Daily Inspiration: Meet Rosebay

Rosebay, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our story began through Creighton Evans (songwriter and rhythm guitarist) and Jessiah Bethea (former bassist, current manager) starting to play music together after years of friendship and supporting each other creatively. Jessiah introduced Grant Hartman (drummer) to jam sessions quickly bonding Grant and Creighton through mutual excitement, fervor, and passion for making music.

Upon first forming, the role of lead guitar was filled by Kylen Reece Wilson, then followed by Connor Piburn-Burbach who laid the path for current lead guitarist Ezra Dendy. Jessiah currently manages the band living out in Los Angeles leaving the role of bassist to be filled by Frank Luna.

Creighton’s wife, Elizabeth Evans, performed at Rosebay’s first gig and continued to do so regularly as a guest female vocalist. She then brought on her good work friend Akayana Calkins as an additional female vocalist prior to Rosebay performing at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins with The Neighborhood Watch, and The High Lines May 4th, 2023.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We’ve been extremely lucky to tackle most challenges thrown our way swiftly, and coming out better for it on the other side. Outside of handling member changes, we’ve been very fortunate to not face many problems as a band beyond the expected growing pains every band goes through.

Although lineup changes are never easy for a band, nothing was ever done out of disaffections, rather personal commitments and mutual respect for the music and the effort it deserves. As a band, we’re very grateful for the foundation our former members laid helping make Rosebay into the band it is today.

As a musician, you have to choose to handle things constructively and positively and that’s exactly what we’ve done and what we’ll always do.

Outside of those changes, the only other difficulty we face is finding enough time and the right resources to record our music.

We’ve been and continue to be very blessed with a plethora of excellent show opportunities and between live performance commitments and our personal lives it’s sometimes hard to make the time to record, however, we’re happy to say that we have a five song EP that we’re hoping to have released in late fall of 2023. We’ll likely release one song as a single before the release of the full EP.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

Rosebay is an indie surf rock band made up of diversely unique artists that come together to create one stand alone sound. We foster an environment of love, positivity, and inclusivity with our music through expressing ourselves authentically and creating a vibe that can connect with anyone. We hope to make our music universal to engage any and every listener possible.

Our first show was October 28, 2023 so we’re closing in on one year as a band. Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to share the stage with local gems and even internationally touring acts such as Demob Happy, The Slaps, Sego, 36?, Manwolves, and more.

Instagram is the best way to stay up to date with our show schedule and all the things we’re doing including releases and more. We also just created a website to act as an EPK to continue growing our “brand,” and digital resume. Our next show scheduled for the Denver area is October 14th at The Black Buzzard opening for In Plain Air with Pool Sharks presented by Bandwagon Magazine.

What matters most to you?
What matters most to us is spreading joy, togetherness, and above all spreading and celebrating love. Our goal with our music is to bring people together while freeing ourselves in the most authentic, personal, and artistic way possible. We hope to create music that is exciting, engaging, and above all something that connects to the soul and speaks to the human experience. We want our songs to touch people, we want them to feel the emotion we invoke through our art.

Connectivity is the ultimate goal with all music, and we hope to provide an atmosphere that intrigues, entertains, and inspires love above all else. We know that we’ll reach success in every sense of the word because what we have is infectious, universal, and purpose-driven. Although we, like all artists, aspire to make music a means of livelihood and sustenance, we’ll always prioritize uplifting our communities and promoting the message of love and unity above all.

We’re so very grateful for all of the people that have helped us get to where we are today, and we want them to be acknowledged with the utmost appreciation.

As a band we’d like to thank everyone who’s believed in us and given us the greatest opportunities that have helped us to grow into a momentous and flourishing band. We are eternally grateful for our family, friends, and growing fan base that continues to inspire and uplift us as a band. We have a huge amount of gratitude and appreciation for all of the promoters, venue owners, and talent buyers that have given us the amazing chances that help shape us into who we are today.

As a band we’d like to give a special thanks to Colm O’Toole of HearHere Concerts, Kati Lefebvre and Bri Long from Mishawaka, Kelly Hovsepian at Treblemonsters, Reid and Matthew of Amavi Records, Micheal Gromley from Blast n Scrap, Nikolas Szejna with Studio Niko, Maddy Eskrine, Mathew Jones, Kathryn Fernandez, Kyle Hartman of Future Garden Agency, and Tony Mason at Bandwagon Magazine.

As individual members we’d like to thank;

Creighton- My soulmate Elizabeth Evans, my folks Melissa and Dave Venable, my brother Walker Evans, my good friends Will Verbest, Connor and Maddy Wright, Trevor and Will Lamperes, Mitch Weir, Johnny Martinez, Ramon Ramirez, Mitch and Sara Thomas, Dana Robbins-Engelhardt for her empathy and empowerment that made a world of difference to me and my friends as kids, and to a great teacher and motivator Mitch Schneider.

Grant- My mom, dad, Cam, Brandon Stumpf, Thad, Riley Thomas, and Mako

Frank- Thanks to my mom and dad, Frank and Gabriella Luna!

Ezra- All the love in the world to my mom and brother Julie and Jasper Dendy

Akayna- Paul and Jan Faris, my dad Kyle and sister Kiana

Elizabeth- My mom Beatriz, my sisters Jamie and Eileen, my nieces Madeline and Ana, Violet Kaan, and all my friends and students at Impulse Dance and Fitness!

Contact Info:

• Website: rosebaytheband.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosebay.band/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088052271010
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpViZhGIsVY&t=431s