We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Compass Rose a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Compass, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?
We all started playing music around our teenage years, i believe that for most of us, it was just the passion of making sound with our instruments. Skyler our lead guitarist began making tracks under the name Sky Dye around 7 Years ago. From that point his music started coming out and slowly Trenton, Seth and I (Marcos) joined along and flourished Compass Rose four years ago. some time’s we wonder if it would’ve been best if we started out younger when we where in high school. I think that this timing is just right, Ogden is booming with life and the creative scene, something we haven’t seen for a long time. life has given us allot of lessons through thick and thin and with out those we wouldn’t be able to create the music we have now. It’s safe to say that we are glad that we jumped on the boat later than soon, There might not have been Compass Rose if we started sooner.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
We jumped straight in booking any show we really could, releasing music when ever we got the chance to keep the audience attracted. just getting our name out there in Utah. it was a bumpy road at the beginning but it always is especially when you in the creative industry. our biggest advice is too keep working, keep posting and stay relevant to your fans and people who come across your work, nothing ever goes unnoticed by someone. Its like a snow ball on top of a mountain, you push it down and eventually it’ll catch traction. another aspect that helps us is to not get indulged with the idea of fame but rather the process because a journey is better that getting to the top over night and not knowing the industry and then falling back down. with disciplining our selfs was a harder one, we started practicing with a metronomes with out the band so we can all be kin with time, not spending all of the money we earned but instead making a band savings fund for future project of new equipment that we need because last thing you want is have some issues some where but you cant fix them because you have no fund’s, we’ve definitely have run into this a few time our selfs. showing up to practice even when we didn’t want to, cutting out the middle made out of everything, from printing clothes to flier making even management, were one hundred percent independent. We are in an era where you can do everything your self without having to pay stupid amount’s of money for minimal production. learning how to communicate with in each other was one of the hardest because we all want to be comfortable even in our jam space, being able to share thoughts is a huge aspect in our band. The band isn’t one person but all of us. being in a band is like being married to four dude’s haha, wouldn’t trade it for anything. One aspect that we really love is helping new musicians get into the music scene and introducing them to really cool people. we never thought that we’d be surrounded by such amazing artist. its not fun when you challenging other artist but it is fun when you help other and make amazing music that might have never scene the light of day. we always try to keep the culture moving. one thing that were most proud of would be how in the pocket we are with the community. going to coffee shops, bars, diners and even regular stores and seeing people that support us is amazing and super cool to just chat with them. We grew this bond by Busking down on Historic 25th Street. we would play there for hours before we even started booking shows. All the revenue we gained from that went straight to band equipment so, all the amps, cables, pedals and some instrument are all thank to the amazing people that dropped money for us when we’d play.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
We have a HUGE goal in mind that been in the works for some time now, An all ages venue in ogden. Ogden hasn’t seen one since Mojo’s back in day. Since mojos shut down their hasn’t been a place where youth can go and play music and not feel judged. we grew up with mojos and it was the spot to goto and hang out with friends and listen to some music. We want to recreate that but, make it more safe for the youth. There are so many cool band that we follow and love but they cant play anywhere do to every stage in Ogden is inside a bar. It might not be this year but it’ll happen in due time. we would also love to create a festival where its based on cleaning or plant trees and plants for up for two hours around town and then end it off with local artist selling their materials that they have made and have a banger line up of amazing local Utah musicians. We were going to name it Compost Rose, we have everything planned out but it was to big of a projects for the city but ill tell ya what, it’ll happen one day for sure.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Staying Relevant would have to be a huge one, post very frequently around every three days. Ask questions to your fans, let them also be apart of the experience. present give aways for tickets, Merch, we even went as far as sending a supported a demo of an unreleased song. its definitely hard when your only getting a couple of like but it will grow. keep your eyes on trends that are happening that you or you band can hop on for content. I know that they’re are some apps that people wont download or post on like TikTok but ever form of media out put is great. keeping on upping you production too, make vlogs of shows or just behind the scenes of what you guys are up too. remake logos and find new ways to make your designs pop out from others. There are so many thing you can do to keep the ball rolling. Also, post on your personal and tag you Creative page to it so people see you and then follow up by going to the creative page. Never stop getting content.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compass_rose_official/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sicknaturerecords
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWLRL7Fq0wXimYPPc_sBNxQ
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@compass_rose_official?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowIb8%2Bb1NEyAqPuerYoRYJH6L2Rjh7B2%2FSZR7%2B7usxaXr5qENLVDKjzcZ04080alRsGgA%3D&language=en&sec_uid=MS4wLjABAAAAprjEnbMDJZLblNLhnT1YCcrNfWd5-ZyarFCzsG7Is86PmzpiykbMeY7_-hhy8_qM&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAprjEnbMDJZLblNLhnT1YCcrNfWd5-ZyarFCzsG7Is86PmzpiykbMeY7_-hhy8_qM&share_author_id=6927351293569582086&share_link_id=CE3D063C-9E6C-4547-AA1D-2D5188CF9C2A&tt_from=copy&u_code=dh2a5dimb9995d&user_id=6927351293569582086&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m&_r=1
Image Credits
Riley Jackson Waynes World Travels