And The Natural Born Stud$
Marla Vee and The Natural Born Stud$
I wasn’t sure how to go about this. I had a friend ask me about how I happened to start a solo project, and this is basically what I told him:
February 4 2018 was the beginning of a whole new world for me – that was the day that my husband and bandmate of 40+ years went into the hospital and in four days passed away. The house was very quiet.
I began jamming on my guitar with my amp cranked up, coming up with riffs that would eventually turn into songs – two of them Rancid Vat songs. The rest did not fit in with the rowdy fun hate world of Rancid Vat. I spent about a year working on my songs, and even recorded a couple of them with me playing bass, guitar and using fake drums from my synth, with mediocre results.
Spring of 2020 we were in crazy times of lockdowns and quarantines. Rancid Vat didn’t get together for three months, and by May of 2020, things were loosening up in Texas. I decided to put out a call for a bass player and drummer on facebook. I got an immediate response from a friend who had a roommate that was a punk bass player. He seemed like a good guy and had a drummer and guitar player from a band that hadn’t played in five years. Bass and guitar player didn’t work out, but the drummer did. I then recruited a bass player who had auditioned for Rancid Vat, but lost out due to another candidate being good friends with the singer.
We were able to practice on a regular basis, getting ready for clubs to start booking live music again. January of 2021: still no signs of live music happening anytime soon. I tried finding a local recording studio, but nothing seemed to materialize, so we started recording at my home studio. It took about five months to record the eight songs on our first CD “Alligator Laugh” , to be released June 18, 2021 at our debut live show, here in San Antonio TX.
I’ve been playing guitar for almost 50 years, and have a huge spectrum of influences. Majority of my band experience has been playing noisy-in-your-face-punk. This project at times is noisy punk, but probably a little more rock n roll/garage/psych.
Fronting a band is something I hadn’t done except for a very brief stint in an all girl band that mostly did 60’s covers back in the early 80’s. In Rancid Vat and Alcoholics Unanimous, I played the supporting role, which was fine, since the singers we had and Phil aka Whiskey Rebel provided the stage presence. I was involved in the recording & mix downs of those bands and gained a lot of experience doing so.
This project is a big departure in some ways from what I’ve done in Rancid Vat, in that it’s more basic punk rock n roll.
I am proud of the fact that as a female musician, I’ve accomplished something very few of my counterparts have, and hope to inspire others to do what they didn’t think was possible!
Check out Marla Vee and The Natural Born Stud$ on Bandcamp.
Press
Conversations with Marla Vee
Voyage San Antonio Magazine
December 1, 2021