INTERVIEW::
conducted
by
JiZO Jewles
JIZO:
Hi Vudoo Soul. Can you please tell us about
yourself? Where were you born and raised? Who happens to be French and/or Vietnamese in your
family line?
Vudoo Soul:
Hey wassup! My friends and music fam just call me
Vu, you can too. So I was born in California, where
just about every other 1st generation
Vietnamese-American kid was born haha. My mama and
papa both escaped from the Vietnam War on their own
accord, and met each other in the states, where they
married and created me. There's a portion of French
from my mother's side... and Japanese from my
father's side. The total breakdown? 75% Viet, 12.5%
French, 12.5% Japanese. You heard it here first,
forreal. Some people scoff at the seemingly
insignificant parts of my heritage. But if an 1/8th
slice of your apple pie was blueberry, I think you'd
notice.
JIZO: What are you up to these
days?
Vudoo Soul:
I am doing a lot of writing and recording not only
for myself, but other artists as well.
JIZO:
You graduated from MIT with an electrical
engineering degree. That is very impressive. How did
you go about deciding making music your career and
nothing else?
Vudoo Soul
Although MIT is definitely one of the greatest
institutions in the world for research and
education, I found that the culture amongst students
was laden with intense stress and one-track-minded
expectations for career paths. People didn't
necessarily like or want to do what they were doing.
Designing digital systems made my bosses and
professors happy, but not me. Seeing no greater
purpose being served by my engineering pursuits, I
quickly lost motivation. Music, on the other hand,
was not only more interesting, unfamiliar territory,
but also an endeavor that made people smile. The
world does not need another Vietnamese electrical
engineer from me. So the choice was profoundly
simple.
JIZO: Besides superstar Alicia Keys, Who
have been your main musical influences and who are
your all time favorite artists/albums?
Vudoo Soul:
Pop/R&B/Soul music has obviously been huge: Stevie
Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, Anthony
Hamilton, Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, Luther
Vandross, Lauryn Hill, Billie Holiday, Al Green,
Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Brian
Mcknight, Usher, India Arie, Musiq Soulchild...
My less obvious influences were just as critical in
marinating my flavor: Elvis Presley, the Beatles,
Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, Tupac, Eminem,
Outkast. I also have a very little known passion for
electronic dance music as well as Nobuo Uematsu's
epic orchestrations for the Final Fantasy video game
series: DJ Tiesto, Fat Boy Slim, Deep Dish, Paul Van
Dyk, Hybrid, BT, Felix Da Housecat, Crystal Method,
whatever's hot that's spinning on BBC's Radio 1!
JIZO: What gives you inspiration for your
songs? How do your songs come together?
Vudoo Soul:
Honestly, the daily hardships of my love life and
career are plenty inspiration. Although it might
appear that I live a very different life from the
average person, I go through the same ridiculous
love life drama and need-mo-money woes as everyone
else does. I'm not a huge sensation yet, and I've
got so many college bills to pay... Writing music is
my creative, emotional outlet for hard times. Words,
melodies and rhythms of how I feel start to fuse in
my consciousness, and next thing you know, I've
begun to write a great song.
JIZO: What have been the highlight (s) and
low points (s) of your career to date?
Vudoo Soul:
My career is always developing upward, so honestly,
every couple months and every last big show feels
like a highlight. Barely two years ago, I could
hardly play the piano and sing my own songs without
messing up. I begged to perform anywhere at all.
Now, I command a full ensemble of world-class R&B
musicians, and our shows just keep on getting more
killer as my audience grows. My shows are becoming
more personal, even if they appear to be larger.
Feeling that real connection with my audience in a
live setting, whether it's a crowd of fourteen or
four thousand, is a new highlight every time.
The low point? The first two years after my American
Idol experience met me with a cruel amount of scorn
and scrutiny from my family, both immediate and
extended. You know, asian families are huge. MIT to
Music? I went from being the young savior of the new
Vietnamese generation to the most hated, shameful
and criticized delinquent of the family. It was
infuriating and disheartening... and still is. I'd
be lying if I didn't admit that part of my career's
motivation is to prove them all wrong.
JIZO: You have an incredible voice. Do you
constantly hear stereotypical things from people
such as "you are quite talented for an asian guy?"
or "I didn't know asian people could sing the way
you do?"
