As Denver’s music scene continues to evolve, new collectives are stepping in to redefine what community and experience can look like. Emerging into the Denver scene comes Subliminal Message, a brand rooted in intention, atmosphere, and a deeper connection to community. Ahead of their debut event, we sat down with the minds behind the project to learn what they’re building and why it matters
The rising brand Subliminal Message is set to make its official introduction to the Denver community on April 11th at Two Moons Music Hall. Co-founded by Brent Tactic, a longtime industry veteran and co-founder of Good Direction Agency, and Sydney Rose, a respected tastemaker in the underground & having worked for labels such as Dome of Doom & Daisy Chain. The duo brings together a shared vision for something truly distinct, and their focus is on cultivating a space that feels like a warm, intentional environment where music lovers can connect beyond the dancefloor.
Whether you’re already familiar with the sounds they’re curating or simply looking for something new, Subliminal Message aims to fill a gap in the Denver music landscape: creating a multi-genre / bass-oriented club dance space for like-minded individuals who want to build and grow a community with people who genuinely care about the music.
We had the opportunity to sit down for an exclusive interview with Brent Tactic and Sydney Rose to discuss the origins of the brand, what attendees can expect at their debut event, and the tone and energy they hope to establish from day one. With a lot on the horizon, this is your introduction to Subliminal Message.
In Conversation with Subliminal Message
seradopa: Let’s get started for our Electric Hawk community, describe who you are and what you each do in the music industry!
Brent Tactic: I’m Brent Tactic. I’ve been in the music industry in some form since 2000.
There’s been an artist career with a full-time DJ career for a number of years, up until about 2013. Then, there was a whole bunch of trying on different hats to see what fits. I graduated with a degree in music business, and I clearly knew what I wanted – to be in the music business in some capacity. But in terms of what that path would be, I had no idea. I had to try out a bunch of different hats.
In 2014, I moved to New York and became a booking agent. It started off pretty terribly [laughs], but in 2016, it started to click. And that’s the primary job today. Now, I run Good Direction Agency with a couple of my business partners, and we represent around 50-some clients. It’s March 19th, and already got over 500 shows on the books for 2026, and I’m just very busy in that world. But in terms of what we’re specifically talking about with Subliminal Message – that DJ career that I mentioned, I used to throw parties and really try to curate experiences and bring communities together way back when.
And that itch, from a creative standpoint, has never really gone away, but it’s gotten fired up moving to Denver. Been here about a year, and Sydney and I knew each other before she moved to Denver, and when she moved here, we had dinner, and then it was like, “Oh, we should start a party together.”
[Laughs]
Sydney Rose: Hey, my name is Sydney Rose. I’ve been involved with live music for almost 15 years now. I’ve been an avid listener & supporter of the underground for many years & started doing more industry-type work around 2022, when I worked for Dome of Doom. This past winter, I worked with Daisy Chain a bit, but the entire time, I’ve had so many friends who are artists & DJs, and I got to see that side of things before I really started working in the industry.
My day job, however, is a fashion designer. I have a degree in fashion design, so music and fashion have always been my two passions. For a while my sideline pipe dream was being a booking agent, I told that to Brent, and that’s kind of where the party idea started rolling.
I don’t think I’ll ever leave this community unless I stop liking the music, it’s been my life, and that’s why I’ve stayed here this whole time. Now I’m happy to have a small piece in the bigger picture and (attempt) to throw my own thing That was one of my dreams when I first started going to raves, I would think, “Oh, wow, it’d be so cool to throw my own party.” but never really felt attainable, its been in the back of my mind but it more so drifted in being interested in curating. & It feels full circle now that I can curate talent & hopefully get people to come listen to good music by booking my friends who deserve it & other artists I want to give recognition to as well.
seradopa: How did you two connect creatively? How did the idea for Subliminal Message first come about? You mentioned that a dinner was the spark of it all.
Brent Tactic: When did we actually meet in person for the first time? Was it last summer?
Sydney Rose: I think it was last summer.
Brent Tactic: At Bass Coast, we linked up, and I noticed that the music that I wanted to go see at Bass Coast was the same stuff that she wanted to go see. It’s not really that big of a festival, but there are very unique and purposeful experiences at all the stages. Four stages are going on max at a time, usually counterprogrammed with different music, times, and communities. We were going to the same shit. And that piqued my interest.
Anyway, Sydney and I stayed in touch after. She told me she was moving to Denver, and we started seeing each other at shows. One day, she hit me up, and she’s like, “I want to get out of my house. Do you want to go do something?” And I was like, do you want to have dinner?
And we did!
We just started talking about music and shows that she had been going to and supporting here in Denver since she moved here. She mentioned that there was a party at Two Moons that she attended, was really cool. She liked the room, and I was just like, “Hey, they actually just reached out to me about something. Maybe I could follow up.” And I’ve been wanting to start a party, but I need help because I’m just too damn busy to do it all myself. And it very organically came out of her that she would love to help out with that.
