Vintz Desert is an Indie Folk singer-songwriter located in Maryland. While serving in the Marine Corps, Vintz fine-tuned his craft, and discovered his voice and passion for telling stories and sharing emotions through song. After releasing his debut EP, “through the smoke; a liar,” which features his top streaming song, “Love in Boston.” He relocated to the east coast where he opened up for Folk Rock band Oliver Hazard. He plans on releasing his next EP in the spring of 2022. He can be described as “beautifully melancholic” and focuses on direct relatable stories. His soft-spoken and raspy voice transfers his pain and experiences from him to his audience.
With his single, “We can be Human,” out now, we took some time to hear more from Vintz Desert. Read below to learn more about Vintz Desert, the story behind his single, and what’s to come.
Hi Vintz Desert! Let’s start with how did you get your artist name?
Hi! So, Vintz Desert is actually my name! Vincent is my first name and Desert is my actual last name as well.
What city are you from and where are you based now?
I’ve moved around a bit. I’m originally from Boston, spent a lot of my early 20’s in Southern California, but now live in Maryland near D.C.
At what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in music? How did you get started?
I’ve always loved music! I grew up playing trumpet in jazz/concert/marching band. I, then, started to learn guitar and play covers of old school Black Keys and Foo Fighters, but decided to give up music for a bit because of the whole “music isn’t a career” thing that I went through. Once I left Boston and moved to Southern California, I decided to start writing songs, and soon enough, I made the decision to take it a bit more seriously! I started going to open mics and started writing songs, and it just went from there. I think I released my first song in like 2018 under the name “Vinny Dee” ahaha.
Has your upbringing played a role in shaping who you are and defining your sound today? If so, how?
I think it has! Growing up wasn’t really easy for me. Without getting into too many details, my family and I struggled, and I think overall that just made me focus more on different aspects of life. I grew up a bit too quickly, so I didn’t always enjoy things that other kids my age enjoyed. And, I think that plays a role in my lyrics. They’re typically pretty focused on emotion and different aspects of love and life; typically are not as optimistic as other artists, even on my more positive songs.
In terms of my sound, I think my upbringing played a huge role in that! Like I mentioned, I learned guitar while trying to cover bands like The Foo Fighters, Blink-182, and Rise Against, but at some point, this transitioned into Blues and Indie Rock. I started covering The Black Keys a lot (I actually know how to play every song of theirs on guitar and drums up until El Camino). From there, I got introduced to the band, Kaleo, which blew my mind at the time! And then, I got introduced to The Lumineers around the same time that I decide to do music more frequently, and it’s been pretty consistent since! I’ve moved on from that onto more singer-songwriter artists like Noah Gundersen, Luca Fogale, and Harrison Storm.
How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you?
I would say that my sound is melancholic tones based around acoustic guitar. I always start songwriting with/around the guitar, and so all of my songs are heavily influenced by that. And, like I said earlier, all of my songs have depressing undertones. I have a newer unreleased (at this time) song that talks about trusting in yourself again, and embracing a new mindset and even this has some depressing undertones when you look into it.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? What do you do to stay creative?
Yes! I love driving and working on cars! I drive a Fiesta ST which isn’t really anything too impressive haha…but I love working on it, driving it on fun roads, and taking road trips. I also like to workout, when I can, and sleep.
For staying creative, I like to freeform write. I have this mini journal that I keep around the house, and I just write. I also just started getting into reading poetry which has been incredible.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
To my roots, I’d have to give it to The Black Keys, Kaleo, and The Lumineers. But recently, I’ve been influenced a lot by Noah Gundersen, Luca Fogale, and also the late rapper XXXTENTACION. He had a way of expressing his emotions in the rawest way. Like his lyrics aren’t always the most metaphorical, but his ability to make me feel exactly how he was feeling is incredible! Truly think without him, I wouldn’t be able to be so vulnerable on some of my songs.
What are some of your future music career goals?
Right now, I want to have a partnership with a label or management company. I think I’m at the point of my career where I need a team to help push me to that next level. But long term, I just want to make it a career. I’ve done the whole 9-5 thing, and it really doesn’t feel right for me. Hopefully, I can develop a fan base strong enough to where I could do that.
