When three sisters from Mexico broke the internet a while back with their cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman you could see the star potential they had. Roll on a decade and that has now at least been partially realised culminating in a first appearance at Download. Bass player Alejandra and drummer Paulina chatted to Gary Trueman while third sister Daniela rested her damaged back. Up for discussion was sibling rivalry, or the lack of it and the difference in culture between Mexico and the UK
Are you surprised at how quickly you blew up from that Metallica cover you did a few years back, and how people have watched it globally? Now you’re travelling the world.
“We want to say yes but for us it has been ten years so we feel it’s been more like several steady steps forward. But more recently things have been changing more quickly. Our dreams are coming true and we’re travelling the world. We’re doing a world tour – that’s insane for us. We would never have thought that we would be doing a world tour by now. In the context of ten years maybe it’s not that quick but for us it is, and we’re like yeah we’re doing this!”
Obviously you have a big following in Mexico but are you surprised at how big your following is around the world?
“We have a very close community, especially with our Patreon community so we do know we have a lot of fans. But it’s really amazing to put faces to the names now. We have people buying tickets to our shows which are selling out for the first time. It’s very humbling and a beautiful moment. We’re three sisters from Mexico who starting playing a while ago and now we’re doing sold out shows on different continents and it’s just amazing.”
When you play as sisters, as siblings do you find you have an intuition about what each other are going to do on stage?
“Honestly it is, like on stage we communicate with our eyes and we know what’s going to happen or if something is wrong, we instantly know. We do have that sisterly connection and it’s such a good thing to have in a band.”
So as sisters do you ever argue?
“No… yes, well a little bickering but we get along pretty well. If we do fight in ten minutes we’ll be OK again.”
You just explode and then you’re best friends again?
“Exactly! Especially when we’re touring and we know how tiring it is and some days you’re just not at your best. Behind closed doors we give each other space if someone is not doing that great. It’s just about understanding and communicating and as a family and a team we’ve got that pretty down.”
Have you all got really different personalities?
“There are things we share but yes we do have very different personalities. Just now you can see Alejandra is a bit more quiet and Daniela is a more bubbly person. One thing we do share is our love for music and what we do.”
Do you all like the same artists or very different artists?
“We do like a lot of similar music because we’re all very open to listening to everything. So if one of us has something to recommend usually we’ll all like it.”
What about your influences as a band?
“It a melting pot that inspired us to do what we do now. So a lot of Muse, Pink Floyd, ACDC, Queen, a lot of artists our parents love and we love now. Muse have influenced us a lot though, and they’re also a trio. We really look up to them.”
What about the instruments? Who decided who got to play what?
“Actually it was never the plan to start a band. We all played the piano at the very beginning. Then Dani was like I want to play the guitar. Then Paulina figured out she wanted to play the drums. Then when Ale was a bit older, about six or seven, she started to play the bass. Then we were like wait, we can play together. Then we started out doing a few covers. But it was never like you’re screwed you have to take that instrument because that’s the one that’s missing. It was just that we wanted to play different things.”
Do you come from a musical family? Do your parents play musical instruments?
“No they don’t play anything they’re just really big music lovers. They support us and travel with us, they’re here at Download.”
How did it feel playing out there on that stage today?
“It was amazing. It was our first show in the UK. We were nervous because we know how Mexican crowds react and how American crowds react. We know what to expect on our continent. But over here we haven’t played at all so we were nervous. Our mission is always to share our love of what we do and entertain and put on a good show. But we don’t know what a good show is here. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many people at one o’clock. It was packed. People were clapping and reacting and enjoying the show. It was lovely to see and it meant we were doing our job correctly. We had a blast.”
What about the difference in culture away from the music? Have you seen something and just thought what the fuck?
“This may seem really stupid but you drive on the other side of the street than we do. We didn’t expect that. It’s like walking on sidewalks too, everything is on the left. It’s just so jarring. Then some people don’t walk on the left which is really confusing.”
Do you think the fans are different here than they are in Mexico, what are the similarities?
“The similarity is the love of rock music, that’s something the whole rock genre has. Yes there are differences too but it’s very sweet to see like when we play in Mexico people travel all around the world to see these shows. It’s wonderful to see how our music has joined these different cultures. Culture barriers and language barriers just go away.”
Is there anything in the UK that you particularly like or have been impressed with?
“Everything is very green, everything is trees and grass. It’s beautiful. And the accents are very different. You really have to concentrate but it’s nice.”
Do you have a festival survival tip?
“Use sunscreen if it’s sunny and keep hydrated. Be kind to people because everyone is going through the same things. And be mindful of your surroundings and be respectful.”
Interview and photos by Gary Trueman