Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Beier.
Tara, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a west coast girl, originally from Vancouver, Canada. I move between ocean and desert, living in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, then to my artist retreat in Joshua Tree. I never planned on being a songwriter, I was supposed to have a “proper job” to work in business, or the law was the plan.
I started in piano when I was six or seven years old, it was a happy solace growing up. I trained for over ten years in classical piano with a pretty demanding piano teacher, performing in music competitions and recitals. I felt the stage lights on my face for the first time when I was nine years old, acting lead in a school play, The Secret Garden and was a tap dancer as a kid.
For a large part of my childhood I grew up in a horse village so nature and animals were a big part of my life. Happy memories were sleeping over in the horse barns and getting up at dawn and riding on the trails. I think that’s where I get my inner cowboy and where the country folk music comes from!
My parents moved a lot, so I went to several schools and got used to standing on my own. Adolescence was a difficult time, my parents separated and at one point lost everything. My family struggled to keep up. My father was an immigrant from the Philippines that lost his own father to guerilla warfare and my mother, the youngest, struggled with her own voice in a working-class family from Victoria Island. They both had a lot to prove in their life, so the pressure to succeed and be the “best” was the focus.
Learning to authentically love oneself, without having to do anything or prove anything is something I have been working on and probably will be working on for the rest of my life.
In high school, I went to an all girls catholic school which promoted academics and feminism. This laid a strong foundation for me as a woman. I then got my liberal arts degree in Criminology which greatly changed how I saw the world and gave a greater understanding of society and human behavior. I’m a strong advocate for wrongly convicted criminals and improving our prison systems.
Nevertheless, instead of becoming a defense lawyer, I choose the path of an artist. Making that decision was life changing as some of my family members did not support nor understand. My relationship with my father was damaged, and I didn’t speak to him for years.
I studied method acting and for a short period of time performed in some underground theater plays. Namely the monologue “A Woman Alone” by Dario Fo and Franca Rame, which laid the groundwork for my career as a female artist.
Following this, I moved to Toronto where I produced and wrote two documentaries.“I Met A Man From Burma” which helped gain citizenship of subject Ler Wah LoBo, a Karen refugee, after awaiting for ten years. Then following, I wrote “Covered” a native rights film where I played 1960s American folk singer-songwriter and activist, Buffy Sainte Marie which screened in over 15 festivals worldwide, TIFF, Whistler Film Festival and won best experimental at the Imagine Native film and Arts Festival. It was after this film when I picked up the guitar and never looked back! I released my debut album “Hero and Sage” produced by a member of the indie folk band, the Great Lake Swimmers.
Then I moved to Los Angeles where I wrote and produced “California 1970” EP. It was recorded at the Village Studios and at Guns and Roses’ drummer, Matt Sorum’s private studio in Los Angeles. My musicians that performed and played on the EP were Adam Zimmon (Marley) Tripp Beam (Moby), Sasha Smith (Linda Perry) and Eliott Lorango (Dorothy).
Following this, I released a single “Forgiveness” with Grammy award winning LA producer, Doug Boehm and toured with my band in Toronto, Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Highlights were playing in the Riverfest in Ontario, Canada alongside MGMT, headlining an amazing show, at the Troubadour in West Hollywood and at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York.
I am currently half-way through writing my next album, “REWIRE” set to release in 2019. The genre is indie, alternative, folk rock.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
What I learned is that sometimes a path is not necessarily a straight line. Sometimes you can’t really see the path but it’s connected, and every little step adds up to get you where you are today. Sometimes people will judge you for going against what they perceive you to be. There was a time in the past that I felt lost and misunderstood. So I worked with a psychotherapist for several years to work out my broken childhood. Through this and the writing of my music, I did tremendous healing and found my identity and freedom.
I don’t look back with regret for if I didn’t have those struggles, there is no way I would be able to write and help people through my music. I’ve been very fortunate to be supported by great friends, artists, my music fans and listeners.
If I had any words of advice for aspiring artists; Don’t be afraid to speak your truth. Some people will not understand you, and it’s not your job to convince them. Find those people in your career to look up too! Follow and learn from them because they will inspire you to keep going.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
It’s important that we take care of ourselves not only from the outside but on the inside. I want to help people evolve and heal through my music.
I believe we have to face our own darkness or “shadow” according to Jung, in order to get to the light. I like to work through this process in a song.
Through melody and lyrics, I like to take my audience through a progression, over the arch, from the beginning, middle, to end on a positive note of hope.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My personal criteria of success:
To find your higher purpose and inner happiness. It’s not about money; it’s rather a sense of peace and contentment within.
To find the one thing your truly good at, to solely focus on it and perfect one’s craft.
To keep moving forward and never give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tarabeiermusic.co
m - Instagram: http://www.instagra
m.com/tarabeier - Twitter: http://www.twitter.co
m/tarabeier - Other: https://open.spotify.co
m/artist/3YftV7bLMFR3aOBTvDtv2 w - Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X
WZK825/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_awdo_ BR-jCb9DFGWJE
Image Credit:
Edurne Salas
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