The Tiarras, the powerhouse musical project of the Baltierra sisters, graced our Local Live stage late Feb. 23 for an unforgettable Latin-fusion performance.
This multi-hyphenate group boasts influences from all over the musical spectrum, like Black Sabbath and Selena. It’s clear the sisters refuse to limit themselves to a genre box, opting instead for music that instead represents their own varied musical background.
The sisters, Sophia, Tiffany and Tori, are no strangers to the stage, having performed since their early childhood. Their comfort was tangible, making for a set that was at once easy-going and sonically exciting. The Tiarras delivered on their promise to make “music that is a conduit for spreading positive energy,” by generating the highest vibes a Sunday night can offer.
After their vibrant set, the Tiarras joined us in the booth for a conversation about their upcoming album, the Flamingo Cantina and the rising Latin music scene.
What’s your name, your role in the band and your favorite appetizer?
Sophia: My name is Sophia Baltierra and I’m the drummer of the band. My favorite appetizer is spinach artichoke dip or Brussels sprouts if they have them.
Tiffany: My name is Tiffany, I’m the oldest sister and bass player. My favorite appetizer is Brussels sprouts.
Tori: My name is Tori, I’m the lead vocal and guitar player for the band, and I think mine is onion rings.
Since y’all are sisters, were y’all born into a musical family?
Tori: Our dad was a DJ, so we were always around different kinds of music. And our mom was booking all the shows, so we saw the business of music and the effect music could have on an audience.
How did you guys get started with music?
Tori: Third grade was around the time I picked up guitar. Sophia was always playing percussion on objects at home, so our parents put her in a class to learn how to read music. And Tiffany was also learning to play piano with our grandmother. So we were all learning instruments at the same time, and then at some point our parents were like “let’s just put you guys in one class, so we’re not taking you to different places.” We started learning covers and writing our own songs at a very young age. I think I was 10, and my sisters were 12 and 4.
How has your music-making matured into what it is now?
Tori: We started out covering a lot of indie music from the early 2000s, like Corinne Bailey Rae, and also some classics like the Beatles. But we also grew up with Tejano music and cumbia. When we started writing, it was rock songs. But in high school, we started listening to indie Latino artists mixing English and Spanish like Cuco and the Marias. We tried it at our shows and recordings, but still stayed heavy on the rock and the cumbia. And here we are working on an album now.
Photo by Ridhaa Faruque.
What are your thoughts on how Latin music has entered the mainstream over the past decade or so?
Tiffany: I appreciate it, and I think we’re helping widen that door. When we started, we wanted to find people that looked like us or sounded like us: we’re not fluent in Spanish, but we want to incorporate it because it’s part of our culture and we’re learning along the way. I know there's people that are in the same boat as us. I feel like that makes people not afraid to embrace that side of themselves.
Tori: Also the “Despacito” effect is very real. I remember when that song came out, all my friends that weren’t Latino learned the lyrics even though they didn’t know what it meant. As young Latinos that are Mexican-American, you deal with both sides of your culture and your identity. So in that kind of Renaissance, we felt more open to be really real with the world about our experience.
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of musical influences?
Tori: Our Mount Rushmore would probably be Selena, Gwen Stefani, maybe Kiss, Black Sabbath…
Sophia: It’s hard because we can’t label ourselves as a certain genre. That’s always been hard for us.
Tori: Santana…I’m still going!
You mentioned working on an album; how does the writing process for that look?
Sophia: Tori usually starts with bringing up the melodies and the lyrics. She’ll put a good base together. Because we’re sisters, we’re comfortable with being real. Either “I hate it,” “I like it” or “that was too much, tone it down.” She starts the process, and we feed off of it.
Tori: Since my sisters know their respective instruments, they’ll tell me “this sounds like it’ll have a simple bass part,” or “maybe we could have breaks here,” or “this song is too long.” We also have a producer named Michael Ramos with Brown Recluse Studio, and he always helps us with beats, tracks and keys. We’re a three piece, so we don’t have another sister for keys or tracks, you know?
How has it been writing this album?
Tori: It’s been really nice. It’s also very overwhelming. We had the idea of making a full project a couple years ago, but we went through a lot. We lost our mom, the pandemic, finding ourselves as artists, being in our early twenties. Right now we’re tightening up most of the songs that are going to be on the album. But no one tells you about how intense the production is. Like how much you go back into the studio and rewrite a song that you wrote, like, seven months ago and the lyrics just don’t make sense to your life anymore. But we’re excited.
How do you balance being sisters with the professional music side of your lives?
Tiffany: When we’re in our own home, we really talk to each other and say what’s on our minds. We don’t take it to heart. We can fight in one second and be best of friends in the next. We know when to tone our harshness down in front of producers or being in the studio. They understand our dynamic, so they joke around with us too.
Tori: The funny thing is that when we’re in the studio, when we’re laying down harmonies, the producers will want to cut down editing so we use the same microphone. A lot of people say that since we’re sisters, we have the same genetic vocal cord, so it’s even smoother to use one microphone. But if one of us is off pitch in one take, we just laugh for the next 20 minutes, like being mean to each other. It’s a challenge. We turn into little kids just messing around.
Tiffany: We used to play Guitar Hero before we played our instruments, and we were really competitive with each other, so we’ve had that energy forever.
Tori: We would get booed by the characters, and we wouldn’t talk to each other at dinner because we blamed each other. It was definitely me because I was a seven-year-old trying to learn how to sing the Beastie Boys raps. I’m not gonna know that!
Sophia: It was definitely you. But I can’t imagine having a filter with your bandmates. That’s hard.
Photo by Rachel Green.
Do you guys have a favorite venue in Austin?
Sophia: I think we can all agree that we like Flamingo Cantina.
