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The Tiarra Girls Are Set to Ignite Hearts and Souls
with Their Inspiring, Indefinable Sound
The Trio of Young Women Makes Music That Ignores Genres
Creating Punchy, Groove Heavy Tunes To Lift Spirits
and Fill Dance Floors
Lucky Hound Music Will Introduce The Band
With A Series Of Singles Throughout the Rest of the Year
Starting with a cover of the Go-Go’s “Can’t Stop the World.”
The Tiarra Girls have been thrilling audiences in their hometown of Austin, TX for the past decade. It’s an impressive accomplishment, especially since the oldest member of the band just turned 22-years-old. The trio of sisters – singer and guitarist Tori Baltierra; bass player Tiffany Baltierra and drummer Sophia Baltierra – were making music before there were teenagers. “We started as a cover band,” Tori said. “We played stuff by The Black Keys, Selena, Santana, Stevie Wonder, No Doubt, anything we liked. With encouragement from our parents and our music teachers, we started writing our own songs. Our dad was a DJ and played all kinds of stuff – rock, blues, dance music, hip-hop, R&B, country, mariachi, Tejano and rancheras. We love it all.”
The Baltierra’s grew up bi-cultural, aware of the difficulty that can create in today’s America. “We’re fourth generation Mexican Americans and grew up speaking English,” Tori explained. “Our grandparents and parents were bullied and punished for speaking Spanish. Our family wanted to protect us, so we mostly spoke Spanglish at home. With our parents’ help, we’ve delved more into our culture as we’ve grown up. Our dad was our roadie and occasional soundman and our mom managed and booked us. Their support has gotten us to where we are today.”
The Tiarras are also part of a generation that’s interested in pursuing music without limits. Rock, Latin, pop, soul, reggae, blues, world music and many other genres, blend together in their sound. “We absorbed a lot of what we heard in our dad’s enormous record collection, and our own listening. All those subconscious influences come out when we write songs or arrange a cover.”
High profile gigs, including a showcase at SXSW to help promote Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls empowerment organization and the Trans-Pecos Festival, helped expand their fan base, leading them to producer Michael Ramos and a deal with Lucky Hound Music. The label was planning a series of singles, leading up to an album. When the pandemic hit, everything was readjusted. Lucky Hound and its parent company, Studios at Fischer, produced an introductory Live at SF concert that was streamed on July 18. They’ll be releasing a series of singles for the rest of 2020, starting with a cover of The Go-Gos’ “Can’t Stop the World,” with new lyrics written for the Tiarra’s by Austin resident (and Go-Go’s bass guitar player) Kathy Valentine, who has become a fan of the band.
“We played a show with her band The Bluebonnets last year,” Tori said. “We didn’t know a lot about The Go-Go’s, but we made a connection and decided to cover “ ’Can’t Stop the World.’ ” The tune was cut live with producer Michael Ramos, who helped Tori overdub the backing harmonies. The Tiarras replace the original surf beat with a syncopated Latin rhythm and add Flamenco influenced hand clapping to the familiar chorus. The new lyrics have a modern slant and Tori delivers them with swagger to spare.
“Soy Chingona” is an original tune with an English verse and a Spanish chorus. The title, loosely translated, is “I’m a badass.” It rides a catchy rhythm – a mix of cumbia and ska - created by Tori’s guitar and Tiffany’s bass, with Sophia adding flurries of brittle percussive fills to compliment her stomping bass drum. Engineer, Chris Bell, added atmospheric textures, while Tori delivers an anthemic lyric, encouraging listeners to avoid compromise and crash through the barriers that oppress them.
Despite the lockdown, the band is excited about their musical future. “We want to inspire and build a path for other young musicians,” Tori said. “Since signing with Lucky Hound Music, we’ve been motivated and encouraged to write and play on our own terms. Change begins with young people and since marginalized communities are targeted, we want to be on the front line, advocating for change, using music to express ourselves in a way that people will relate to, and be moved by.”
Tori, Tiffany and Sophia began playing music before they were in high school. Their father, Hector, was a nationally known breakdancer and a DJ celebrated for his eclectic taste, playing sets that mixed hip-hop, country, R&B, soul, pop and traditional Mexican sounds. When they were girls, they accompanied him to gigs at clubs, house parties and weddings, learning how to dance to a wide variety of music. “When our dad rehearsed in our garage, we’d run in and start dancing together,” Tori recalled. “He exposed us to a world of music we wouldn’t have discovered on our own.”
The sisters picked up instruments while they were in elementary school. Even before then, Sophia had been tapping out rhythms on every hard surface in the house. Her parents got her a snare pad, then a drum set and she was off and running. Tiffany first played her grandmother’s piano. When the band started, she tapped out the bass lines on her electric keyboard. Eventually, she picked up the electric bass, although it took time getting used to its size and the thick strings. When Tori heard one of her teachers playing a Beatles song on the guitar in third grade, she was hooked. Her parents got her a guitar and, after a few formal lessons, she was soon developing her own style of playing.
“One Christmas, our parents got us the Guitar Hero video game,” Sophia said. “We had to work as a team to reach the end of a song, without the audience booing us. We pushed each other to reach new levels and argued with each other when we were trying too hard. It was the beginning of us developing a love for sharing music, together as sisters.”
Their musical skills evolved quickly. They became a band when Tori was 10, Sophia was 12, and Tiffany was 14. With their parents and music teachers encouraging them, they played on stage at a school recital and a family work party. “We were nervous and stiff and did Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely.’ Playing covers helped us explore genres and develop our own sound.”
The excitement of playing for a live audience was all the inspiration the trio needed. The Tiarra Girls were soon performing at family gatherings, house parties, community events, fundraisers, church festivals and bars, accompanied by one, or both, parents. They began composing their own songs and adding them to their sets, writing arrangements that drew on reggae, ska, rock, cumbia and other Latin sounds. In 2016, they received the award for Best Performing Band Under 18 at the Austin Music Awards, and won again in 2017 and 2018.
Balancing school, jobs, a musical career and the usual worries of growing into adulthood was a challenge, but their dedication to music, each other and their family, carried them through. They released their first recording, a protest song called “Leave It To the People,” after the 2016 election. They released it online and promoted it with a series of public service announcements for Rock the Vote, Jolt and Voto Latino, encouraging young people to vote. In 2017, they made a three song, self-titled EP that showed off their diversity. “I Made a Garden” was a rocker, “Lonely Room” had a jazzy/funk feel and “Answers” rode a mellow reggae/ska backbeat. They put the songs up on the usual digital platforms and kept playing dates and festivals.
As they shelter in place, they’re concentrating on their day jobs and finishing school. Tiffany is working on a nursing degree, Sophia is studying business marketing and Tori is learning audio engineering. Tori and Sophia are interns at Siete foods, helping fill the online store orders. They’re also busy rehearsing and expanding their musical vision. “We play everything – anything we like,” Tori said. ”People want to narrow us down to indie rock with a Latin influence, but we play blues, pop, Tejano, anything that sounds good. There are no rules when you create music. You have to follow your feelings and let the song tell you how it wants to come out.”
