Meet Cole Rolland

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cole Rolland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Cole, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

That’s a great question. I’ve been very interested in the personal development/improvement space for the past decade, and I’ve learned a lot of valuable life lessons over those years.

I can’t remember the exact source, but a quote that’s really stuck with me is, “If you want to become great at something, you can’t be afraid to suck at it first.” I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years, and that’s my comfort zone; however, adding singing to my skillset was much more challenging. I began incorporating my lead vocals into my original music many years into my career, and it was incredibly intimidating.

My upcoming single, Fallen Stars, set to release on November 1, feels like a true “level up” in my songwriting and vocal performance skills. It’s a very vocal-driven piece featuring my friend Megan Nicole, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

The most exciting parts of my career are always the opportunities to collaborate. I answer this broadly because collaborative projects can take many forms. Whether I’m writing or co-producing with friends in the studio, performing live with one of my favorite artists, or participating in a campaign for a dream brand, each of these provides a chance to build strong relationships and sharpen my skills. Here are some of my favorite collaborations that come to mind:

Earlier this year, my arrangement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was used in trailers for a PlayStation and Meta VR release, which was a huge highlight.

My upcoming single, Fallen Stars, was originally written in 2021 as part of a songwriting course. It was then reworked in 2023 with Dan Clermont, co-produced with Nate Brown in 2024, and finally arranged as a vocal duet with Megan Nicole this summer. Sometimes it takes time to get a track right, and I can confidently say this song feels “right” to me now.

Between 2019 and now, my passion for EDM has given me opportunities to perform as a live guitarist for Grammy-nominated acts, including ILLENIUM, Krewella, and Adventure Club. These experiences are major career highlights that felt incredibly special to me, and I’m very interested in doing more of this work.

I love collaborating, and it’s a huge part of how I’ve grown my brand and network.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My answer to this may change with time, but right now, the three qualities most relevant to me are:

• Consistency
• Willingness to Learn
• Trying New Things

Artists often need to strike a balance between reinventing themselves and evolving while staying true to the foundation they’ve built. When it comes to personal fulfillment, I find it essential to have the freedom to try new things—this keeps the creative process exciting and refreshing. It’s also one of the reasons I love collaboration.

I’ve gone through many phases: from guitar covers of pop songs to metal songs, to EDM songs, to full production covers, to instrumental originals, and full production originals. Each one of these has kept the past 15 years of creation sustainable.

When I collaborate with others or outsource parts of a project, I always pay close attention. There’s always something to be learned from every interaction if you’re observant. I’ve gained more skills than I ever thought possible by expanding my network and maintaining a growth mindset.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I had a great conversation with a friend this weekend about this book. Atomic Habits by James Clear is a goldmine. It’s an incredibly popular book, and it’s been out for a while now, so… spoilers are fair game!

I love how much this book references controlled experiments and makes you think about how they’re directly applicable to you. There was one experiment in particular about an art class that was split into two groups: a quantity group and a quality group. The quantity group was instructed to complete as many projects as possible over the term, while the quality group only had to complete one project to the absolute best of their abilities. Both groups were graded on their final piece of work submitted.

Surprisingly, the quantity group performed better than the quality group. They were getting 1% better each time, avoiding perfectionism roadblocks, and continuously improving.

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Image Credits

Lucan Coutts
Colin Stevens
Dustin Luttrell

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