Cristal Ramirez handles the lead vocals and plays guitar for The Aces, a four-piece power pop band comprised of friends who grew up in the outskirts of Provo, Utah. Having formed in 2012, the band still consists of original members, Ramirez’s sister Alisa ,and her two best friends, McKenna Petty and Katie Henderson. The group’s roots together run deep, with them having played its first show at Cristal’s 11th birthday party.
For their third album, 2023’s I’ve Loved You For So Long, the band has progressed into a heady sense of introspection, visibly distant from their early subject matter that leaned heavily into a poppy sense of romance.
“I was reading this interview with Halsey,” Ramirez mentions, talking about another musician whose work acts as a running history of growth, not just as a writer and performer, but as a person. “She was talking about her single, ‘Nightmare.’ And looking back on her and the albums she’s put out, it’s so interesting, she said: ‘I’m able to be so much more truthful now, but it’s not casting any judgment on a younger me. That was as truthful as I was able to be at that age.’ ”
Ramirez relates this to her work with The Aces and the time of her life when she was working on the songs that would become the band’s earlier albums.
“That’s as emotionally vulnerable as I was able to be at 19. Those lyrics are true, they’re very real, but I’m older and able to dive a little deeper and that just comes with age and time.”
Ramirez, along with her younger sister Alisa on drums, and Petty on bass became friends with Henderson as the older members were heading into high school.
“We’ve been a band since we were 10 years old. We were kids and we were figuring out our interests. I think the band was always a foundation between us that we could retreat to,” Ramirez says.
With lyrics of teenage travails, and a seriously catchy pop groove underlying most of their songs, it’s no surprise that, at a recent show near the group’s Provo home, the roar of The Aces’ predominantly female fans reverberates following each song. The makeup of the players and honesty with a tongue in-cheek cleverness in their lyrics has led more than a few of their female fans to express that they were inspired to play music after seeing and listening to the band.
“I think a lot of the music industry has tried to project that onto women in bands – that being all females is a gimmick, this kitschy thing. We’ve always held our ground about that. We don’t do stuff if it doesn’t feel like us. And we’ve surrounded ourselves with a team of people that respect that.”
The band has gone out on extended tours following the release of each of their albums, and one thing Ramirez kept seeing was that while they were meeting other women in bands and younger fans who were inspired to pick up instruments, there weren’t very many women in other parts of the music business.
“There’s so many outlets in the music industry that girls need to know about,” Ramirez says. “It’s been interesting to start touring. We’ve gone out of our way to try to hire women and it’s not easy because the pool of women who are doing these jobs is very limited right now. I’m hoping that changes and it’s brought more to the forefront.”
Another part of Ramirez’s identity that has outwardly influenced the band’s music is her Latin roots.
“Our dad played a lot of Latin music in the house growing up. We grew up listening to a lot of music that conveyed a lot of joy and a lot of dancing.” And while those influences can easily be heard underlying The Aces’ music, they also released a version of their song, “Last One” in Spanish.
“Motown is such a massive part of the inspiration for our band. It’s this intangible feeling that you’re trying to create with the music. Not to say that the lyrics aren’t important — they can be the cherry on top — but if you don’t have those melodies that just evoke emotion, then you’re missing the foundation of the house.”
As for what it is that pushes her during the writing process, Ramirez admits that the girls mix a formula that they enjoy with trying to visualize that formula each night through an evolving perspective.
“We’ve always just tried to find clever ways to articulate this out-of-body experience while still talking about very regular normal things,” she says. “But in my head, I always ask myself, ‘what can I do to put on a better show than last night? What can I do to make it a show that they go home gushing about?’ ”
The Aces perform at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino’s Grand Theatre on Tuesday, October 1st, opening for Goth Babe.
Tickets are available here.
