We recently had the chance to connect with Wendolyne Barrios and have shared our conversation below.
Wendolyne, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I would say simply showing up (little by little) as the musician/performer I want to be. I love all I did before, but Tincture is fundamentally different. It was born from a way different desire than my previous band. I think I was a lot more concerned about how I would be perceived, aren’t we all, but if they’re going to look anyway, might as well try and put on a show.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Wendolyne Barrios. I am born and raised in Houston, Texas. I started a band that I sing and play guitar in called Tincture. Tincture is a rebirth of sorts for me, tapping into potential energy that has been built through transformation, shifting of ways of being. As anyone does in life, I’ve experienced events that have shaped me, whether for better or worse. As of late, I feel it’s easier to focus on more of the “for better” events. Tincture is the brainchild of all of these moments. I feel like a genuine shift has happened, and I wanted to create a band where I could mix my love for result of all of these changes that have happened but also transmute these experiences into sonic representations of those times. Tincture is essentially musical spellcasting, invocations, channeling, directing, banishing. Tincture houses all of it. I believe all music is magick, but with Tincture, it’s my whole purpose. I wanted to make my own space to express myself in this way. An embracing of self.
I am supported in Tincture with some amazing people and musicians: my fiancé, Nick Bailey; my really good friend, Chris Montelongo; and another good friend from my youth, Brian Orta. They have energetically contributed to creating a space where I feel safe and able to express things through music and general artistic expression. For that, I am extremely thankful. It has been really amazing to see where things have come from since our first show together earlier this year. We have spent this year playing some shows to get out there and just do the thing. Outside of that. we are working on ideas for our next releases, out of Houston shows, and just enjoying this process.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I no longer believe that I can’t literally do whatever I want. There were always rules about the kind of person that I was able to be based on those around me, which didn’t really make sense to me, and it was really frustrating as a child. As I got older and started having fewer of those rules around me, I felt more empowered by my own journey and the things that I learned in my life to be who I wanted to be, embracing parts of myself that maybe were not embraced before, or at least that’s how it felt. I thought that to be in a band I needed to be born into a world of music, but I am the first person in my family to play an instrument and to be expressive through music or any other medium like that. It’s been a little bit lonely, whereas I have friends who have parents that taught them how to play the instrument they play now, or they have memories of going to concerts or seeing live music with their family growing up. I didn’t have that, so I sometimes felt that I was a stranger to the possibility of a world where I could play music, be a musician, or even front a band. I vividly remember being around 13 years old and someone in my family asking me, “Who told you you could sing?” and I simply responded, “Me.” Looking back, I remember being really sad when I got asked that question, but at the same time, I am really proud of my younger self for giving myself permission to do what I wanted and to be who I wanted to be. I think that’s where it all started.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Nothing you are experiencing is permanent. That was really hard for me to understand at the time, and it makes complete sense. I mean, you’re a teenager, and you can only have so much of an understanding of the world outside of the actual mental capabilities of your brain being able to process what’s happening. I mean, it’s still developing. Compared to now—I’m 30 years old, turning 31 in September—and everything is so much different than I imagined. Life is like a dream, and I wish that I could just tell my younger self to stick to it, to keep pushing forward, and that it would all pay off.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I think a cultural value that I protect at all costs is to unapologetically be myself. My culture is to be comfortable and happy with my identity, and even as a younger person, I never felt ashamed of being Mexican or anything negative towards who I was. I did, however, feel a lot of wanting to be another way, and there was perhaps a bit of a struggle. As I’ve gotten older, I have only become more proud of who I am and the ways that have raised me.
It’s really important to keep your identity, especially as a musician in an industry with lots of men and lots of white people. Showing up as a woman, as a Mexican woman, in an industry that is less male-dominated than before but still male-dominated is very important to me. If anything, I feel there’s an opportunity to wave my Mexican flag, symbolically speaking.
I hope that by playing guitar on stage, singing my songs, or having someone relate to the lyrics from one of our songs, they feel seen or even empowered, and hopefully take that as a tool in their arsenal to use whenever they need it. To me, this is the epitome of protecting my culture — the resilience of showing up in spaces that have not always felt so accepting to women or non-white people.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What will you regret not doing?
Trying. It’s the least I can do. Whatever happens after trying is none of my business. I can’t complain if I don’t try.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tinctureband.webflow.io
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tincture.band/
- Twitter: https://x.com/tinctureband/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLceEnoKnCQ7ndWtjo28mpQ
