Before There Was Rosalyn | Simply Epic
osalyn, in Romeo and Juliet, was the girl that Romeo was hung up on at the beginning of the story before meeting his perfect Juliet. Rosalyn was an afterthought in the greatest love story of all time. The band, which bares the forgotten girl’s name, will hardly be lingering in the back of anyone’s mind after a listen through their debut album The Fuhrer: An Allegory of a History of Deception. Even the title calls for a description of “epic”. Exploding onto the scene with above mentioned album and a label that seems to be pulling out all the stops, Before There was Rosalyn is ready to be heard, and I guarantee you’ll like what they have to say.
First off, how did you come up with your band name? The first thought I had was of Romeo’s first love interest, Rosalyn.
Carlos Salazar: You actually hit the mark. Romeo was indeed fascinated with Rosalyn before he laid eyes on Juliet, and we took the name for ourselves as an ode to romance and love, but more importantly, to symbolize the importance of every choice and decision made in a particular journey.
For us, it’s about not forgetting where this band came from and the long road that lies behind us. The story of Juliet and her Romeo would have been a drastically different one if Rosalyn had not been so easily discarded, and who knows how it would have turned out?
The name is intended to speak about the kind of destiny that lies within every decision we make.
You released an album in November called The Fuhrer that is based on Hitlers reign in Germany correct? Can you expound on this concept? How has it been received so far?
“We set out to write something honest and real with this record, and we built the emotion and the tone of the album around that 20th century pillar of despair and chaos that was WWII Nazi Germany because we felt the atrocities of that great war embodied in every sense of the word the message we wanted to get across.
“The Fuhrer” is about the human spirit at its furthest point from God, and that dark hollow shell of a being we become when we are devoid of His grace.”
CS: The album itself is not so much based on Hitler’s Germany, as it is a mirror to it. The Fuhrer is collection of songs centered around the idea that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and while this is real and tangible in the cores of society, history, and even current affairs across the whole of the earth, it is also very real in the spiritual sense. We set out to write something honest and real with this record, and we built the emotion and the tone of the album around that 20th century pillar of despair and chaos that was WWII Nazi Germany because we felt the atrocities of that great war embodied in every sense of the word the message we wanted to get across. “The Fuhrer” is about the human spirit at its furthest point from God, and that dark hollow shell of a being we become when we are devoid of His grace. It’s about that ancient enemy that whispers in the dark feeding our hunger and lust for greed, power, and all the things that can consume a man. The record is about that spiritual journey we all undertake in our struggle to find purpose, grace and ultimately faith. We’ve had a very positive reaction from anyone that’s reached out and wanted to talk about the depth of the record and the ideas behind it, which
is a really exciting thing to have happen for us.
A lot of the lyrics on The Fuhrer are pretty dark. How does this affect live shows? Does this create a different vibe in the room?
CS: I think certain songs carry with them an entire different feel to them because of the darker lyrics, but even centered at the core of these songs, there’s that cry for help and rescue. Songs like “The Deceiver” which center around the lyrics “I know I’ve been misled” and “Loneliness whispers: embrace me” are about the feeling of loss and hopelessness overtaking the soul, but the record itself is a journey that ends with “The Deliverer” and so playing the songs individually live gives way to really honing in on the emotion of each song and helps, I think, to maintain that honest energy in the room that we always hope to get across. We sing about loss and about dark times, but also about hope and grace, all of which are things we have experienced, and the end of the set, we hope that who is ever is watching can walk away knowing that we played with our hearts on our sleeves.
How is it playing these songs that carry such strong conviction every night?
CS: I think when you write anything that you truly mean, you can’t help but be convicted about the things you say, whatever your platform may be, or the message that you carry. There’s definitely a lot of prayer involved as well though, and we are always asking God to be present in the things that we are doing so they do not lose meaning, and we do not lose heart.
Seemingly you guys have been picking up a lot of momentum in this past year. Tell us a bit about what the past few years have looked like for Before There Was Rosalyn?
CS: Well we have been touring since the summer of 2006, and we have dedicated ourselves to staying on the road as long as possible since the beginning. We have been blessed with some amazing opportunities to share the stage with some of our favorite bands and some amazing people. In 2008, shortly before signing with indie label Holdfast out of Nashville TN, we began to really take to the road like never before, being out for a total of half the months of the year and continuing to build friendships outside of our home state. Cornerstone festival has definitely been an amazing and wonderful experience both years we have attended, and the reaction from kids has been so surreal at times to us, and we are very thankful for that.
Victory Records has been signing a lot of great harder acts lately. Talk to us about how you decided to go with them?
CS: We showcased for the label shortly before last year’s Cornerstone, and owner Tony Brummel expressed his interest in signing the band immediately after. We were most excited from the beginning about the possibility of becoming a part of a family that housed such an amazing group of bands, and over the next 2 weeks, we deliberated and truly prayed about everything. In the end, we felt the label presented an amazing opportunity for our band, not only musically, but also as a vast ministry platform, and we signed on July 15th, which happens to be our guitar player Trent’s birthday (laughs).
You guys state on your page that you are first a ministry then a band. Can you talk a bit about this statement?
CS: It means that more importantly than even the music we are playing, we have a desire to be something positive in the lives of those we meet, and that we would love to meet your needs if possible, whether emotional or spiritual. We want to share ourselves with everyone that we meet in the hopes that they will do the same. We have built many long lasting friendships by reaching out to strangers in new cities and the Lord has blessed us with some amazing people coming into our lives at just the right time, and while we definitely want to share our message of faith, hope and the rejuvenating mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ, being a ministry to us is also about taking the time to listen to someone who wants to be listened to, and attempting to make a real connection with a new friend that goes beyond the 30 to 45 minutes that makes up our set.