I haven’t been actively searching for a party promoter partner. But I’ve been quietly on the lookout for a minute, and this just felt very right in the moment; there was excitement. There was willingness. She was actively going out. We have a lot of the same taste in music, a very similar purpose in terms of what we want to be presenting to people in a communal aspect. It’s just aligned over the course of an hour dinner!
Sydney Rose: It really did! When I told him I was moving to Denver, I honestly forgot that he lived here, so when I got here, I realized, and I was okay, cool, we can actually spend more time hanging out than just at a show. I’ve known his roster to be some of my favorite music, so I knew that we connected there.
seradopa: I love how just a casual dinner sparked the whole creation of wanting to make this happen!
Brent Tactic: I feel like it’s important to mention a couple of things there. In all honesty, that conversation for me, and I think for Sydney too. I obviously don’t want to speak for her, but there’s so much here, right? There’s so much here in Denver, but it doesn’t feel super connected to me.
But at the same point, there’s clearly a creative impulse here, just from the standpoint of folks that are interested in music, folks that are making music, and folks that want to be performing music. And I feel, I’m old school, but it didn’t used to be about playing your edits and IDs on stage and trying to draw everybody’s attention to you because you’re dancing around and overreacting to your music.
We used to go out for this communal release. You want to find like-minded people who want to get excited by things, whether that’s from a listening standpoint, from a visual standpoint, or whatever.
That URL connection with music, I don’t think it’s sustainable, and I don’t think it’s real. We can go into a longer discussion on that. But that IRL experience of going to the spot, hearing good music, seeing your friends, making new friends, being inspired by what you’re hearing, seeing, and experiencing, and having an open mind. You know what I mean? It’s subtle. But this shift’s happening. There’s this open-mindedness and willingness to be like, “I don’t want to do the same thing that I did last weekend, or the same thing that I’ve been doing. I want to switch it up.” That’s where I see us coming in.
Sydney Rose: Touching on the fact that a lot of the venues in Denver are super big, and it feels like everyone has to do their big one all the time. There’s a lot of pressure to sell out this venue and climb up the tier list here. It creates a lot of pressure on artists to feel like they have to do the biggest thing ever with their project.
We wanted to take some of that pressure off and get back to the root of what it’s really all about. Like, a small space with good sound, good people, and everyone focusing on the music and not about all the other gimmicks that are going on, and getting more of a condensed crowd that’s solely there for the music they want to hear.
seradopa: So big question – why the name Subliminal Message?
Sydney Rose: We were trying to debate a name. We wanted a two-word name, but the thesis of it is bringing back the community, but in a subliminal message type of way. There’s always going to be an underlying message when you’re there. There’s always an underlying message within the community that is being brought together.
Brent Tactic: A lot of the ethos that we’re talking about regarding, like, we see an opportunity. We’re not, you know, coming in guns blazing, spending a bunch of money, bringing the flashiest names or whatever in town. We actually want to create another lane that doesn’t already exist right now.
Like, shoving it down your throat to be like, you have to come, you know, it’s like, it’s the best show, and it’s gonna be so amazing. Like, yeah, we want to hype it up obviously. We want people to come and we want to sell tickets, but it’s bass-oriented club music. The “sub” part of it really resonated with us when we were looking at names, which was a bit of an exhaustive process. But Sub-Bass, obviously, is just an underlying current to the music that we’re going to be presenting. And it’s just a subliminal message in terms of what you “should” feel and experience here.
Sydney Rose: With the “message” part as well, is that we want people to communicate. We want to cultivate community. We want people to meet new people, make new friends, and talk about the things they like.
Because we want to cultivate a space where people want to come back to our party because they know that they are going to see A: their friends, or B: cool people to interact with, and C: if they only know one person on the lineup, and maybe dont know anyone going, they know that they will leave the night having experienced good music, finding a new artist, and making a new friend.
Brent Tactic: They see Subliminal Message, it’s trusted. That’s what we want to build.
seradopa: Your first event is April 11th at Two Moons Music Hall—what does this debut mean to you personally?
Sydney Rose: Honestly, it’s really special to me.
I mean, Brent has thrown parties before, but this is the first thing that I’ve ever booked and thrown, and I’m happy to put on. One of my good friends NIK P, and Northern Road, formerly CLB. They are the perfect duo to start this whole concept off, them being friends themselves and their sounds meshing well is part of the recipe for the success of our project. It feels really special to be doing Northern Road’s Denver debut because I’ve known Max (CLB) for a bit, so hosting my first party that’s also his new project means a lot to me in general.
I’m excited to see the people in the crowd who decided to come support us as well, and just see it all come to fruition for the first time!
Brent Tactic: Mine is two-pronged.
I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve been DJing since 2000, right? I love to DJ. To this day, everything else that I’m doing and have done in this industry, like DJing is really at my core and one of my favorite things in the world to do.
