We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jean Castro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jean , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

The meaning of success has changed so many times throughout my life, in different chapters I’ve lived through. Growing up, I used to believe that success was found in fancy cars, and high paying jobs, and I worked towards that goal. I found that it wasn’t the answer. Now I’m a career I am truly passionate about, and also being able to express myself in my music, with people I love around me, I’ve found that meaning of success. When I am around my band members, and we come together to create a piece of art that is original, and new, I feel I’ve found success within my true authentic self.

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 back background and context?

I’ve always been in and out of bands throughout, but my band Sunset Station felt different from the start. This musical journey began as a solo project, from the bedroom I grew up in, in Florida. It began by writing songs about the things that hurt, recording them, and bringing them to fruition. I came to visit Salt Lake City and absolutely fell in love with the city, and the landscapes surrounding it. I got into my mind that I needed to make the move to Utah. Two months after my visit, I became a citizen of Salt Lake City. It was really scary at first, but it put me on my own two feet, and also gave me real life experience to be able to craft in my art. It was here that I met my band members, and we instantly just felt like this was the right thing to continue pursuing. After a lot of practice, and a lot of shows, I’m proud of the band that we have become, and Sunset Station has become an even bigger part of my identity, because as a band, we constantly push each other up and believe in each other. Having a support system like that is the best feeling in the world. We come from different musical backgrounds, and we bring these influences to our craft, to create an original and fresh sound that we are all so proud of.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is one of the most important things in managing a band. I manage all the social media and it has been an interesting journey to say the least. Instagram is the most important tool to be able to market, and connect with other bands. While maintaining a brand aesthetic, we also use it to promote our upcoming shows and new music, and to connect with local bands and venues to book shows and other events for us to get our names out there. It’s important to always direct our fans to our Instagram because that is where we have our most up to date information. For those starting out in building up a band Instagram, I’d recommend in building how you want your band to be perceived by your posts, and stick with a cohesive style. It’s aesthetically pleasing, and looks like you take your aesthetic serious, in addition to the music.

Any advice for managing a team?

Managing a band can sometimes get hard, especially when there’s a team of people looking to you for guidance, and for direction. I don’t always have the answers, and I don’t always have solutions. However; that’s where maintaining a high morale comes into play. It’s important to make sure that each member of the band feels heard, and understood with their individual concerns. I see them each as a piece of the puzzle. Individually they are so important to the greater picture. When they are excited about the music, and the future of the band, it feels like Sunset Station is an unstoppable force.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunsetstationband/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@sunsetstation291
• Other: https://sunsetstation.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
@shayshootsfilm