Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Mendoza.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up in El Paso, TX where I started playing guitar at 14 years old. I started to write my own music at 19 years old and It wasn’t until I turned 30 when I started recording my debut album. I was 31 when my debut album was released. As you can tell, the word “patience” is the sum of my life accomplishments. My biggest influences are Ottmar Liebert, Toni Iommi, Miika Tenkula, and countless others spread among many different genres of music.
I went to UNT in Denton for Music Performance and Composition. I lasted close to 2 years but left to Full Sail University to finish my education in Recording Arts. I traveled back home to El Paso and interned at a world class recording studio in Tornillo, TX for 3 months. I stayed in El Paso for 5 years before relocating to Austin where I now reside.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a musician, a songwriter, and a performer for the Sherwood Forest Faire. I also dabble in other forms such as acting, photography, poetry, and dancing for Georgetown Ballet when they need me. I do all this of course as a declaration of self-expression but I also get immense joy out of the process of creating music projects. Tom G Warrior always used to say that his music is an expression of his current state of mind at that given time. I couldn’t agree more with how I approach it. It is as if I am writing a book and every album or song is a chapter within said book.
I don’t intend much for the audience beyond living up to my current standards but I would hope that listening to my music would get people to think. Blackie Lawless always said that if your “art” does not get people to think, then it’s not art.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
The role of the artist remains the same as far as I’m concerned but the question is to what effect does the current state of the world affect the artist as opposed to how it was before.
I would consider Ivvas to be a reflection of the state of the world but I don’t perceive to tell anyone what to do with my art. I would rather they consume it and develop their own personal interpretation. What I create will always have a certain message that means something to me but I also like to write in mystery in the sense of having other develop their own personifications to my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ivvas.bandcamp.com/
- Email: billyvladi@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rjmartifex
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivvasband
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rjmartifex
- Other: Musicoin = jam.dj/jvxv
Image Credit:
Photography on photos 4 and 6 by Amanda Myers
Artwork for the Ivvas cover (#5) by Travis Smith
Photography on photo #7 by Robert Self
Poetry by myself
Photography on photos 1-3 by myself
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