Page 162 - JanFeb 2023_ION Indie Magazine

TB: You released your debut EP ‘Where It Begins’ in 2021. How long had you been working on
the EP?

VP: We spent around a year or so on ‘Where It Begins.’ The pandemic in 2020 put production on hold
for a little while which was in fact a blessing in disguise. I used the time to do a ton of writing and one
of the songs that came out of lockdown was ‘Green Eyes.’ The universe has its way…

TB: You followed the EP up with your debut album ‘Destination Unknown’ released in 2022,
earning a SAMA nomination for ‘Best Produced Album of the Year.’ You state this album is a
representation of who you are as an artist. Can you share with us what this means?

VP: As an artist, my goal is to share stories and moral driven messages with the people who stumble
across my music. I believe that music has the ability to convey a message better than any sentence
ever could. Every song on the album has either a deep message to share or a beautiful story to tell.
I aim to use the power of music to aid people in connecting to a deeper part of themselves. Musicians
are the therapists of the soul.

TB: Where did the album title ‘Destination Unknown’ come from?

VP: The whole album speaks about life and how you should strive to live every second of every
moment to the fullest…the struggles and hurdles, the laughs and cries, and the lessons learnt along
the way. Life is a journey with an unknown destination. The title is a message of encouragement to
not spend your days obsessing about your tomorrow but rather making your today the best it can be.
Then hopefully one day when you reach your destination you can look back and say, ‘Man, that was
one hell of a journey!’

TB: What one song really stands out for you on ‘Destination Unknown’ and why?

VP: I adore the opening song ‘Rise and Fall.’ The production process was just such an incredible
journey. It is close to 6 minutes of pure musical experimentation. We played around with natural
sounds like rain, thunder, and wind to paint the song’s gloomy, melancholic feel as soon as you press
play. We had so much fun with messing around with electric guitar and piano in studio. I also really
enjoyed yelling my lungs out at the end of the song. I needed to let go of some stormy internal
emotions and a recording studio is the only place screaming like a madman is considered ‘normal.’

TB: I read you were performing rooftop gigs during COVID shutdowns. Please talk about that.

VP: During peak lockdown, when everyone was down in the dumps, I decided to hop on my roof with
a speaker, microphone, and guitar and do a little show for my neighborhood. I did this every second
Saturday and every show got bigger and bigger. It got to the point where I had ‘bakkies’ (Pickup
Trucks) with people in the back parked up my entire street. There were camping chairs all the way
up my driveway as well as phone torches waving in the window of every house for kilometers. It was
a truly beautiful experience.

TB: You received some well-deserved accolades already at an early phase of your career.
Does that put any extra pressure on you when you are working on new material?

VP: ‘Being under pressure doing something that you hate is called stress. Being under pressure doing
something that you love is called passion.’ I love being under pressure in my career. It reassures me
that what I am doing is making a difference and that people are listening. I want nothing more than
my passion to be the thing that I have to focus on all day. I am motivated to make every song that I
write something unique for my listeners’ ears.