San Francisco’s Tiaras, made up of former members of Ganglians and Blasted Canyons, have been playing the Northern California scene for quite a while now. The band formed about two years ago, since the disbanding of Ganglians, and have been doing shows in Bay Area since. Their first official single, “Anyone and Everyone”, is an exciting pop anthem accompanied by a video of what seems to be a collection of video from the band’s two odd years of live performances.
We are glad to finally share Tiaras with the world, but since there is not too much about them on the Internet, we interviewed the group to gather details about the Ganglians’ break up, the San Fran music scene, and what Bay Area bands you should be listening to.
Do you consider this to be a side project to Ganglians or a new project all together?
Most definitely not a side project. This band has been the main focus since the dissolution of Ganglians. I don’t like to think of Ganglians as dead but on an indefinite hiatus. Who knows, we live on different coasts and Ganglians will only be the original dudes.
How did Tiaras come to about?
Tiaras formed after the end of Ganglians. By the time Kyle and Ryan were living in SF together, Ryan and Antonio had been biding their time getting some song ideas together in preperation for the band yet to be. When they moved to SF they contacted Adam Finken, whom they knew through playing with Blasted Canyons and then enlisted his roommate Ryan Hansen on bass. Most of the songs on the record were written jamming in their garage in the Excelsior.
Earlier this year was a lot of talk about the San Fran music scene moving down to Los Angeles. As a band just starting up in San Francisco, do you see this change affecting you or do you see a change at all in the scene?
It’s an obvious change in the city when the local heroes that have been around for multiple years just up and leave. There’s been a huge exodus. A lot of our friends and influences have left. On one hand, the rent is higher, the venues fewer, and our friends and fellow bands have gone South. But on the other, the music scene feels less cluttered and garage-centric- and in a really roundabout way, a bit more locally fertile. It’s obviously going to affect the artistic environment of the city when a ton of local mainstays leave and venues start shutting down. The pros and cons are hard to weigh, but we just try to focus on the positive aspects of city and move forward. What else can you do?
What are some good other bay area bands that a lot of people may not know about?
Too many to name and so many friends! Smiles, Silver Shadows, Micheal and the Strange Land, Sam Flax, Violent Change, Cold Beat, Cruel Summer, Useless Eaters, Male Gaze, CCR Headcleaner, Emotional, Scraper, POW!, Dissolve, and a million more I’m sure!
Is there any good origin story for the name Tiaras?
Nope. Most of us hated it. We all ended up liking it.
You guys have a release coming out soon. What work went into making this album?
For certain, this record was a labor of love and very tiresome. Antonio was our main man when it came to recording and general production and he did not dissappoint. We knew we wanted to create something with higher fidelity. So, we scraped together some cash, “bought” some ridiculously expensive mics from Guitar Center and tracked the most important bits at our practice studio and houses. All in all, it took about six-seven months of tracking, mixing, and producing to cobble together a record we knew we could be proud of.
Is there anything else that people should know about Tiaras from this interview?
I think we covered it 🙂