Tori: At first, I think it was mainly a reggae club, but a couple years back we got booked for a show there. And the owner, Angela, really loved us and kept inviting us back to open for ska and cumbia bands. That was around the time it started to get more Latin-based. We’ve played it for free week, like, every year. This past year, it was completely full with a line out the door, which was wild to us. Flamingo just feels so good.
What’s your favorite part about the Austin scene?
Tori: Our favorite part of the scene would be the camaraderie of it. We grew up in the Austin music scene, so we know a lot of people that have been our mentors over the years. But we know people who just entered the scene. And we can be mentors to them, like, “this is how you promote yourself, this is how you should start an email when you’re trying to be booked, always say thank you to the sound people.” It’s really awesome because Austin is so full of music, and that’s what makes the city Austin, you know? So we feel honored to be a part of that and to have that family feeling with other musicians here.
Always thank the sound guy!
Tori: We remember sound people! If they did a good job, we’ll thank them again for a show they did months ago. I mean, for the artist up there, you rely on what you sound like and whether or not you can hear the people next to you. Sound is powerful.
Do you have any memories growing up in the Austin music scene?
Tori: I remember the first show that I really felt like I gained consciousness at. My parents took me to Girl in a Coma during South By years ago. They’re really cool because they’re also family members. They mix in rock, some Latin, some indie, all kinds of things like us. That was the first time we were faced with a sound that would be similar to ours. Also seeing women up on stage was interesting. I also remember shows where we weren’t taken very seriously because we were kids. We would have an 11 a.m. slot, no one would be there. Or we would go and they would deny us a sound check, and then we would start playing and they realized we were actually talented. Then they would dial everything up mid-set and apologize.
Tiffany: A big part of our story, too, is that we were nominated for best band under 18 for the Austin Chronicle.
Tori: I think it was three times in a row we won.
Tiffany: It was really cool because we got to be in a space where these big Austin musicians were. And we were meeting a lot of big Austin names. It was also really cool because I feel like we’ve played for or opened up for some of the bands, and they were like “oh, you guys made it here!”
Are there any artists that have been on repeat for you guys?
Tori: Whenever people ask me that, I blank. Ariel & The Culture just released some new music, or they go by Ariel now. I really love Labi Siffre; I’ve been heavy on him. Go on a walk and listen, so good. Or I went on a walk today, and I was just listening to Journey. My mom would play Journey a lot growing up, the voice of the singer, the way he has a nasally way he ends his notes has just seeped into my subconscious, and I think I do that live now. Tiffany’s been listening to a lot of Natalia Lafourcade.
Tiffany: I’m excited because I think she’s coming to Austin in June, so I hope to see her. Her new album is very poetic compared to her other ones.
Sophia: See, I’m very different compared to these girls over here. I’m a big gym-goer. So I listen to a lot of rap and heavy metal. Nothing really indie.
What’s a song that gets you going at the gym?
Tori: Probably growling or something…
Sophia: Screaming in my ear; anything that has to do with that.
Do you guys have any pre-show rituals?
Tori: I think I’m the only one who has them. I’m very spiritual in that sense. When we play music, I feel so deeply connected to my sisters in a way that doesn’t happen in our daily lives. I almost treat it like it’s a ceremony. Also, I remember when I was, like, 12, we had a show at Fiesta Gardens. And there was a marching band, and they had the first slot. And we were watching them, waiting to go on, and the instructor was like “I’m going to point to a student and they’re going to improvise a solo because every musician will adapt to their situation.” And that stuck with me forever. So before every show, I repeat that mantra in my head. Because every crowd is different, every venue is different, every monitor is different. You might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and you go to play a show. I just remind myself that we know what we’re doing; all we have to do is have fun.
If you could collaborate with any artist in the world, who would it be and why?
Sophia: 1, 2, 3
All: Selena!
Tori: Sometimes I cry like I knew her.
Tiffany: It would be really cool to talk about being in a family band. Because our parents helped manage us, too, in the beginning.
Sophia: Also being forced to learn Spanish, because she didn’t know Spanish either. A lot of fans come up to us and go off in Spanish, and we’re trying to catch up. We’re getting there! We’re forcing ourselves to learn more because it’s just part of our music.
Tori: With Selena, I feel like our voices would mix so well. Selena was all of our personalities growing up. Our parents played the movie, and we would just re-watch it all the time. And I had a really big Selena phase, like, freshman year of high school. I listened to the whole discography every night, studying her. She’s timeless.
If you could cover any song in your style, what would it be and why?
Tori: hmmm maybe…
Tori and Tiffany: Sweet Emotion!
Tori: By Aerosmith. It’s a very important song to us. It’s the song our mom would blast on the way home or to the grocery store; I run to it. It’s very mellow, but imagine cumbia with it.
As a wrap-up, what’s your favorite dessert?
Tori: ooh, a cinnamon roll.
Tiffany: Cheesecake.
Sophia: Boring. Mine would be a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie. Ok, oatmeal chocolate chip! No, red velvet, I love red velvet!
Photo by Rachel Green.
Find the Tiarras Here:
https://www.thetiarras.com
Photo by Rachel Green.
Credits:
Production Interns : Cass Tanguma, Astrid Alvarez; Set Design Director: Anna Havner; Audio Director: Aiden Sharabba, Audio Intern: Ethan Rangel; Video Director: Cassie Quintela, Video Intern: Christopher Tamer; Photo Directors: Rachel Green, Dina Zeid, Photo Intern: Ridhaa Faruque; TSTV Producers: Michael Norris, Fernando Alvarez; Interviews: Devansh Thakkar, Rebecca Meyers; Volunteers: Michael Martinez Samuel Ramirez-Mar, Cleo Chaney, Zoë Thorn, Debby Taylor, Ajai Pillai