Backstage Intro: Meet Roland!

[MichaelW]

Our Community Rock Stars with the Blog Maverick role can submit blog posts to be published on the Spotify Community Blog. This Backstage Intro interview submission comes from Rock Star @MichaelW.

Hey guys! Its been a little while, but here's a brand new Backstage Intro!

Hey there, @LordRollin (Community Rock Star), nice to meet you! Tell us something about yourself.

Well, if you insist, I guess I might be able to part with a few details about myself. My name is Roland and I am a Seattle native, and undergraduate student. I love coffee (cliché, I know), but I'll just as gladly drink a nice cup of tea. Admittedly, I'm not always the most creative so I did a little bit of reading through some past Backstage Intros, and was a little surprised when I read Deniss'. You see, when you hail from a nation of only about two million people, it's a little strange to run into someone with the same background entirely by chance. Unlike Deniss I'm not from Latvia, but instead my family is. Anyways, I digress. The point I'm trying to make is simply that it's a small world.

So, what music are you into?

Is "all of it," an acceptable answer? I am lying a little bit there, I don't like all of the music in the world, but I do have a very wide an eclectic taste in music. I'll listen to some classical music one day, some electronic the next with a little classic rock tossed in for fun, then I'll move onto some ska. It's really hard to pin down a specific list because it's all over the place. Instead, I'll just suggest that you guys look into the following bands:

• The Glitch Mob
• Streetlight Manifesto
• The Lonely Forest
• ABBA
• Pink Floyd
• Wim Mertens

Anyways, I could go on, but no one has ever enjoyed reading a long list. If you're interested in more musical recommendations just look me up on Spotify (shameless plug, I know). All my playlists are public and you'll get more music than you've probably ever wished for. 

Discover Weekly is available for a few weeks now, do you like it?

Like it? Nawh. Love it is probably more accurate. My pursuit of new music usually involves a lot of effort on my part (another plug, I know, sorry), but with Discover Weekly I can lay back as music is fed directly into my face (or ears, as the case may be). Admittedly some of the playlists that get generated for me are a bit... bizarre, but that probably has something to do with the wide variety of music I listen to. It's been a bit hit and miss, but I find a good number of songs to add to my existing playlists, and at the end of the day that's what I'm looking for. If anyone hasn't given it a try yet, do. Simple as that.

Holiday time! Tell us something about your favorite holiday!

I'm not very good at picking favorites, but I feel like listing a ton of holidays here would simply defeat the purpose. I've always been a big fan of Halloween largely in part because I just love October so much. The air has that clean, crisp, fall smell, and then you get people that have started using their fireplaces. Oh. My. Goodness. So nice. Unfortunately wood burning stoves are going the way of the dinosaurs, but if anything that just makes it all the more pleasant when I pass by a house that's finally using one. 

I think I'm also a fan of Halloween because it tends to kick of the holiday season. At least here in the U.S., you've got Thanksgiving almost right afterwards, then comes Christmas (and the beautiful winter break). After that things slow down, but Halloween always starts off a few fast paced, fun months.

Thanks for taking time to share your moments. Before we go, what jokes always makes you laugh?

Me? Laugh? Never! 

P.S. Thank you for taking the time to read my moments. ❤️