Aces Up Their Sleeves: The Aces Return to the 9:30 Club

The band talks their journey as musicians before they kick off their U.S. tour in D.C.

A lot has happened to The Aces in the five years since they released their debut album, “When My Heart Felt Volcanic,” both personally and professionally. 

The indie pop quartet, consisting of lead singer Cristal Ramirez; her sister, drummer Alisa Ramirez; bassist McKenna Petty; and guitarist Katie Henderson pulled up their Utah roots and now call Los Angeles home. 

The Aces. Photo by Julian Burgueño.

Three out of the four members came out as gay in recent years (much to the chagrin of some of their business advisors, who wanted them to remain in the closet for commercial purposes. Meanwhile, the reaction of their fans has been overwhelmingly positive). And they recently released their third album, “I’ve Loved You For So Long,” earlier this summer, garnering some of the strongest reviews of their careers. All of this evolvement makes perfect sense to Cristal Ramirez.

“I think when you’re trying to express yourself and all your feelings as a 19-year-old, you’re not always as eloquent or you don’t quite say it in the way you wished you would have if you had the experience,” Ramirez says. “I think this record is just a completely different level of being able to express ourselves and it feels really good to, as you continue to make body of works, feel like you’re getting closer at representing who you are as a person and a musician.”

If Ramirez sounds like an old salt of the music industry, there’s a reason for that. Mere teens when they started the band, The Aces have been building their road warrior cred by touring consistently over the years, having recently wrapped a European tour and kicking off the next leg of the tour in the U.S. which will include a stop at the 9:30 Club on October 7.

The Aces. Photo by Julian Burgueño.

On this tour, The Aces have partnered with Sound Mind Live, a mental health organization whose goal is provide free-to-the-community mental health programming across the country ($1 from every ticket sale will go to the organization), a cause that’s very important to them.

“We’ve always wanted to partner with someone with our tour, and we feel really passionately about mental health,” Petty says. “We talk a lot about it in our music and in interviews and about our personal experiences. I’ll speak for myself, but I’ve definitely struggled with my mental health and have done years of therapy, and I feel like it’s life changing. It’s so hard to access therapy. It’s so expensive. It’s so hard to find the resources to find the right therapist. It really is an uphill battle, which is so hard on top of struggling with your mental health in the first place. And so, I think it’s something that we all feel very passionately about, making that more accessible to people who really need it.”

The Aces will play 9:30 Club on Saturday, October 7 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $26 and can be purchased here. To learn more about The Aces and their music, follow them at theacesofficial.com and on Instagram @theaces.

9:30 Club: 815 V St. NW, DC; 930.com // @930club

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Christina Smart