All photos taken and edited by Elizabeth Fuire // @liz.fuire

Vincent Paz is a D.C. native and the creator of the musical project, Vncntt. Since 2020, under the project, Vincent has released three singles: “One Last Dance,” “Broken Boy,” and most recently, “Elysia.” “Broken Boy” has proved to be Vncntt’s most successful piece yet, exceeding 15,000 streams on Spotify. Through fusing elements of self-produced indie pop and rock, Vncntt is quickly becoming a very unique-sounding musician that many have already begun to enjoy.

Thomas Fienan: Hey, Vince! Thanks for agreeing to the interview!

Vincent Paz: Thank you for having me.

T: Of course. So, the first question I wanted to ask is who are your greatest sources of inspiration or are there any specific artists that have inspired you the most through your creative process?

V: I’ve been inspired by mainly rock artists and indie artists, I'd say. Rock bands like My Chemical Romance, Muse, Oasis and other more indie acts. More recently Vansire, Mac DeMarco, Boy Pablo. Those artists I'd say are like my biggest inspirations.

T: Nice, nice. Are there any specific genres that you find yourself connected to or that you're attracted to when you listen to music?

V: I'm a big fan of pop punk and emo since I grew up listening to it. So, you know I feel like even though I don't really make that music, maybe the lyricism kind of shows that cause I do have some pretty sad songs out.

T: Yeah, of course.

V: Recently, I’ve listened to a lot of indie rock and indie pop. But, I still love pop punk.

T: Gotcha. So, you released “One Last Dance” in December and then you came out with “Broken Boy,” this last January. And now, we have “Elysia,” which just dropped. Could you tell me a little bit more about the new single?

V: The first two songs that I did were very lofi-inspired. For “Elysia,” I wanted to make something a bit more open and clear-sounding, in a sense. And I guess the inspiration for the song was my experience with relationships and how they start off perfectly and then divulge into arguments and uncertainty. The vocals are definitely more natural and with the instrumentation, I tried to experiment with clean and distorted guitar sounds and a lot of atmospheric reverb elements, as well. “Elysia” is not an actual person - the character is fictional but I still feel like people can relate to the song, even though I’m not writing about a real person.

T: How has the way you produce your music changed with this release of this song?

V: With the first song I ever released, the production is very minimalist and it only consists of a few instruments; acoustic guitar, piano, it doesn’t even have drums. And I think now with “Elysia,” I’ve learned that oftentimes when you think the song is finished, it isn’t actually done.

T: Is there anything else you’re currently hoping to musically accomplish in 2021?

V: For now, just the single I recently released. But, that could very much change. I'm a big perfectionist so I feel that a lot of times whenever I'm writing and producing, I spend so much time kind of just analyzing things and making sure that whatever I release is something I'm satisfied with. Because a lot of the time, there's always something missing, you know?

T: Do you think you’ll release an EP or an album any time soon? I'm just curious.

V: I've always been kind of against the idea of releasing an EP or an album as I'm still an artist that really hasn't broken through the noise yet. If I were to release, let's say, an album of 12 songs or something like that, and I'm not that well known, a 12 song album would probably gain more attention if I grew my audience first.

T: That's really interesting. Do you think when COVID ends, you're going to try to do some live performances to try to get some more exposure? Maybe either on campus or at local venues?

V: I would love to do that. Yeah. I think live performances are an amazing way to grow an audience. But, I also think the pandemic has made it a little bit easier for me because now, I don't have that option to do any live performances. So, I get to strictly focus on advertising my music online or through the Internet.

T: Yeah, there's like so much time now to just advertise behind your screens at home, really.

V: And I don't have to worry about, you know, going on tour and booking stuff. I don't have to worry about being super anxious before I go on stage or anything like that. ‘Cause I do NOT have experience with that. *laughs*

T: Got it, got it. When you produce your music, do you produce just solely by yourself or have you collaborated with any artists in your production process?

V: So, when it comes to producing, I mainly do everything myself. I think it's very rewarding to, you know, start something from scratch and then build it all the way up to a finished song. I think it's really cool to do that. Like to say that you did it all by yourself. I think that's really awesome.

T: To say that you have something you feel accomplished of.

Vincent Paz: Yeah. I haven't really worked with any other producers for my own work. All of my work is self produced. But, I've produced for other artists - I've produced for my friend, Luke Colombero. He goes by the stage name Roman Wilderness. It's really cool because he has a more like progressive rock sound and that's definitely a very different sound than mine.

T: Mm, yeah. I was going to ask if his stuff was a similar genre as your own.

V: Yeah, yeah, he has a very different style. His is more inspired by like progressive rock and blues. So, it was really cool to try and produce music that is outside of what I listen to, usually.

T: No, yeah. And it definitely shows that you're multi-talented through producing many genres. I wanted to know… what is your ultimate goal as a musician or what drove you to write music like at a solo career level?

V: Um, it might sound kind of cheesy... But, I think music can change lives. Music can save lives and I feel like my number one goal is to create something that changes someone's life or impact someone's life. If it saved someone's life, that would be… insane. I always loved hearing other artists say that and it’s something that I’ve really wanted to do with my music, as well.

T: Yeah, of course. Music is definitely something that affects all of us on an emotional level. So, I totally level with you there. Makes total sense. In your production process, what has been the greatest roadblock or challenge that you've had to overcome?

V: I guess… the only times that I do work on music is when I have a lot of inspiration and when I feel super dedicated. But I feel that is something that's been kind of rare recently because I've just been like so burned out. The biggest challenge when it comes to my process is making sure that I'm inspired whenever I write or produce. Cause I feel like if I just go head in without any kind of inspiration, I'm not going to like the result.

T: Of course. Hundred-percent. And lastly, what's been the greatest reward so far through your production process or through your music releases?

V: So, actually, there was this one time, recently, where this account on Instagram, that I didn't know, DM-ed me asking for the chords to “One Last Dance” because he wanted to learn how to play it on guitar and play it for his crush.

T: Oh, wow. That’s so cool, actually.

V: Yeah, I woke up to that and was like, “Dang, that’s awesome.”

T: That must've been so inspiring to get a message from one of your fans, trying to ask out their crush or something through your music.

V: It was really cool. Something very heartwarming and you know, it's a part of like what I said in the beginning; being able to impact people's lives in some kind of way is very rewarding.

T: Of course, definitely. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today.

V: No problem.

Finding Inspiration: An Interview with Emerging Indie Musician Vncntt