Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tara Goltz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Tara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I was in a local pop punk band in Phoenix, Arizona called Love Like Fiction from the years 2018-2021. I can easily say that those years held some of the greatest times of my life. I think that being in a band was both immensely rewarding, but also downright challenging at times. Thankfully, I wouldn’t change a thing. There are so many moments that I will cherish forever. I think the whole band itself was the meaningful project that I was apart of, but to take it one step further, the song writing process was most significant. Writing songs with four other individuals was incredibly meaningful. We were all coming together, with different ideas, histories and lives, and trusting one another enough to be completely vulnerable. We shared some of our biggest insecurities and even our traumas with each other and turned these exposed parts of ourselves into the songs that are still being listened to today. We really wanted to help normalize the stigma around mental health issues through our music. I specifically cowrote the lyrics to one of our songs about a break up that I had endured only months prior to helping create the band. I remember crying in the studio after hearing the final demo. It was an emotional experience and one that I am glad I got to experience with my bandmates.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Tara Goltz. I am a thirty year old living in Phoenix, Arizona. I started playing drums at the age of ten when my father taught my brother and I. Since then, I have been drumming on and off for most of my life. I was in and out of bands as a kid. I played my first talent show in the sixth grade. That same year I was the only sixth grader promoted to the seventh grade jazz band. In high school there were more talent shows and even some venue shows. It wasn’t until I was out of high school that I helped put together the band Love Like Fiction with my good friend Marin Bridges. We accomplished the most during the last few years. We were able to open for Sum 41, SWMRS, The Wrecks, and I Don’t Know How But They Found Me. We even won a contest and opened up for Bayside in Tucson, Arizona. We traveled to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest and Las Vegas, Nevada for the iVoted Music Festival. Though, I am no longer in a band, I do hope to join or start one again in the future. I am currently in the middle of becoming a real estate agent, but I am planning to start creating drum videos for my personal TikTok as well.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Being an artist is amazing. I believe that being free to create and thrive artistically is justified as living as your best self. However, the more difficult part is how much it costs the individual artist to share their art with the world. After being in a band, I understand the “starving artist” term now more than ever. It is so important to support artists today. Specifically with bands, buying their merchandise at the venue helps immensely. Even if it’s just a sticker. You’re already supporting the band and venue when you buy the ticket, but the band’s merchandise money goes directly into the band member’s pockets for tour fuel, food, equipment, music videos, and eventually recording more songs. Art is beautiful and showing up for artists is essential. We would be lost without you.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I was running most of our social media presence when Love Like Fiction was still thriving. I was often asked by others in the local scene about what I was doing to create our following and I would love to share that right now. Everything that I did was all very much through trial and error. I started off by following fans of other bands that were of a similar sounding genre to ours. If they followed back, messaged us, or liked a picture, I made sure to reach out to them via private message to let them know who we were and to thank them for taking the time to check us out. It was the authentic connection that I was trying to establish with people to set us apart and let everyone know we were just some kids trying to make some music. I posted a lot of instagram stories of the band members being their authentic silly selves which also helped with engagement. As time went on, I also followed or messaged people that lived in Arizona and had the ability to come to shows. After we started playing live, we began holding contests with followers for free tickets to our concerts and hand delivered them ourselves. We had just started getting into making TikTok videos when the band unfortunately ended.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/taramarieg45
• Twitter: twitter.com/taragoltz
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@taramarieg45

Image Credits
Phil Castillo Cameron Allen Chris Goslin Michelle Goltz