Although they are featured in the new Texas Music magazine's special on Texan blues artists, Eve Monsees and the Exiles will be the first to tell you that there's a lot more to their music than just 12-bars.
"I think before we had this band," said Monsees, "I was kind of brought up to the whole very structured blues song of 'play two verses, play a solo, sing another verse and play the solo out.' And that's great at first, but it's so limiting."
"To me, it's just all music," said drummer Mike Buck. "We're not trying to be a purist blues band by any means, but it definitely informs everything we do."
The 21-year-old Monsees, along with bandmates Buck, bassist Speepy Sparks and guitarist Grady Pinkerton, have been gathering an increasingly large following in their two years together thanks to their unique brand of blues and garage rock. Monsees in particular has drawn praise from band members and fans alike for an ability on the guitar that belies her relative inexperience as a professional musician. She credits her early exposure to Austin's blues scene as a main reason for her prodigal talents.
"I got my first guitar when I was 12 and took guitar lessons and all that," she said. "When I was 15, I started going out to clubs to sit-in at some of the jam sessions, which I'm sure if I heard tapes from that, I would cringe. But when I was 15 was when I really started playing out and really learning a lot."
In addition to the experience which she gained during these early jam session, Monsees recognizes her exposure to records by many lesser known blues musicians as an important influence on her development. A regular at Antone's Records, where she now works, from around the time she picked up a guitar, Monsees has taken advantage of the experience of musicians like her co-worker Buck to further her musical education.
"Mike always turned me on to more records. I'd come up to the record store, of course I work in here, and bug him to show me some stuff."
"When I was about 14 or so I started kind of digging into blues music. Some of the first stuff I heard was Stevie [Ray Vaughn], of course living in Austin, and the [Fabulous Thunderbirds]. Those were bands that grew up the same way, you know, you hear about blues, and then you go and you dig since they had kind of made a name for themselves. Guys like Howlin' Wolf and Hound Dog Taylor aren't really household names. You go back, and you dig, and I started digging after I heard those bands."
"You're constantly finding records of just these really weird, obscure guys, and you can take something from that and put it to what you do.
"I'm no where near as avid a collector as Mike. I'm working on it."
Beside their strong focus on the blues, Monsees and the Exiles are also great admirers of the rock and roll of the mid-'60s, including "December's Children"-era Rolling Stones, The Searchers and The Sonics, that combined blues influences with a tougher, more urban attitude.
"It's a really cool period in music," said Monsees. "It's sort of on the verge of going a bunch of different directions, but still has very strong roots. So it's kind of fun to take that concept and see where we can go with it."
Along with their wide range music influences, the twin lead guitars of Monsees and Pinkerton have also played a key role in shaping the band's distinctive sound.
"I don't know if there's anything to it or not," Monsees said, "but he's from Louisiana, and I think had a slightly different upbringing as far as playing guitar, more of a Gulf Coast rhythm guitar."
"Basically, he and I are pretty conscious rhythm players. A lot of guitar players are all about playing solos. He and I were both really conscious of backing each other up but automatically would play parts that would compliment each other, as opposed to both going to play the same rhythm part. It's really hard to find somebody that works well like that with you. Fortunately, it just seemed to gel well."
In addition to a weekly Tuesday gig at Cedar Street, Eve Monsees and the Exiles will be performing this Thursday at the Hole In The Wall and Friday at the Nutty Brown Café.
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