Eyes on the Prize

"Like the poem, we are very motivated to write music and relate to people through it. We're looking to make a difference and inspire people like the bands that influenced us when we were younger," Rodriguez says.

Her assessment of the band's sense of mission may seem almost painfully obvious or even childlike, but think again. Rodriguez says that at least one person comes up to someone in the band after every show to tell them that the music has struck a personal chord. Indeed, where so much heavy music arises from the simple desire to express rage without necessarily examining it, it's rare to see a band consciously try to include its audience in the experience.

As Eyes Set To Kill ratchets closer and closer toward its goals, Rodriguez is increasingly aware of the disruptive and destabilizing aspects of success. For a group of people mostly still in their teens, the potential for being exploited and/or dismissed as a teenybopper gimmick with a feminine twist is high, to say nothing of the pitfalls of having to come of age in the public eye.

"Sometimes people see us at the mall or something," she says with a laugh. "It's not just us, though. MySpace is weird. It's weird when someone recognizes you from there. It makes you feel . . . like you're popular or something."

Rodriguez's family has not only Alexia to think about, but also her younger sister, bassist Anissa, who left high school to pursue the band full time.

"They're really supportive," Rodriguez says. "The only thing that worries them is Anissa finishing school. She's doing online school now, but it's hard to do when you're on tour because you can't find wireless connections all the time. But they help us out when we have financial problems."

Financial problems aside, Eyes Set To Kill already have suffered numerous setbacks. When the Rodriguez sisters formed the band in 2004 with Vogt, Rodriguez says that other musicians — both male and female — were reluctant to play with them on account of them being girls. Several personnel shakeups ensued, and this latest one could come at a high personal price, as the band coalesced around Anissa Rodriguez's close friendship with Vogt. And here they stand about to dive head-first into the treacherous trial and error that is the business side of making music.

Still, Alexia Rodriguez's matter-of-fact resolve bodes well. Of touring, she says: "It was better than I expected. I thought I was going to get annoyed because bands always say they get annoyed of each other, but I didn't at all. And it was really weird to see people singing our songs in different states, because we had no idea that people knew us outside of Arizona."

And on the pressures of being recognized, she simply says, "I'm not complaining."