Meet Eric Rodriguez | Musician & Founder of PUSH Music and Arts

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric Rodriguez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I think these are three great habits to help someone succeed at their own work:

1. While it might be a basic idea at its core, I think having a “To Do” list is a very powerful habit to build early in your personal endeavors. Having a written or typed list of what you must get done makes it so much easier to digest the amount of work you are able to do in a given time. There is nothing worse than the expanding doom you might feel under the weight of what you need to do, in turn making it harder to do anything. Avoid this issue by writing down what you need to get done, and picking something to do one step at a time. As you go cross things off or delete them from your notes app/word doc. It turns what might seem like many overwhelming tasks into manageable steps towards your goals.

2. Building a habit of organization and saving your work is really helpful in the short and long term. I can’t tell you the amount of times that I have wanted to go back to old ideas or music, and then being so glad that I can just pull it up and find it easily. You never know what old things might come to help your current and future self.

3. Always be ready to be surprised and engaged by everything. Everyone has something to offer the world and the people around them. Sometimes it might take awhile to really see that in some people, but it’s always there. The art of seeing that in people is a skill and gift on its own. If you are closed off to what is going on around you, you will never be able to build that skill and truly succeed.

While I could offer many more habits, I think these can be a great place to start.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Even from a young age I was always interested in music that offered unique or genre bending experiences when listening to the music. As I get older I would also say that taste branches out into a lot of my creative sparks and interests. From music to art and cinema, I always enjoy a “new” or “unique” idea in the various styles, genres, and backgrounds. That also goes into the music I play whether it’s playing drums in Aaron Dooley’s powerful psych jazz experiences, or Keddjra’s raw and power alt indie music on guitar, I’m always here for it.

As I am pushing farther and farther down my professional creative life, I think it’s really important to take part in highlighting some of these “new” or “unique” ideas which is why I started the PUSH Music and Arts collective. With the biggest goals of being able to really help support and back these artists in many different ways like funding and promotion. Coming from the wake of a band and organization called “People In Between”, PUSH plans to continue throwing events, concerts, collaborative endeavors, and much more in the near future. The creative journey is one where everyone can help one another and really build connections. I hope to continue it well into the future and beyond just the borders of Colorado.

To keep up with what PUSH has going on in the near and far future follow us @pushmusicandarts on Instagram. We also try to collaborate with artists, businesses, and other creatives as much as possible. So if you would like to find out more about how to do that, just shoot us a DM.

To get to a place where I can really impact the community around me was not easy and did not happen overnight. It was a culmination of opportunities, hard work, stress, determination, and luck. Working in any creative field is often not as clear as say a corporate path, so it’s not even easy to define or see exactly what that next step or goal is. However, if the intrinsic passion is there, and you really go for it, many of the doors and opportunities present themselves. Any challenge presented starts to seem more like a chance to learn, grow, and succeed. Hard work becomes more gratifying, and your art and creative expression really shines with ease.

The hard lesson of balance is what seems to be more and more important as I go down my own paths. Operating in extremes all the time is very unpredictable, unreliable, and destructive in my experience. A majority of things that I look back on and wonder “Why did I do that?” at a negative time, is because I was just thinking of things in black and white. Either I’m right or I’m wrong and there is only one side to my story. Instead I should have been able to view it through a lens of balance. Not being so naive that I don’t let things affect me, but also not letting things take over my entire well being and experience. While seemingly a basic concept, it is extremely difficult for anyone to do. You must constantly think about how you operate in life, and address the core reasons of why you do what you do. While at the same time adjusting your inner scale to balance according to what comes up in your life. While you will always have to work on it I believe that your creative and personal life will improve so much as you work on your balance.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
One of the biggest a best things I could take my friend to are the PUSH Music and Arts events. From the recording studio jams to the concerts, house shows, pool parties, and art markets, these events have so much to do and offer.

They often feature live music, live painting and art, collaborative art, stunning visuals, and great local food vendors and businesses. Taking place in many different venues from Colorado Sound Studio’s live recording room to DIY venues all around Denver.

For instance PUSH has Aaron Dooley’s Tour Kick Off Show May 3rd at a local outdoor DIY venue. This will be featuring Aaron Dooley’s Band, Ghost Tapes, Eric Welty, Alex Kim live painting, Love and Liquid Light Show doing live liquid projections, A&T’s Crystal Creations jewelry vendor, and Jazz Waffles local chicken and waffles pop up!

PUSH also has a live late night recording studio jam session at Colorado Sound’s live recording studio June 22nd starting at 9pm. Where any and all musicians can come to a live recording studio and jam with other musicians. All types of backgrounds and styles from Neo soul to hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, RnB, blues, and much more.

To find out more about any of these events follow @pushmusicandarts on Instagram.

As far as artists you must check out while you are in town these are a must: Keddjra, Summer Bedhead, Olivia Roumel, The International Disassociation Of Aaron Dooley, BabyBaby, The Salesmen, Ojo De Luna, Nicki Walters, and Half Maxx. All offering a unique and stunning experience in their respective styles of music.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would personally like to dedicate this to my new record label and art collaborative PUSH Music and Arts, the band and organization formerly known as “People In Between”, Keddjra, Taproot Drums, and my amazing community of musicians, artists, collaborators, friends, family, and supporters.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/ericandmusic/ and https://www.instagram.com/pushmusicandarts/

Instagram: @ericandmusic and @pushmusicandarts

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-rodriguez-71a006282/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeNW2lL2tUMjeE_GOdJHHKA

Other: My drum sponsor: https://www.taprootdrums.com

Image Credits
Christopher Bruno Christopher Waters Laura Studley