Vudoo Soul:
Well thank you, I work really hard on it. That's
actually what I would like to stress to people. It
seems as though the public believes that I was born
with the magically soulful voice of a fat black man.
But when I started, I sounded just like every other
whiny Asian kid wishing they could be like NSync. I
really only started singing 5 years ago, it was a
process of incredible focus on the development of my
craft. By studying the greats while training,
rehearsing and performing consistently over the
years, I created this voice of mine.
So as for the other question, yes, I've heard those
stereotypical things thousands of times. It is
simply because there aren't as many Asians out there
taking on R&B/soul music as a serious craft. I'd
like to think that I'm paving the way for more folks
to follow this particular path and style of music.
The day people stop seeing "Asian" and hear soulful
music is the day I know I will have succeeded.
JIZO: Is there a reason behind you learning
Chinese? Are you thinking about touring in China?
Vudoo Soul:
With China comprising 1/6th of the earth's entire
population, I thought it would be a fairly useful
thing to pick up eventually. I also think that for a
country so large, there is a curious lack of
diversity in their music. I'm fairly certain they
don't have artists that sound like me, my goal is to
introduce more R&B, jazz & soul music to a vast
community of people who haven't really been exposed
to it yet.
JIZO: What views do you have on the current
state of the music industry? Based on your own
experience/opinion, what's preventing asian
Americans artists in general to make it mainstream?
Vudoo Soul:
It's a matter of fear on the part of those who run
the major label music industry in America. The
industry is in flux, regardless of whether or not
Asians are a part of it. Having wastefully spent
millions and millions of dollars into acts that lack
artistic depth and longevity, major labels are now
extremely hesitant to sign new acts. They're playing
it safe, they want to know that there will
definitively be return on their investments based on
the track records of similar acts that have broken
into mainstream. Unfortunately, this leaves little
room for exploring the hot, new and unknown. The
fact that Asian Americans have no significant track
record in the mainstream music industry is a huge
reason why no major label has yet been willing to
be
the first to take that dive.
JIZO:
Can you tell about your experience with "American
Idol"? Did it help boost your career in any way?
Vudoo Soul:
I could talk to you about my American Idol story for
an hour, it really was that exciting. It was
actually one of the major turning points for me in
deciding to ditch my MIT career path and pursue
music instead. I put everything on the line when I
auditioned for AI... I spent a butt load of money to
fly to the audition city, missed a ridiculous amount
of class work necessary for my graduation, and knew
absolutely no one at the place I was auditioning.
Not to mention committing family honor suicide for
my parents. Risky wasn't even the WORD. But to make
a long story short, I came out of that experience
seeing that I must have had something special to
make it to AI Season 2's Top 150 in Hollywood. Yet I
realized how extremely unpolished I was, and from
that point on, decided to devote my discipline and
career to music.
JIZO:
What are your plans and aspirations for the future?
Vudoo Soul:
I want to continue to travel to more places, do
bigger, badder shows and sell a bajillion cds! That's the hope. I've been told by
many eyes that there's no way I could make it big.
However, Viets are proven to be crafty survivors. I
will inevitably find a way through the obstacles
that present themselves.
JIZO:
Outside of the music business, what do you enjoy
doing in your spare time?
Vudoo Soul:
I really enjoy playing Scrabble. I am also a
world-class gamer in the art of Tetris Attack (or
Pokemon Puzzle League, as it's called on newer
Nintendo systems?). If those activities sound too
nerdy to you, I apologize indignantly. More often
though, I like to seek out great restaurants and
clubs/lounges. Most of my disposable income goes to
fooding.
JIZO:
Is there any thing you would like to tell your to
your fans?
Vudoo Soul:
Hmm. What do they really want to know? Hi, I'm
single, I like long walks on the beach and fried
chicken. Extra crispy. The way to my heart and soul
can definitely start with soul food. Alright,
ladies? Haha. Fellaz? Women love men who admit that
they love Vudoo Soul's music. Be a man. Buy my
music. Oh, and keep up with my myspace page and
xanga blog updates... my first official album is
coming in the next several months!
Vudoo
Soul does not look or sound like anything the music
industry would traditionally label a "soul man".
However, driven by an unwavering desire to break
that mold, Vudoo Soul is emerging as one of the
freshest faces and styles in music today. 
