What's Next?

Now that I'm done with my acting quota for this semester, I now have the time and resources to devote my free time to write new songs, record them and play them live hopefully before the end of the semester.

When I was abroad in London last spring I started a music project (better known as a one-man-band) called AAVA. Between a short semester with relatively few classes and a lot of spare time on my hands, I decided to make the most of that experience by traveling around Europe and learning different cultures.

Those experiences served as the main source of inspiration for the first record I did. "The Bliss In Between," though raw and not perfect, it captures everything I went through from growing up as a child in a corrupt third-world country to missing my family and friends when I moved. Twice (Lehigh and then London).

I recorded that album in Tenerife, Spain with the help of talented musician Oscar Bennassar, better known by his stage name, The Kale.

In a matter of weeks, I showed up with basically only one song prerecorded from we could work on. The rest, we had to start from scratch. He exploited my songwriting and playing abilities to the fullest (as you would expect of the greatest music producers) of my potential and he was there to offer advice and offer a helping had in times of need.

For my sophomore record, I'll probably take a less technical and complex approach due to the fact that I will be producing the album by myself and don't have all the resources I had available to me in Spain.

It'll probably consist of six to eight tracks of acoustic material, though there may be some full-scale electric songs in there. What has always worried me is the lack of appeal my voice has. This is something I've been working on with a vocal coach this semester.

It's time to get serious. No more excuses. I spent the first two weeks of the fall semester building a home studio I practically haven't used yet. Acting for Judas was fun, but now it's over. It's time to take Adrian V (possible new stage name) in a new direction.