Photo: jason lee
The Acesknow their influence.
The four-piece girl band — comprising lead singer Cristal Ramirez, her sister and drummer Alisa Ramirez, bassist McKenna Petty and guitarist Katie Henderson — are on tour with an all-woman bill. And they know the power that that holds.
Before their headlining, sold-out show at the Fonda Theatre in L.A., the Utah-raised group sat down with PEOPLE to speak about their success after releasing their addicting sophomore albumUnder My Influence. The LP explores themes of queerness (“Kelly”), lost love (“Cruel” and “All Mean Nothing”), love in the age of technology (“My Phone Is Trying to Kill Me”) and, well, the power of women.
“As an artist, there’s no choice: you have to be able to express yourself,” Cristal tells PEOPLE about her queer identity. “For Alisa and I, we had both been out for a while so it felt like second nature. But there was also this moment where we all talked and were like, ‘Are we ready to do this as a band?’ "
At the time of writing the album, Henderson — who now identifies as queer — wasn’t out, and talking about The Aces' music, without being true to her identity was difficult for the guitarist.
“I just remembered feeling desperately wanting to be myself in these interviews and talk about this as a queer woman,” she says. “I really think that the album helped me come out, to be honest.”
The music — especially songs like “Kelly,” where the group sings directly about a female love interest — allowed Henderson to feel “very empowered” to be true to herself.
“I had always known it was a part of me. But it was so hard for me to just finally come out,” explains Henderson. “It gave me a lot of emotional support and inspiration — [like] it’s finally okay.”
For Petty, who is the only member that doesn’t identify as queer, it was about supporting her childhood friends/bandmates and also “navigating a transition out of the faith we were raised in.” All four women were raised in the Mormon Church.
“Being a woman in that religion is really hard,” Petty says. “It was an important time for me to see the three of them be so vulnerable and brave. I’m just inspired every day and I feel lucky to be a part of this.”
“But it would be way worse for us to be living in basically a lie and trying to fit in,” Cristal explains. “You kill that vulnerability. You kill that truthfulness and you have nothing.”
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Aside from those themes in some of their music, Alisa explains that there’s a patriarchal narrative about groups made of women, that, because they’re women, they won’t get along.
For The Aces, who reached stardom with their 2018 LPWhen My Heart Felt Volcanic, the truth is the complete opposite.
“It just comes from men wanting women to not get along because when women get along, they’re powerful as f—,” she says. “There’s this mentality that being in an all-girl band that you’re constantly each other’s competition. There’s a scarcity mentality all the time.”
She adds, “They don’t want us to know that we’re really powerful and we’re strong in numbers. That’s why we’re bringing out all-female openers on tour with us. There’s more than enough room.”
Madeline The Person— whose track “As a Child” has become a hit among Gen Z listeners — says heading on her first-ever tour alongside The Aces has been the ideal environment and learning experience for her. (Girl band The Beaches is currently touring with The Aces on the second half of their tour.)
“It’s my first tour ever and I can’t believe it’s with a badass group of women,” Madeline tells PEOPLE. “It’s super perfect. It’s a dream come true.”
For The Aces, bringing women on tour with them is filling in a gap they saw in music when they were younger. “All my musical inspirations were men. And I just think, that’s we’re just really trying to change that narrative,” Henderson says.
Adds Petty, “We should be lifting each other up not trying to compete with each other because theywantus to compete with each other.”
Having started their band as teenagers, the group says that the key to their unity has been that they’ve “really fine-tuned [their] communication” over the years, says Alisa.
“We’ve been besties since we were 10 years old. It’s just really understanding each others' personalities and just talking to each other, not letting things go unspoken,” she explains. “If you can tell you’ve annoyed someone, or you’re annoyed, speak up, say something, talk about it.”
She adds, “We went on a band trip, just the four of us, and try to do stuff that’s not just working and it’s really nice.”
Part of it, Petty says, is “letting go of our egos a bit.” And the pandemic helped with that.
“We’re literally all just together on a floating rock in the middle of a crazy universe,” she says. “We’ve always been really good at just not having our egos be a part of the conversation. It’s hard, especially going through our teens together, but I feel like that’s helped us a lot.”
With the band’s tour wrapping up in just a few days, the group looks forward to releasing new music in the coming year. Their passion for relatable storytelling and genuine representation is palpable — and they’re not stopping anytime soon.
Says Henderson: “You want to have your mind blown? Come to a show.”
Under My Influence’s Deluxe Edition is out now.
source: people.com
