Sometimes in life, a man has dreams that often gets put on the back burner as education and a career demand full attention. For most, these dreams remain just what they are...dreams. For others, it comes to life down the road when the time is right. Vincent Poag is that person. A singer/songwriter, he has just put out his first CD aptly named "Circling Back" and his love of music shines through on this brilliant debut CD. Crafty lyrics, flowing melodic music and a voice that sounds very Dylanisc with a hint of Tom Waits, this is a CD that deserves more than just one listen to. I spoke to Vincent recently as his CD is starting to create a stir in the music industry....
MICK: You are originally from Long Island Vincent?
VINCENT: Yes, I grew up in Massapequa. I lived there until I went to college and now I've been living in Manhattan for quite a long time now. My whole family was from Long Island. I only have fond memories! I love Long Island! My father and his brothers had a hardware store in town and I kind of grew up in that store.
MICK: Does your family still live out here?
VINCENT: I do have some family that still lives on the Island but now we are kind of spread out. I come from a pretty large family. I still go out there quite a bit. On a beautiful day, it's a beautiful as anywhere in the world!
MICK: When did you write your first song?
VINCENT: A long time ago! I'm a 60 year old guy now! I started as a teenager writing songs.
MICK: After starting out as a musician, you left that behind to enter the business world. What type of career did you go into?
VINCENT: I always considered myself a pretty good song writer and that's the part of the music that I loved and had the most talent in. But I wasn't the most proficient musician so I couldn't really make a living as a studio musician or playing dates as a musician. So growing up in a business where my family always worked for themselves, eventually I knew I would just work for myself. I went into commercial real estate. I got tired of starving and used my creativity in a different way. It's worked out real well for me. But there was this part that I left behind musically. Once you move into the business side, it becomes harder to have that freedom to create as an artist.
MICK: While you were in that career, did you play or write at all?
VINCENT: I kept involved to a certain degree but kept it limited to family functions and things of that nature. I did write songs along the way. I've always loved music and all kinds of artists. I've always continued to appreciate the music.I felt that I left a piece of me behind and that is was something I should have continued.
MICK: In 2008, you did get back into music again. How did that come about?
VINCENT: My wife was insightful enough to get me guitar lessons with a local rocker by the name of Aric Carroll (who also records under the name Slim Francis). One thing led to another and I felt that I should start recording a lot of the songs that I've written or they were going to go with me! Aric set up a home studio and I recorded 15-20 songs over a couple of days. He suggested I bring in some musicians and this started to really percolate my creative juices in terms of what I could do with these songs. I've always been the kind of person that can't do things halfway. I have to give it my all or it's not worth doing. So musicians were brought in and I decided to see how much further I could take this. I eventually hooked up with arranger by the name of Cathy Sommer, who is a conductor. and we started to explore all kinds of orchestrations.
MICK: How did you hook up with Cathy?
VINCENT: My wife had a friend who had been involved with Broadway and had worked with her. I got her name and hooked up with her. It ended up being a very wonderful collaboration. She took me to places that i never thought I would go. For me to explore full orchestrations and make decisions around all kinds of instrumentation was wonderful. I'm really glad I had that opportunity and I'm very proud of the end result. The Christmas song is being played now. It's one of my favorites on the CD. It's a contemporary Christmas song and I think it has a poignant message. I hoping more people will listen to it! "The Stress Song" is another song that's a fun song. The song was actually written by Phil Stubbs from the Bahamas. He's a guy who has devoted his whole life to music. He has an incredible body of music. I happened to hear this song ten years ago out on Long Island being played by a Caribbean group. This was way before I ever planned to record a CD. I rewrote the song for one of my birthday parties, played it and had fun with it. It's one of my favorite songs so when I wanted to make my CD, I went down to the Bahamas to meet Phil and get permission to use the song with my changes to the lyrics. We ended up becoming very close friends. He's very famous down there and he's handcuffed by the limitations of the Bahamas. I kept his basic chorus but I changed the verses and the music to some degree. It's a fun song with a great message. The song got up to number 5 on the FM QB charts so I'm very pleased!
MICK: What inspires you?
VINCENT: I love being able to create a song from scratch. It comes painfully! Sometimes it just flows but other times it comes hard with the right words and the right music. But when you finish and you listen, it is so all inspiring! It's very hard to land sometimes particularly with the different arrangements but when you do, when you finish a song and you feel good about it, it inspires me and I hope it does other people as well.
MICK: Does it typically take you long to write a song?
VINCENT: It varies. Sometimes it's easier than others. At this stage in my life, I'm involved with so many things. I run a business and that takes up a lot of my time. Just being able to devote myself to the songs and focus is sometimes difficult. But I've learned to be patient. I've learned to trust myself and I don't settle. Unless I'm happy with it, I just keep going. I can't do things halfway and I won't release anything until it's to my liking and my satisfaction. I consider myself a songwriter and a singer by default because at this stage in the game, if I didn't sing my own songs, they weren't going to get done. I'm glad that I did finish the first album and I'm working on the second one now. I have a lot of great new songs that I'm very excited with!
We are very excited too!
To find more on Vincent, please go to: http://vincentpoag.com/
Vincent Poag - Circling Back
Buy the CD at CDBaby.com
Buy MP3's on iTunes!
No comments:
Post a Comment