Wanda Ortiz - Bassgirl - Iron Maidens

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B A S S G I R L S M O N T H L Y - D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 6 - S p o t l i g h t o n W A N D A O R T I Z

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Born and raised in southern California, Wanda started playing upright bass at age 9 and picked up the electric bass at age 12. She continued studies on upright bass throughout high school and college, eventually earning a bachelor of music degree (in bass performance) from the University of California, Irvine. For a while she worked as a freelance musician in various bands and other ensembles but then decided to see what it would be like to have a “real job”, so she went back to school (this time to Pepperdine University), earned a graduate degree in business, and got a serious job only to find out that, while she liked the additional income, it wasn’t what she really wanted to do. At that point, Wanda decided to go back to playing and started up a business with a friend which would allow her the flexibility to do music as well. She now have a second career in technology in addition to playing bass.

Welcome Wanda Ortiz. When did you first take a bass in your hands and what attracted you to the bass? Since I was small, I have loved music and had always wanted to be involved with it in some way. When I was 9 years old the school I was attending had a music program where, one day, we could all sign up to choose the instrument we wanted to study. Anyway, for whatever reason (I can’t remember), I was late to music class on “instrument day”. By the time I got there, every school instrument had been checked out except for a junior sized double bass so that’s what I ended up playing. It was a little awkward at first since the bass was so big and I was so small but I loved it anyway. My first teacher called me “mighty mouse”. It was then that I decided to play bass.

Can you remember the first song you ever learned on bass? I'm pretty sure it was "Merrily We Roll Along" which I thought sounded like "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

What was your very first public performance? A school orchestra concert for parents.

Tell us about your current projects? In addition to playing with The Iron Maidens (The World's Only Female Tribute to Iron Maiden), I freelance as an independent musician pretty extensively for various different projects or groups. My last gig was with the Marina Del Rey Symphony Orchestra (on upright bass). I'm also a regular member of the South Coast Symphony which is known for its work helping with children's music education. Both those groups are in Southern California.

I'm also a regular member of the South Coast Symphony which is known for its work helping with children's music education. Both those groups are in Southern California.

What’s your main bass? For the all my electric bass work, I use G&L basses. I have 3 different models: SB2, JB2, and L1505. I have two electric basses made out of alder and two made out of ash. For the Maidens, I use a G&L SB2 in the blue metal flake finish (alder wood). I also have a black SB2 (alder wood) and a JB2 (ash) in a beautiful honey finish. I liked the honey finish so much that I got my L1505 (5 string bass) in it as well. The L1505 is also made out of ash.

My blue SB2 bass has a solid maple neck, the black SB2 has a flamed maple neck with a bird's eye maple fingerboard, the JB2 has a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard and, and my L1505 bass has a maple neck with a bird's eye maple fingerboard. I have a beautiful carved Romanian double bass for orchestral work. It has a maple back and maple sides. Its top is made out of Spruce and it has a nice clear reddish finish. My upright bass has a maple neck with an ebony fingerboard.

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What strings to you like best? Rotosound for electric bass. I'm still trying out different strings for the upright bass so I don't have a favourite for that one yet but I hear Rotosound is making strings for orchestral playing ~ I may try those out.

What is your backline bass amp setup? I have an SWR SM900 amplifier and 2 SWR triad cabinets.

Do you prefer to play bass with your fingers, plectrum or both? I have always preferred to play with my fingers because that was how I learned to play but I don’t see anything wrong with using a pick if that’s what makes the music sound best.

What type of music do you most like to play? I try to play as many different styles as I can however, since The Iron Maidens has become of my busiest projects, I play a lot of heavy metal. I also play a lot of orchestral music. Strange combination, eh?

What’s your favourite album/CD? It's too hard to pick only one. I have a lot of favorites. Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind is one of them.

Who do you listen to? Lately it seems like I listen to mostly Iron Maiden and classical music (different composers) because I'm always needing to learn or perfect a part here and there and listening to it helps. Unfortunately, I don't have much free time to listen to whatever I want but when I do, I also enjoy listening to the blues and other types of music.

Have you recorded/released any CDs? Yes, The Iron Maidens have just released their first CD: the first full length tribute CD done by a single artist. I'm also on a CD called Heartache City with a band of the same name. That band featured Steve Fontaine (formerly of Uriah Heep) on vocals and the music was in a rock vein.

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What was your best gig/venue ever? My best gigs occur when I get to play music I like and that happens quite frequently. I've had a few high profile gigs with The Iron Maidens playing at the LA Coliseum and opening for Danzig but the music is what really does it for me.

What was your worst moment onstage? At one venue, there was a bar table that was connected to the stage and I thought it would be fun to run out there (on top of the table) while playing. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the table was wet so I slipped and fell right into some guy's lap. It was pretty embarrassing. I climbed back up on stage as quickly as I could and only missed a few notes. I was still playing while in that guy's lap. I hope he was okay. (I'm sure he is still telling that story! - Ed.)

Who did you listen to as a young teenager? Lots of rock music: Iron Maiden, Rush, Yes, Kiss, etc., I particularly enjoyed music with fun bass lines.

Anything new on the recording front with your band? Hopefully a new live CD soon.

Has anything funny or strange happened with a fan or fans? Our fans are really Maiden fans and I always seem to run into them everywhere which I find a little funny (in a pleasant way). I know Maiden is a very successful band but I used to think of them as more of an underground phenomenon due to the fact that they get very little radio airplay here in the US. However, this is really not the case because here I am on the west coast, several thousand miles away from where the band is from and when I go to the market, or pharmacy, or wherever, I run into people who have seen our shows.

What’s your opinion on basses with more than 4 strings? I don't see anything wrong with them if it makes the music sound better.

What was the best concert you were ever at? Iron Maiden ~ I even got to go backstage a couple times (now that’s hard to beat!).

Do you find singing while playing bass difficult? It depends on what I’m playing. If the bass line is complicated, then singing can be a challenge. If it’s easy, then it’s not so hard to sing along.

Did you ever have a famous person in your audience? I have seen quite a few famous people at The Iron Maidens' shows. In fact, some of them have even sat in with us. Phil Campbell from Motorhead and jazz guitarist Alex Skolnick (formerly of Testament) have both shared the stage with us at one time. They were both nice guys and we had a great time playing with them.

What are your ambitions? To always improve and have fun playing bass. I would eventually like to get into a major orchestra one day..so I guess I will be practicing a lot.