The Aces on the Pandemic, Social Media & New Music
Make it stand out
Opening back up Zoom after over three months of being Zoom/Google Meet/ Microsoft Teams free, wasn’t the most comforting feeling. But this time, instead of makeshift pub quizzes with friends or glitchy film nights, I was logging into Zoom to catch up with The Aces - a band who always see the glass half full and whose discography will provide the soundtrack to your summer.
With an endearing relatability, sparkling guitars and anthemic choruses, The Aces’ have known each other since elementary school and explore growing up, falling in love and mental health in the 21st century with exceptional honesty. When Cristal (vocals, guitar), Alisa (drums), McKenna (bass) and Katie (guitar) called us up, (and after a few unsurprising technical difficulties), we chatted about making music in quarantine, their upcoming tour and even the promise of new music.
As the band’s second album ‘Under My Influence’ celebrated its first birthday there was an obvious sense of accomplishment amongst the women, with Cristal expressing how “it feels really surreal that it’s already been a year to be honest, it feels like it went by really fast, we’re really proud of that record… and we’re just really excited to tour it,” she enthuses, “We’ve just been jamming in our spare time while we’re apart and fantasising about when we get to tour this winter. I remember the day the record came out sitting in our houses doing nothing, just kind of being like ‘our record is out.’”
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I mention how odd it must have been to be releasing music during a pandemic and Katie recalls release day, “We had a Zoom party, we all got treats individually at our own houses and jumped on a Zoom call to celebrate - it was the best we could do, it was really crazy.’”
Cristal explains, “Our social media was the only access we had to see the reaction, there’s no touring, there’s no press - well there’s press but it’s all over video chat - it was very weird… But I think it rerouted us into why we make music and at the end of the day, all of that aside, we would still make music because that’s what we know how to do. We love to make records and we love to make music… It was strange but humbling.”
On the subject of the pandemic the band discuss how, despite the world telling them to be hyper-productive in the forced break of quarantine, they struggled to be creative at all during that time.
“It was not a creative time at all for us,” Cristal comments, “It was a really difficult time, you know those people that were always like ‘turn inward and get better at a skill…’ That shit sucked and it was so depressing and miserable and I think it was just more about finding ways to cope in a healthy way and get through it and look forward to the future.”
“As an artist in a pandemic you basically think that everything you do is going into a black hole and no-one gives a fuck!’”
She continues, “Especially for Alisa and me as songwriters, in the beginning we were trying to force it and stay on top of our schedules and still work really hard and then it just kind of got to a point that was like, you know what, that approach is obviously not working and it’s not aiding our mental health at all so let’s just pull off a little bit and let ourselves exist. Let it just come when it comes, and so that was really nice for us I think, even though it felt really unnatural in the beginning.”
Katie recalls the first time the band finally met up in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic, “We didn’t know if we should be doing it yet or not, it really was like ‘Oh my gosh we haven’t seen each other in so long!’ Before that we were planning our tour and all this press stuff, we were gonna see the fans and we had so much going on and then we were literally just all sent home to be alone which was really, really hard.” Katie laments.
“Honestly, thank heavens for technology because that’s the way we were able to stay together as a band, that’s the way we were able to stay in contact with our fans, and that’s what helped me get through it a lot. Being able to release and stay in touch in some way.”
Cristal agrees social media was the bands saviour, “There was a lot of video calls and a lot of staying in touch with one another - we are in constant communication the four of us, we have a group message that we’re texting in everyday all day - so like Katie said, it was nice to be in an age where if you’re going to be apart from people you have a way to connect.”
Social media is a hot-topic in the band's music and they often speak about their conflicted relationship to it, most notably in the anthemic ‘My Phone Is Trying To Kill Me’. “For a long time when we were younger we tried to write songs about technology or hating social media or deeper subject matter and it was tricky for us and we didn’t know why,” Cristal offers when I ask about what the songwriting process for ‘My Phone Is Trying To Kill Me’ looked like, “We couldn’t quite pull it off, but I think that’s just because we were so young and we didn’t have enough experience to know how to talk about things that were deeper yet and as you get older it’s like ‘Oh, I feel like I know how to talk about this now in my own way.’”
Cristal elaborates, “With ‘My Phone Is Trying To Kill Me’ it was a really interesting day because I remember right as we finished writing it with our friend Justin Tranter it was like ‘Wow this is the first time we’ve written a song about the fucking plague that are these phones and social media that actually doesn’t feel corny and actually feels good and accurate’and it’s because we just told the story from a personal perspective.”
“That’s one of my favourite songs on the record still,” Katie chimes in, “I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking ‘everyone’s felt that way’. Everyone knows how social media can make you feel negatively and I felt like it was portrayed in the best way. And honestly, it’s such a banger too it goes off!”
The band are massively connected to their fans and in constant communication with them through various social media platforms and as a fan of The Aces you always feel included - an honorary fifth member. Through chatting to the band, I really got to understand just how much their fans mean to them, not just in a ‘thank you to the fans for this award’ type of way, but in a genuinely grateful and heartfelt way.
When I ask the band what one thing they want to let their fans know right now, Alisa is quick to say “That we’re very, very excited to see you!” and Cristal adds “Thanks for still caring, truthfully… it’s really nerve-wracking as an artist to come out of a pandemic and put a tour up. People’s attention spans are so short, I don’t fucking blame them, so are ours, so when you put a tour up you just hope that people still want to come to our shows and so to see those tickets selling and people are excited to come still it’s just reassurance for us and we feel really grateful.”
Speaking of their tour, the band are clearly anxious to get back on stage as soon as possible despite the fact it’s a muscle they haven’t exercised in a while. “It’s gonna be amazing,” Katie gushes, “I think I’m going to have a hard time not getting emotional to be honest. It’s just gonna be such a surreal moment because our live show is what we’ve done from the beginning, we’ve just played every chance we can get together since we were twelve years old so to be back on stage really feels like home to us. It’s where we can connect the most with our fans and to see them sing along with us and meet them all and hear what the music and this album has done for them individually.”
The band makes music for women, by women, about women, which doesn’t come without its challenges: In a rich discussion on the music industry itself, Cristal urges women to create a community within the music industry and support one another. She discusses how often the music industry frustratingly places all-female bands into “boxes” - “we all make very different music that doesn’t even sound the same!”
“I think Gen Z is getting so much better at being outspoken and being demanding and taking up their own space and that's so exciting to see.”
McKenna, meanwhile, urges, “Young women looking to break into the music industry to not take no for an answer. Keep asking for opportunities to perform and share your music and don't give up! You deserve to be in the spaces that you want to be in and if you truly believe that, you will attract the right people to support you and help you make it a reality.” Whilst Alisa mentions that if she could change anything about the music industry she would “first change how many old white men are in positions of power” and “the way that sales and numbers are valued high above and over artistry and real artists.”
And as for new music? McKenna says she is “more excited than ever about the new music we are making right now. It feels so full circle and familiar to our roots as a band. The past couple of years have been really growing for us individually and as a group and I think that new energy really comes through in the new music. Cannot wait for everyone to hear it.” So keep a look out and I’m sure we’ll be seeing new Aces material soon.
Writer: Grace Dodd | Photographer: Jason Lee
