very different experience of the early days of the "emo"/hardcore scene. I had a female friend who played guitar in a hardcore band and found it to be a really supportive environment. I was even in an emo-esque all-girl band for a brief time, but we all got caught up in college before it could go anywhere. There was this sense in the early days that we had all experienced heartbreak, some of us were angry, but we all wanted to talk about it and get our experiences out there and have this supportive community. I had some straight guy friends that were into it, a wide spectrum of lesbians, gay guys, all sorts of people and this music brought us together. In my experience it wasn't anti-female at all, at least not any more than the rest of rock music in general... but maybe I was just lucky. I really enjoyed this piece though, and I am going to check out Modern Day Escape. Thanks for writing about it.