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Conversation With Vlad
continued...
I had never seen a culture with such appreciation for music! The more I saw, the more I loved it. I wanted to be a part of it! Berklee was definitely an eye
opener for me --- to see the world in a different light and angle. I loved THAT angle and the light! I wanted to add what I had! It
became my agenda then. So, yes, it did change my life forever, and I'm very grateful to my destiny for a chance to come to the
United States.
Q: You went to NYC in 1996. What experiences shaped you and your music?
VLAD: New York City is a special place on Earth. It's like nothing I've ever seen and felt. Being in New York brought a raw "black
and white" reality to my conscience fast. I had to do music and I had to survive in the city with no mercy. It was tough. The city
stripped away my grand façade, exposing me "bare naked" to the world of competition and survival. Being in New York for the first
year taught me a lot of life lessons that I had only read in literature or seen in the movies. Since I had a MA degree in engineering, I
thought finding work would be easy. How I was wrong. I worked anywhere I could find a job. I was a janitor in a café in the West
Village (I remember mopping the basement floor full of rats and orange peels from making orange juice and there was no air conditioner
or windows for 7 hours). Then, I worked in a Photo Development place, from which I got fired because I sold a Polaroid film
$1.00 less than the sticker price. Then I got job restoring furniture, which eventually lead to managing antique stores and furniture
sales. During all that time I was trying to make my music. It was tough. Hush Productions (South Park Studios) gave me an opportunity
to make music at night. So, my schedule was very tight: day at work, night in a studio. On average I slept about 3-4 hours a day.
This continued for a year and a half. I think NYC shaped me as a musician more than anything. It gave me an understanding of
whom I was and what I have to say. Without NY my music would've been different.
Q: How long did it take for you to create Vladosphere?
VLAD: Some of the songs on the album I started making back in NYC in 1998. But the majority of it was made in California.
Overall, it took me about 3 years to come up with the tracks for this album. I wrote about 40-50 songs but only 10 (I thought) would
be appropriately chosen to be under Vladosphere, Between a full time job and making music, it's really tough to find the right time
to express your feelings musically. But again, as I always think, discomfort is a good fuel for creativity.
Q: You have said that we all have our own "sphere." Describe "Vladosphere."
VLAD: Vladosphere is a place where I feel safe, secure, loved, balanced, happy and optimistic. It's a place where your childhood
comes back. This can relate to any human being. We all have our dreams, desire for love and happiness. We are not aware of the
moment when we're making memories, we don't know how to understand our heart with our mind. Vladosphere is that place for me
that preserves those precious things. Every human has his or her own sphere in that sense as well. We just need to make it alive
again for each of us.
Q: Describe how music shapes your life---from personal to professional.
VLAD: I can put it very simply: for me music is oxygen for my heart. So, yes it does affect every aspect of my life. My personal life
is largely based on feelings shared with music. Professionally, music puts me in a certain angle of functionalities, which sometimes
inspires or depresses me. I see life perhaps differently than a traveling sales person per say. Music is not just harmony and notes.
Music is expression of my heart and my life experiences. So, I'd say I'm co-dependent on life around me and music is result of it.
Q: What inspires your music today?
VLAD: People, travel, conversations, nature with its sky and earth. Life inspires me. I love to feel it, open my heart and soul and let it in.
Q: Where do you see Vlad 10 years from now?
VLAD: I knew what I wanted to do in my life since I was about 10. So, I guess 10 years from now I'll be making music that makes
my heart beat as I always do. 10, 20, 30 years from now --- I will be making music. I live life that way and I enjoy it!
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