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

MARS RODRIGUEZ is Nicaraguan and American diy artist, producer, music engineer and a one person band: vocals, electric guitar, keyboard and digital drums. 

She has lived most of her life in Nicaragua, she has been performing since age 14 with bands and around 2017, the Mars Rodriguez, project began. 

In 2018, she ended up moving unexpectedly to the U.S. due to Nicaragua’s political crisis and dictatorship. “All i had was 1 bag of clothes, my pedalboard and guitar” – MARS . 

She ended up moving to Atl and a couple of months later to LA, “i wasn’t going to stay in LA, i didn’t have enough money” – MARS. but when she got here, she started reaching out to booking agents, sending emails everyday, calling people to get gigs. She ended up playing lots of shows during 2019, “it was a way to experiment the one person band thing, which was new and exciting”– MARS.

As a result, of all the major changes, she started learning how to record, engineer, produce and mix herself.  She released her  Debut EP “Don’t wait for Nothing” on september 2020.  Also, during covid, she started getting into making videos and released several videos.

Currently she is working on her upcoming album that will be out later this year and she just released her new single & video :  “THE END” .

Hi Mars, how do you think about risk?
Taking risks has literally taken me where I am I guess…making music, performing, moving in and out of places, trying new ways to make art, learning music production and other skills. Risks have taught me to adapt and do the best with what I have in the moment. I’m very intuitive and kind of impulsive with making decisions, if I have a gut feeling about something, I have to go and do it, I don’t overthink stuff too much.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Making art, written songs, jamming a lot and finding new sounds, mixing and producing.  Also, drawing and designing merch. And last but not least, learning more about marketing. Basically, I’m constantly switching between Mars the performer, producer, manager, art designer haha, I’m becoming an octopus… this is part of the journey, gotta do what you gotta do.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
yes! I want to thank Ryan Dietzenbach, for helping me with the filming and editing area of this project, he has taught me lots of stuff and that’s why I got into making videos now. Also, my mom, a huge thanks for being my legal consultant. Thanks to both of my parents for always supporting me. My family in Atlanta, for also supporting me, and letting me use the closet to record music back in the day. 

Thanks to every single human that has given me an opportunity to play, I truly appreciate it. And last but not least, thanks to everyone who has listened, bought my music and merch. GRACIAS!

Website: https://marsrodriguezmusic.wixsite.com/marsrod/links-to-everything

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marsrodriguez_/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarsRodriguezni/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbH1EBdeptIrHIbBhNKUrQA

Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/6JPdHkAKYeikyUoSh6C6V8

Image Credits
Ryan Dietzenbach

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