By Lio Capellaro and Paulie Maturo

Colombian psych-rock trio BALTHVS makes a colorful debut and promises soulful grooves.

Psychedelia descends on a small basement club on the outskirts of Capitol Hill, east of the hubbub of downtown Seattle. Even after five U.S. tours, this is the first time BALTHVS has set foot in the Pacific Northwest, and we welcome them to our rainy corner of the world. Barboza is an intimate venue tucked under Neumos’ larger stage. Down a narrow set of stairs and through double doors the entrance seems cramped and unassuming, but once inside it’s spacious and homey. Barboza is small enough to still feel intimate, yet has a level of professionalism that compliments the band’s dedication. With red and blue lights lining the narrow space, its still the kind of casual venue where you have a relationship with bands you are seeing.

After a lively funk-fueled opening act of local Seattleites Midpak, the headlining trio emerges. When BALTHVS takes the stage we know they’ve come prepared. Armed with their instruments they move with a confident yet casual poise. Balthazar, donned in a cowboy hat and pointed toe boots joins Johanna in a glittery white skirt and platform boots, along with Santi, clad in a vibrant leopard print button up.The trio brings a charismatic aura that fills the audience with cheers of excitement, and their attitude is a sure promise of a good night for everyone in attendance.

BALTHVS’ music is steeped in various influences; from disco, to funk, to ragas, to surf rock and middle eastern music; their songs infuse different genres and inflections, to create a rich and varied set list. While there was strong preference to shimmery layered, jazz-esque phrasing, and no small usage of the reverb pedal, Balthazar could also switch to full Hendrix mode in an instant when he wanted to, with much animated support from the audience.

The set was like a kaleidoscopic feast of tasteful bass lines, tight rhythmic pockets, and transportive guitar riffs. It quickly became apparent that BALTHVS is a master of tone and dynamic. They could shift effortlessly between blissed, spacey jams to pumped up disco beats.

Songs were frequently played back to back and flowed into the next without a break, which served to maintain the high energy of the performance for extended periods of time without losing the reverie of the music that entranced the audience. The dynamic of switching between songs was seamless and exciting each time, catching our attention in new ways. Although Balthazar was the leader of the band, the band members traded off seamlessly, each taking a moment in the spotlight, showcasing the chemistry of the three piece. The band’s timeless psychedelic influence was infectious, one could lose their sense of time within the two-hours.

The venue was well attended, and as the set got going people packed up to the very front, inches away from Balthazar who stood at the edge of the little stage blazing away on his stratocaster. It was a good range of generations at this show, from gray hair, to millennials to students.

What’s instantly noticeable is how the band makes the show feel intimate, in the way they are able to connect with the audience on a personal level, yet the music expands beyond the walls of the dimly lit room, reverberating beyond the crowded floor.

BALTHVS formed in 2020 around the talents of Balthazar Aguirre, Johanna Mercuriana, and Santiago Lizcano. Bogotá, Colombia, a country often overlooked in terms of musical/creative output, is where this band calls home, and writes all of their music. They’ve released a steady stream of singles (one every few months!) with the kind of discipline you’d see in the 1960s. Their album art is gorgeous, aesthetically consistent, and has certainly had an undeniable role in finding their audience. 

While the band hasn’t been around for very long, BALTHVS has got the secret to tap into the energy of a crowd; their passion for the music is palpable; we feed off their grooves, and they feed off our ecstatic support.

This is no shoegaze gig. There was no looking at the ground, dissociating for this show like other bands of this generation. Save the fully-outfitted pedal board in front of Balthazar, they were locked in to each other and plenty of smiles and goofy faces were shared between the three. This is the kind of music that keeps you moving at all times, and I can’t remember one song where people weren’t bobbing their heads or swaying their hips to the groove.  

At one point Balthazar came up to the very front, sat down on the edge of the stage inches from where I stood in the first row, and looked around at the people in the immediate circle. There is a genuine connection to the people who are there watching you perform live. Not ignoring the crowd at your feet, but sharing a moment of eye contact with them and communicating that energy and joy without words. Little expressions, not stoic or serious; they have an infectious playfulness about them. There were beautiful shared moments where they’d walk over to play behind the drummer Santi, grinning madly, or Johanna and Balthazar leaning back against each other as they soloed

This music is truly psychedelic; it’s transportive, experimental, playful, and gorgeously layered. Yet the members of BALTHVS are undeniably down to earth and present.

We had the incredible opportunity to interview the band before their show on Sunday night. In the dimly lit greenroom, we discuss album art, writing process, international touring and everything else that makes this band great. We begin the interview with Johanna, Balthazar and Santiago. 

Lio: Could you guys introduce yourselves and tell us what instruments you play in the band?

Balthazar: Yeah, right on. I’m Balthazar, I play guitar.

Jahanna: I’m Johanna Mercuriana. I’m the bass girl.

Santiago: I’m Santi, I play drums.

