American singer-songwriter in Cebu

Vincent Bernardy, a 51-year-old singersongwriter who opened for Green Day in the 1990s, roomed with Madonna’s guitarist, and drank a couple of beers with The Replacements’ Bob Stinson, is in Cebu for vacation. He dropped by SunStar Cebu to share his musical journey—from the slums of America to anywhere the music takes him.

Have you been in Cebu before? Vincent Bernardy:

This is my first time visiting the Philippines altogether and this is the first (province) that I’ve been to. I’ve been here for over two weeks and I’ll be here until the 20th. I came here for a vacation and also to give CDs out and do a little bit of PR work.

What places in Cebu have you visited so far and how are you finding the Cebuano cuisine?

So far I’ve only been to LapuLapu—on the beach there—but I want to go to Oslob and maybe swim with the whale sharks and also to Kawasan Falls. I’ve also been to the Basilica; it’s very beautiful—there’s a lot of history there. I’m a vegetarian to a point, so I only eat chicken, fish and seafood but I noticed Cebuanos like pork and your specialty,

lechon, looks very good.

How has your experience been in Cebu?

Cebu is a beautiful (place) and I found the people to be very loving and kind and the people seem to love the music here. And they’re open to newer genres of music so I find that very interesting. I love that. I feel like there’s a lot of love and kindness. People are very humble and very kind. There is traffic, like in Los Angeles, but I noticed that the people here don’t get angry easily in traffic unlike people in LA, who get very angry and honk very loudly. But here, they call it a courtesy honk, which I didn’t know.

When did you start taking on music?

I started playing music since I was just very small—three or four years old—if I remember it right. My parents bought me a toy guitar and I played it since I can remember. But in the business aspect of it, probably in my teens until now.

What do you write about?

I write about love, hardships and people getting through issues and problems. I write in a universal way. Everyone has experienced breakups in relationships, so I try to write about those things and I try to move on from that.

What inspires you to write?

Many different things. There’s not one specific thing but I feel like God gives people gifts and we should use those gifts whatever they are. It could be writing, singing. Maybe it’s a special kind of work only the person knows what that is. Many things inspire me.

What is your latest album, Big Illusion Pacifier Machine, about?

To me it’s about growing up in a culture that has focused on fantasy instead of the reality of things happening in your country. More on things that are good but fantasy. It’s a rock album so there’s a lot of of oppression and anger for injustices that happen. I made songs when I was 16 years old and I brought some of the songs I’ve made and put them into this album. My friend, Travis Warren, the singer of Blind Melon, engineered this album and recorded it. The song Inside

Glow was mixed by world famous producer Keith Olsen. Olsen also worked on Ozzy Osbourne’s album; he worked with many famous artists in our country. I just felt lucky to have been able to work with these people.

What kind of genre does your music fit into?

I have a folk rock album. I also have ballads and they play some of my music on the radio and some of it is pop—but not a lot of pop. The theme just depends. Each one has a different theme. Like Red Balloon in Acoustic Chocolate Songs Vol. 2, that song is about growing up in my culture in the United States. So things that we would have seen coming from the middle class to lower—because I came from poverty too. In our country, we’re not rich at all. I grew up in neighborhoods where there were gangs and shootings in schools in St. Paul, Minnesota and then in the northeast and south Minneapolis because I’ve lived in different areas.

Who are your musical influences?

I like the band The Replacements. It’s a very influential group with a sort of punk-rock grunge genre, and Bob Stinson, the originator of that band. But I love all kinds of music. I also like Will Cox and Joseph Arthur. I love symphony music but not too much country. Country is okay.

Is there money in music?

I never started playing music for money and as a business, it’s very difficult. Even if you have good music and people listen to it, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you get money from it. You have to learn the business side of it and not many creative people have the business aspect of music. You can have a gift or talent but if you don’t know how to sell it, then it doesn’t matter. But a friend has told me that a lot of people from your country, which I didn’t know, love music and they love singing but not necessarily writing and that’s a whole different thing. But I’m a writer and a producer, so I’ve worked with lots of people.

What would you advise budding songwriters?

If a person feels that he wants to make a song and sing, the first thing is to try and finish it. If you want to make your own music, you have to try. People start doing something but they give up too fast. But if you keep going, sometimes you find gold so keep going. Finish your idea, finish your song and then sit with it and let it be for a while.