Local band lives up to its Relentless name
This local band lives up to its name
Band names may not mean much when it comes to the music, but with Texarkana country band Relentless, the name truly fits.
Going on just shy of five years together, the band has weathered lineup changes and challenges to show true resilience. With the core of Tifani Halter, Duane Torres and Duane’s father, Esteban Torres Cortes, they released an album of original music, “Bear the Pain,” at the turn of the year and take their show on the road many weekends.
That’s not bad for a couple who met randomly at a local open mic event, Tifani and Duane starting out as friends first. It was the dad who first asked her to join the band he and Duane wanted to start. Now, Halter and the younger Torres share lead vocals, songwriting duties and the dream of becoming a touring band someday.
“We are relentless,” Halter said, commenting on their perseverance.
Heartfelt, meaningful and uptempo country songs make the album an engaging listen. As a songwriting duo, they write about issues that land an emotional punch, issues that affect them or people they know personally.
“We sat down together and we kind of talk about what we’ve experienced in our own lives,” Halter says of their songwriting approach. The title track, for example, deals with difficult issues like sexual abuse, which a friend of Halter’s experienced. “That kind of folded into knowing people who lost children to drunk drivers and knowing people who’ve been in the war.”
Even as they tackle such heavy topics, the songwriting process is fun, Halter says, at the same time it’s meaningful. They work on lyrics together. Two songs from the album saw them work with another songwriter.
“All the music that we wrote, we wanted it to relate to somebody. We wanted it to be something that people could turn to and listen to and relate to and have meaning behind it, instead of just writing a song that has no meaning,” Halter explained.
One song on the album was written by a fan, a much older gentleman from Sulphur Springs, Texas, who saw them just once and started bringing songs to them. “He saw us play out there and liked us,” Torres said. He’d say hello, then give them a CD with lyrics to his songs. Now, his song
“You Don’t Love the Girl” is on the Relentless album.
Relentless has four members now, including Steve Roberts, but they hope to add a fifth member, too, with Duane going back to lead guitar and a fiddle added to the mix. Halter plays a bit of acoustic in addition to lending her powerful singing.
The dream that became Relentless started when Torres was playing as part of the band Copper Road one night at Shooters Sports Bar. He and his dad, who’d often played on the road as a drummer, discussed starting their own band someday.
“It had always been something we talked about but never did,” Torres recalled.
Randomly, they met Tifani at this open mic night. Halter was called out by name to come to the stage and sing by another female singer. That, she recalled, “embarrassed the fire out of me” because she’d only done karaoke and church singing. She was nervous, but she made an impression.
“After that, his dad came up to me and was like, hey, you think you’d want to join our band?” Halter said. She responded with a yes, although she was skeptical because Duane, tall and with light skin, and his dad, short and with darker skin, didn’t look much alike. Were they really father and son?
With a guitar and lyrics to learn, they started practicing in a tiny room, Esteban and Duane saving up for speakers, piece by piece. Halter says Torres and his dad took her in, welcomed her and gave her both direction and encouragement.
“Our first gig was at the Wooden Indian in Atlanta when it was still open,” Torres recalled. What did they see in Tifani? She was a great singer, for one thing. Although inexperienced, she wouldn’t quit, even if she got mad at herself. She was laid back, too.
“She didn’t give up,” Duane said. They landed gigs around town, then started spreading out from there. The band lineup changed, one member even quitting in the middle of a gig. Roberts, now on lead guitar, helped them out by filling in from time to time.
What inspired them to play original music? Torres recalls playing with Jeremy Phifer out in Paris, Texas, and he actually tried his hand at songwriting back then. He had another song, a terrible one he wrote when he was just 18, he admits.
“I thought it was the best thing in the world, and it was horrible,” he
“All the music that we wrote, we wanted it to relate to somebody. We wanted it to be something that people could turn to and listen to and relate to and have meaning behind it, instead of just writing a song that has no meaning.” —Tifani Halter
said with a smile. “It was just downright awful.”
Now totally redone, it’s a song on the album titled “Before We Go Down in Flames.” Duane told Tifani about it, saying, “I’ve got this song and I think it would be a great song … I think maybe it should be rewritten from a girl’s standpoint.” So, they turned it into a duet, which was a push to get him singing, too.
Writing, they went back and forth on it. She was embarrassed to write in front of him at first.
“I went to the other bedroom. He was in the music room, and we were yelling lines back and forth,” Halter said. She was too shy to work in front of him, but she could holler from another room. But the process worked and they figured it out together.
“It worked out great, the song turned out great, and we just decided to keep going from there,” Torres said. A song like “Bear the Pain,” which they wrote on the front porch, came out in just an hour. They have duets, a couple songs from a man’s perspective and yet others from a woman’s viewpoint.
“Collaborating with other people and getting ideas from other people is really a great thing,” Halter said, noting she and Torres play off each other when they sit down to write.
It’s fun being a couple, too, in the band. They say the older guys joke with them about it because they pick on each other. And seeing live show audience members try to flirt with either one of them also provides postgig humor.
“There’s been some funny ones,” Torres says—such as the girl who came up and slid her hand across his face during a gig or the guy who tried dancing with Halter with his shirt off. Funny situations pop up.
Influences that shape how they write songs? Halter names Miranda Lambert and Faith Hill right off the bat, and for Torres one influence is his dad, who was a touring musician.
“The more simple the better the song,” Duane says about one essential lesson. He grew up occasionally going on the road, watching the band set up and tear down. He’s a Jason Aldean and Garth Brooks fan, too. An Aldean song inspired the band name.
Here locally, they play La Fogata often, bringing about 30 to 40 fans with them each time they play. Whether it’s for a benefit show or on the road or a local acoustic, they appreciate that fan interaction.
“When you’re playing live, you play off the audience,” Halter said. If people enjoy it, the band’s having a blast and enjoying the company of fans. And getting paid to do what you love can’t be beat, even though they recognize it’s a lot of work.
As to the future, they envision doing this full time. Where do they want to go from here?
“As far as it can go,” both Torres and Halter say simultaneously when asked. They want to be a traveling band, heading out farther and farther from Texarkana. They’d like to make a living and play, but no need for riches.
“We want to be able to support ourselves on doing something that we love to do,” Halter said. “Isn’t that the ultimate goal anyway of anybody?”
If interested in their album, “Bear the Pain,” check it out via Google
Play, iTunes, CD Baby and other online sites. They recorded it at home and S.M.A.R.T. Productions in Nash, Texas. For a physical copy, get one at a show or email them via their Website. On YouTube, you can find their music video for the song “Arkansas,” which was shot by local studio LAZSO Creative Studio.
(On the Net: RelentlessTXK.com.)