Music has always been a family affair for The Tiarras, an Austin-based band made up of three sisters.
The Baltierra sisters — Tori on guitar and vocals, Sophia on drums, and Tiffany on bass — have been playing music since they were children. More than a decade after their career began, they’re gearing up to play their first-ever ACL Festival at the Tito’s Handmade Vodka stage at 12:35 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.
So what’s it like to work with your parents as bookers and managers and your sisters as bandmates? According to the sisters, it’s really special.
“It’s such a blessing, because it makes the environment so comfortable and it allows us to speak freely without being judged,” Sophia said. “It just makes the whole ride much more fun.”
Tori, Sophia, and Tiffany (who are fourth-generation Austinites) grew up in a home where music was central. Their father was a DJ and their mother raised them on diverse playlists, including artists like Black Sabbath, Norah Jones, No Doubt, Ramón Ayala, and Selena.
“The whole like point of music to us (is) the duality of real life and being able to escape into that melody,” Tori said. “We’re Latinas and we grew up going to the parties and dancing around the house listening to cumbia, so that element of movement is always there.”
The trio began performing as young teenagers at small venues and events like the Pecan Street Festival, the Austin Ice Cream Festival, and even the first-ever SXSW Sydney festival in Australia.
The sisters — who work outside of their music career as a nurse, a city employee, and at Siete Family Foods — said that things started speeding up after they began posting on TikTok. The signs? These days, people drive from out of state to see them perform and always line up at the merch booth after their shows.
“We’re kind of surprised each time we get this new feeling of like, ‘wow, we’re making it,’” Tori said. “We also get kind of scared, because obviously, there’s no rulebook to this, and there’s not a lot of all sister bands, or all sister Latina bands that we’ve seen. We’re just holding on to each other.”
It hasn’t been overnight success, which is why when they got the email asking The Tiarras to perform at ACL Festival 2024, they originally thought it was a scam.
“We all were just elated,” Tori said. “We knew that it was going to come with a lot of preparation, and it was going to be a test of our confidence. (...) We were just super excited, but initially we thought it was fake.”
Before they take to the stage on Saturday, the sisters said they’ll perform their pre-show ritual: imagining their mom — who passed away in December and has a writing credit on their upcoming album — dancing to their music in the crowd.
“It was difficult to keep doing music and to keep doing shows, but we knew that it was her that was bringing us these opportunities and pushing us to keep going,” Tori said.
If you’ve never heard their music before, the three of them recommend listening to their songs “Soy Chingona” and “They Don’t See Us.” When they’re not on stage, you might find them in the crowd for Khruangbin, Dua Lipa, and of course...
“Norah Jones for sure,” Tiffany said. “I was most excited when I saw her name on the lineup with ours.”