Now onto your release, “We can be Human.” What inspired this song?
Honestly, it just came to me! I was listening to a few different songs around August of 2020 (when I wrote it). There’s “Oregon” by Paul Moody, “Coastline” by The Hollow Coves, and other random songs that I was obsessed with at the time, and it just came up outta nowhere.
What is “We can be Human” about in your own words?
So, in all honesty, I just wanted to write a love song that shows the listener what I’m feeling as opposed to telling. But, going deeper into it, the song is about exploring aspects about being human and exploring those with someone you love! I think humans are really, really interesting, and I think there are crazy amount of layers that go into what it means to be human; I know that this is a topic that I will write about again.
What is your favorite lyric in “We can be Human” and why?
I think: “Can we stop and see the sights? While I sit around and count the freckles in-between your eyes.” It’s just so simple, but so real you know? Like, it’s just a scene straight out of a movie. There’s still beauty within the simpler things in life, you know?
What message do you hope fans take away from your music and from “We can be Human?”
I hope fans can see “We can be Human” as a way to take themselves less seriously. Being human is complex and at times really terrible. But, simple things like just driving with someone you love or just stepping outside and literally smelling the clear air can really help us get through some of those terrible times.
With the rest of my music, I want people to mainly realize that they aren’t alone in their struggles. A lot of my songs talk about the deep thoughts and impressions that I have. I frequently poke fun at my ego that I’m still trying to understand, and love to write about this interestingly complex relationship that I have with depression and that dark part of us that sometimes pokes it’s head out. And so, with these songs of mine, I want people to know that it’s okay to feel your emotions, it’s okay to explore them, and it’s okay to just hurt.
What’s one of your proudest moments of your music career so far?
I think my proudest was opening up for Folk band Oliver Hazard. I was still very much developing my sound/vibe/whatever you want to call it, but this really showed me a lot about playing a legit show. And, there were so many people there! It was such a cool experience, and I’ll always be extremely thankful!
What would you say are the greatest lessons you’ve learned so far?
Greatest lesson in life and in music is that you can’t take things too personally. I’ve been through some really hard times in life, and I used to get hurt a lot. I mean I’m still hurting and still fighting some intense demons…but what changed is that I used to take situations and how people would treat me personally. Like, to the point where I hated everyone and everything including myself. But, after dealing with some intense issues, I started learning more about various philosophies and spiritualistic habits that people have done for thousands of years. Stoicism is something that probably saved my life, to be honest, and through all of that, I learned that humans do things because they’re human. Whatever personal philosophies and theories we have, all revolve around the idea that humans are human. I needed to learn that people sometimes do and say the things they do just because they are human; it isn’t always because of something I did/didn’t do. This is something that I’m still learning too because you can’t always diffuse anger and/or pain with theory. But, it’s helped.
This caries over with music because plenty of people will judge your music. They will rate it, pick it apart, compare it, and ultimately, cast judgement because of it. And, it’s nothing against them, it falls under that “human” aspect that I was talking about. But, that isn’t always because of my skill or lyrics or whatever. Sometimes they just don’t like a song. I REALLY don’t like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but that’s considered one of the best songs of all time; everyone loves that song! And, I’m not ever going to be on Queen’s level, so I can only imagine that a large amount of people won’t like my music. And, that’s okay!
What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects that we should be on the lookout for?
Yeah! I don’t know when this will end up getting posted, but I have an EP coming out in the spring of 2022! It’ll be a 6 song EP, and it’s my best work. Very honest and raw stuff that focuses on the nuances of mental health and loving yourself/someone else while navigating those nuances. It’s a project that pushed me so much in terms of songwriting, lyrics, and production.
Where can we follow you on social media?
I’ll include my linktree which has all my socials and also other links as well!
@Vintzdesertmusic | Linktree (https://linktr.ee/vintzdesertmusic)
Before you go, let’s ask you a couple of random questions:
What’s your dream car?
My dream car is a 1970-74 Datsun 240z. Absolutely incredible car with a really strong motor.
What are your top three shows?
Supernatural, Dexter, and The Good Place.
Thank you for the great interview, wish you much continued success!
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Image provided by Vintz Desert
