Women in Music: Empress Fest with Maddie and The Deadnames

Empress Fest took place on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at Private Park in San Marcos, Texas. The fest was created to support Grace Livingston, a local San Marcos musician who was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia and other chronic health issues. This is the flyer for the fest.
(From left to right) Karl Schmidt and Rami Stein were vendors for Empress Fest. They are local artists, selling psychedelic prints, canvases and stickers during the fest.
The warmth of the fire could be felt on this cold night as the fire spinning begun. Fire spinning was the act between the acts, where the fire spinners danced with the flames to EDM music as the next band got ready to perform.
Window Shop, a San Marcos rainbow rock band, performed right before Maddie and The Deadnames. Nora Tomlinson sings one of the band’s newest songs, an unreleased single called “I Can’t See (What’s Wrong With Me).”
Maddie and The Deadnames begin to perform their first song “Dust”, from their self-titled 2022 EP. The band consists of four members: Maddie Ava on vocals and guitar, Christian Bates on lead guitar, Tomas Diaz on drums and Hayden Cougar on bass guitar (not present for this gig).
Christian Bates, the lead guitarist for The Deadnames, adds the bass to Ava’s melodies and Diaz’s beats during tonight’s gig. Fun fact: Bates is a multi-instrumentalist and can play guitar, bass and drums.
Ava sings “Whiskey Whispers” to the Empress Fest crowd, a crowd of close friends and local artists. Ava said it was a blast getting to support Livingston and share a night with the local music scene.
Diaz focuses on the cues of when to play certain rhythms and drums. Fun fact: Diaz’s dog, Buddy, was at the fest. The black labrador retriever was running around receiving pets and fetching sticks
The fog machine was glitching throughout the show, adding too much smog to the set. It did leave for a great foggy snapshot.
The Deadnames ended their set with Earthbound, an unreleased song. Earthbound discusses how Ava doesn’t want to go to heaven or hell, but to stay on Earth for as long as she can. This is Ava’s favorite song and a crowd favorite.