Interview: Maddie and the Deadnames Grows With Its Community
The members of Maddie and the Deadnames discuss what it’s like to be pioneers in their local music scene and their passion for LGBTQ+ activism. At the various venues that Maddie and the Deadnames frequents, justice and mosh-pits meld.
Written by Heather Stewart
Photos courtesy of RAW Jammin
Thirty-four miles south of Austin, Texas sits a small college town called San Marcos. A city known for its flowing rivers, gameday tailgates, and tiny, eclectic town square, it's also home to a blooming grassroots music scene. Maddie and the Deadnames, a local, multi-genre band, is at the center of the action. Lead singer Maddie Ava, bass guitarist Hayden Cougar, drummer Tomas Diaz, and lead guitarist Christian Bates are unapologetic advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and women’s rights; and they continuously pour love into San Marcos’ tight-knit music community. Under its head-banging guitar, riveting drum solos, and rebellious lyrics, Maddie and the Deadnames vulnerably approaches community-driven activism on and off the stage. Afterglow sat down with the members of Maddie and the Deadnames to discuss the personal passions and identities behind their self-titled debut EP — which they recorded in less than a day.
I know y’all travel to Austin to play shows too, but what’s the vibe of the San Marcos music scene specifically?
Maddie: Super DIY. There’s a ton of talent and not enough stages. So there's lots of making any space into an event. We're playing at a festival in the alleyway downtown. You know, we care about the music scene deeply in San Marcos. That's one of the things that I've been working on before we even had this band: just cultivating the scene. We're popular as shit here. So if I go anywhere, I'm like, “Hi, I'm Maddie.” They’ll look up like, “Oh, Maddie and the Deadnames!” I’m like San Marcos’ Beyonce.
Christian: Yeah, people come up and ask me, “You play with Maddie now?” and I’m like, “Yeah, how’d you know?”
What’s that like for y’all?
Hayden: I don’t like talking to people, so I’m just like “Yeah, yeah, yeah …”
Maddie: I'm bad at accepting compliments, and I've had to work on that.
I can imagine performing on stage is pretty intimidating. Tell me a story about your favorite performance.
Tomas: Our EP release was epic. It was at The Porch. It's the one venue on the square that has a stage. We broke the attendance record. The crowd was insane. A lot of photographers and videographers showed up, and we got tons of footage. We only paid for one to come and there were six. We sold a ton of merch and everyone got paid an assload of money.
Hayden: I used to live at the house [my favorite show was at] actually. It was the grossest house you’ve ever been to in your life. One time, whenever Maddie came over for practice, there was a dead mouse and a dead rat lying on the counter.
Tomas: And then I saw a live one walk right over the dead ones. But they would throw insane house shows there. This was the first time we ever had a mosh pit at one of our shows, and I remember riding that high for weeks. I would set my beer on the floor, and — from people jumping around — at the end of every song, my beer was emptied on the floor.
Maddie: Someone crashed into my gear and my pedal fucking broke. We're high energy, man. We want people to have fun, and I think our music kind of spans across a lot of genres. There's lots of different things you could do to it, you know? Like, you can do the old skank dance, and then the next song you want to punch everyone in the face.
Tomas: And the next one you wanna two-step.
I noticed y’all played at Pride in New Braunfels, which is a pretty conservative town about 19 miles south of San Marcos. I’m from New Braunfels!
Maddie: So am I. I went to high school there. It was cool for me because that's the first show I played there out as a trans woman and with my new band. Tequila Rose hosted the drag portion, and it was really moving. They had a little walk off where parents walked with their kids down the runway, and my mom actually did it with me. It made me almost cry. I know all the people in that community are under a lot of oppression, and it's hard to be queer or gay in that area.
I know you're super open about being a trans woman. What made you decide to be so open, and how does that feel for you as a musician?
Maddie: When I first started transitioning, the goal in mind was that once I was done to not have to be outed. But I got so much pride in it. Now I don't ever want to not be a trans woman. And even after I've had my surgeries, I could just be like, “Oh I’m a cis woman.” But I don't because I've had a lot of people telling me I'm inspirational. And that's important to me. I want people to feel like they can do it too, and not feel afraid. There's not a lot of trans role models in the world. And some of the ones there are, are pieces of shit. I want to do good things for the community as much as I can.
I also noticed y’all are very outspoken about human rights on social media, specifically abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. How does justice play a role in y’all’s music and performances?
Maddie: We do a lot of stuff for the community, and we care about the LGBTQ+ community a lot. We’re really partial to the queers. It’s because we’re comprised half-ly of queers: me and Hayden.
Hayden: I feel like it's important to stand up for what you believe in, especially if you have an outlet, and you have a platform as large as ours. I mean, why not do it? Why not shove it in people’s faces?
Maddie: I put on a lot of events that have raised a bunch of money for causes that I believe in. So we did Bands and Booths 4 Trans Youths, which was a fundraiser for trans youth in Texas. We raised $4,000 for that. We did Rocking Out for Reproductive Rights, and raised a whole bunch of money.
Tomas: One, I think it's cool to be part of a band because you all get to do what you love. But [I love] this band specifically because slowly I'm starting to see that we do make an impact. And people will tell me that they're inspired by the stuff we do. At first, I was like, “We're just hanging out and playing music,” but I'm starting to realize that we're standing up for some good things.
Maddie: I know, it makes me cry.
It’s okay, you can cry! Maddie, since you write most of the songs for the band, what’s your favorite song lyrically?
Maddie: I really like “Earthbound” a lot, which isn't on the EP, but I consider that my best song I've written. The song is about how I don’t want to go to heaven or hell. I just want to stay on Earth forever, because I like it here.
Are y’all religious?
Maddie: No, I think we’re all atheists.
Tomas: I'm pretty much in the middle ground all the time. My mind is always flopping because there's so many ideas that could be right. But I usually just wind up going back to my safe place and being like, “Nope, this is it.”
Hayden: I don't believe in one particular god. I definitely think there's something that put fucking consciousness in our heads, but not a god.
Maddie: A lot of the songs I wrote, I was religious when I was writing them, and I was starting to backslide. I was having a lot of conflict with my own knowledge versus what I was raised on.
What religion?
Maddie: Christianity. I feel really betrayed by that religion, because most of the people that kicked me out of their lives used that as a crutch.
On a lighter note, if you’re not performing or recording, what are you doing?
Christian: Making pizza dough.
Maddie: I like to go camping, float the river, and do water-y, outside-y things with my kids.
Hayden: Working. I cook burgers all day long.
Maddie: (Points at Hayden.) Burger boy. (Points at Christian.) Pizza boy. (Points at Tomas.) Management maintenance man. (Points at self.) Florist.
Y’all are living double lives!
Tomas: You have to.
Hayden: Hannah Montana up in this bitch.
Maddie: We want to quit our day jobs. That's the goal. It's not really like we want to get rich, but we want to be able to quit our day jobs. And I quit mine. But I also have AVA productions, and I do site operations, which is like production for big events.
So, what’s next for Maddie and the Deadnames?
Maddie: We are gonna have an album out next year. That’s the goal for 2023. We also want to get on tour as support for another band that’s above us.
You can follow Maddie and the Deadnames on Instagram and TikTok, buy tickets to the band’s show on Dec. 11, 2022 at Mohawk, and stream the band’s new EP on Spotify, Apple Music, or anywhere else you download music.
This interview has been minimally edited for clarity and length.