Paulie: Awesome. So what’s the background behind the band? Where are you guys from and how did you meet? 

Balthazar: We’re from Bogota, Colombia, and we met through music. I met Santi at a big concert. He had a ska band and I had a psychedelic rock band and I just took their drummer. 

Paulie: Very cool. You poached their drummer from them?

Balthazar: I just took him yeah. I took him right there and we’ve been chumming up ever since. And then we had our psychedelic rock band and we learned a lot of stuff through that, but it wasn’t quite working. Then at a concert of that band we met Johanna and she was doing her thing. Back then she was this cute singer-songwriter playing Peruvian songs and ambient songs with a charango, which is a little bolivian instrument. I just fell in love with her really and we just clicked immediately. Then that psychedelic band ended, it was called Aguirre Cosmico, and I was going to start another band and Johanna said, “oh I could play bass. I’ve never played bass in my life but I think I could do it.” So I said okay sure. And that’s what we did. She picked up bass in 2020 and here we are.

Lio: How long did it take to start writing songs and recording stuff?

Balthazar: Oh immediately. As soon as we started, I mean since it wasn’t any of our first bands, I asked myself, “How long does it take to make a song for me to be comfortable doing?” And I said one month. So that’s what I’ve been doing ever since with the band. We all of course help with the writing. At first it was me and now it’s the three of us. Making a song per month. We haven’t stopped since we started, so now we’re at 37 songs.  

Lio: Is this your first US tour? 

Balthazar: Fifth. Yeah, we did South By Southwest in 2022. Then we did mid south, then we did south by 2023, that was a Texas tour, and then we did the Third Vibration Tour in November of last year. 

Lio: I’d love to know who some of your musical influences are.

Balthazar: Very different musical influences. So many, there are so many. I like Grateful Dead, Santana, Rick James, like funk psychedelic, Trip hop-ish as well, fever incorporation, that’s my jam.

Santi: My parents, both of them love salsa and singer songwriting from Latin America like Tirio Rodriguez, Victor Harah, Mercedes Sosa, et cetera. 

Johanna: I heard a lot of rock when I was young, so I think the first band that I fell in love with was the Cranberries. I really love Delores O’Riordan and Fleetwood Mac. At this moment I really love ambient music and Latin music, like instrumental music. The most important influence for that kind of music right now might be Hermanes Gutierez with instrumental relaxing music. So in this moment that’s my favorite music. And folk and psychedelic music from Argentina, like Gustavo Serati, Asterio, I really enjoy that. 

Lio: Is there specific influences behind this record?

Balthazar: So Third Vibration was the final record I did mostly independently with the help of Jahanna and Santi as well in the influence part. And I guess the biggest influences were, every song was different to be honest. Like for example Sun in Gemini I was listening to a lot of Elephant Jim. So that was like a Taiwanese prog-rock kind of thing. And for Ojos Verdes I just put up a bossa nova beat over a Turkish melody that I found and then made a song out of that. For Como Reve I was listening to a lot of Erica Badu. I could be more specific if you tell me a song because I don’t think in terms of concept album kind of thing, it’s more individual songs that just happen to be grouped up in a vinyl.

Lio: Cool, cool. Speaking of influences and other artists, are there any artists that you’d like to collaborate with? If you could collaborate with any artist or band?

Balthazar: Say She She. 

Santi: I would say, there’s this singer from Colombia, Andrea Churry, that would be amazing.

Johanna: Kali Uchis.

Paulie: Tell us about your approach to promoting your music; How do you feel about social media in general as a means of promotion?

Balthazar: Instagram has changed our lives. I send out hundreds, well not hundreds but fifty at least, DMs every single day and some of them get seen, some of them are like, “I love your music,” and some of them are like “Do you want to perform in Romania next year?” So it’s like a shotgun approach to it, but it has given us everything and for me it’s so important to talk with people that enjoy our music and I handle most of the social media. …

Lio: Any plans for future music? Or just going home and writing stuff?

Balthazar: We never stop. BALTHVS has never stopped. We have released one song a month since we started.

Lio: Wow, what’s the secret to that discipline?

Balthazar: Just offering your soul to the altar of music. If a friendship is not conducive to music, goodbye friendship. If a family member is not conducive to music, goodbye family member. It’s really a horrible sacrifice to be honest. But I don’t see myself in anything else so that’s just that. It is a full time profession. I feel that most people feel like music is a hobby, even the ones that say they are musicians, they have a job. This is our profession, our full time gig. It has been for three years and we take it very seriously. It’s all we do, literally. We spend so much time together, don’t we? All over the world in a different city every day now.

Johanna: I think the messages from the people on social media inspire me so much to keep going and write new lyrics and bass lines. The love that I receive from the people every day is for me, the most important part.

Paulie and Lio: Thank you guys so much for sitting down and chatting with us!

All: Thank you!

You can find BALHVS on spotify and BALTHVS and instagram as @balthvsmusic