I’m too busy with the normal day job, running a business to be like, “Dude, I want to play your party. Book me for your party. Come on. Book me for your party. Please. Book me for your party.” So I haven’t been getting a whole bunch of gigs, and the impulse hit me fairly recently. It was not too long before Sydney and I had dinner as well. Maybe I just needed to throw my own party again. That’s really how I got started in Kansas City, back when my DJ career was taking off. If no one’s going to book you, well you should book yourself, right?
Do I play every event? Probably not. But I can if I want to, you know?
Then, some of the stuff I mentioned around the dinner meeting earlier, but added on top of it through this process with Sydney: Us being able to lock in our venue quickly, lock in our lineup, get art together, like all these kinds of things. There is this clear energy and excitement from her.
I don’t have to be the guy driving the ship. I don’t have to force the motivation. She’s on it, and I really feel like I have a partner. Which, to me, is all I could ever ask for. If the party bombs and no one comes, I still feel I have made a genuine connection here with somebody who’s very like-minded. Her fingers on the pulse from a music perspective. Like she’s throwing out names when we were talking about booking our first show, and I was just like, “I don’t know who the fuck that is.”
[Laughs]
But that’s fine! I don’t need to know everything. You know what I mean? I live and operate in a world where it’s up to me to know everything, and to admit some ignorance here is very refreshing. And know that I have a trusted partner who is on her shit. Couldn’t ask for anything else.
seradopa: What can attendees expect from this first show as you set the tone for what’s to come in the future?
Brent Tactic: This is not one of those parties where it’s like, you have to stick to one format of music, or you will hear a lineup of DJs play one specific type of set. If you (as a performing DJ) want to stretch your legs, you want to bounce around genres and tempos, etc. Like, please feel free to do so.
I believe that’s one of the things that ultimately has made things a bit stale. It’s just very “samey” all the time. So, having that undertone of bass music, club culture, 140, drum and bass, and breaks, etc is really important.
It’s going to be very multi-genre, and it’s not going to get stuck in one tempo all night. Just in my experience with throwing parties, what the vibe is at 9pm is not the same as the vibe at 2am – it’s just not. We want to be able to cater to that too, and not be like, “We gotta rage the whole time and keep the energy up.”
Like, no!
Find the pockets of sound that fit. So when you walk in that door, whether it’s at 9pm or 1am, it’s like you’re getting a hug when you walk in the door. We want you to say, “This sounds dope. Let’s go in. Let’s stay.”
So that’s the vibe.
And future iterations, Two Moons has expressed interest in us coming back. The folks at Two Moons have been great. We want to have those trusted partners, and I could see this party moving around. Us hosting and curating nights at some of your more recognizable venues in the city.
I don’t know, we’re just getting started, and I think we can do whatever we want.
Sydney Rose: I think we can too.
That’s the music standpoint. But to me, what makes shows really stand out is when I come home at the end of the night, I’m like, “wow, it was really fun.” It’s because I enjoyed everyone in the crowd. There were a good amount of people I knew there, and the crowd was all working together, and it wasn’t like weird vibes [laughs]
I want to cultivate a place that’s just comfortable for people to be in. I’ve touched on before, people can make friends and introduce people to their other friends, and we’re just walking into a space that does actually feel like a hug with the crowd. You’re not looking around like, “Who are all these people standing around doing nothing?”
Everyone’s paying attention to the music, but also getting along and making connections.
seradopa: You’re obviously just getting started. Are there any long-term goals for what you want Subliminal Message to become?
Sydney Rose: I really haven’t thought about that.
Honestly, I’ve just focused on doing it right the first time. I feel the more intention that we put into what we’re starting now, will help determine how it’s going to unfold in the future. I don’t want to scale it up too fast or have dreams that are unattainable. Once we understand how it can move and how it can work, then we can think about the bigger picture.
Brent Tactic: Similar response to what Sydney said.
I’m not sitting here being like, “Okay here’s the six-month business plan, or year long business plan.”
I do have some ideas in terms of where things could make sense and collaborations that could be cool. But want to make sure that we’re operating with realistic expectations. I feel I say that to my clients all the time. I’m really going to try and take my own advice here.
So much of the relationship, that’s really cultivated here, for Sydney and I, you know, let’s not just be cool music friends, but let’s see how we can be creative together. That was such an organic process that I don’t want to force my will here.
It’s been fun, you know what I mean? I want to make sure that we keep it fun. Because this is something that, if we start taking it too seriously, it might get tainted.
seradopa: Last one. If you can send one subliminal message to your audience, what would it be?
Brent Tactic: If your gut is telling you, it’s not really that cool or really not that special. Or not even necessarily that good, maybe trust your gut. And be willing to discover new stuff on your own.
Sydney Rose: Yeah, keep an open mind and an open ear!
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