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Copyright 2005 by Music Morsels,
a Serge Entertainment Publication.
Editor: Sandy Serge
Contributing Columnists/Writers:
Mark E. Waterbury, Scott Turner


ARTIST NAME: David Fiorenza
MUSICAL GENRE:Singer/songwriter with rock, country and blues influences
BIRTHPLACE: Berwick, PA
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Coatesville, PA
YEARS INÊ MUSIC BIZ: 6 years
WEB SITE: http://www.davidfiorenza.com
CD'S SOLD: 2500
FAN BASE SIZE:500
MM: Were you always a musician doing your own thing or did you start off in other people's bands?
DF: All my life I had been playing music. I played in grade and high school, and then played guitar in church and college groups. I then took some time off from music, and about eight years ago, I got back into the guitar and started doing some songwriting. I recorded some of my songs in the studio and started going to open mic nights.
MM: Was there anything in particular that inspired you to get back into music at that point?
DF: Growing up, I had gone to plenty concerts and much of that kindled my interest in music. The more I saw people doing that live on stage, the more I thought that maybe I could adapt some of their styles. So I practiced, and I went to these open mic nights where I was getting people to look at my performance and my music and critique it. I was mainly inspired by the live performance aspect. Then after about a year of doing these open mics, I had people ask me to actually host some open mics at coffeehouses. That is where I met many of the music people in the Philadelphia area. From my own standpoint, getting out at these open mics and playing in front of different crowds gave me the confidence to play live as well as write.
MM: Do you feel that songwriting came naturally to you?
DF: I never wrote songs before that timeframe. I took a look at the poetry books my brother had written. Looking at some of those poem structures and seeing how they fit with song structures, I decided to see if I could put them to music. So I did that with a few of the poems and that led to my own songwriting.
MM: Do your lyrics tend to come from the heart or from life experiences?
DF: Much of it is experiences. The song ÒNew York City Dreamin'Ó is a true story about taking a trip to New York and experiencing it - riding the bus up there, experiencing the people in the streets. That's just one example of how life experience has inspired my songwriting.
MM: Have you completely self-released all of your CDs?
DF: Yes, I have. I still work with the same producer. I like working with the same producer because of what he knows about my styles and techniques. I have used certain outlets like CD Baby to get my CD out there, but I also used a promoter E.H. King out of Texas who gets my CD out to radio stations in Australia, New Zealand and Europe to get airplay.
MM: Do you feel that each CD has been a progression, not just with your sound, but with how you go about promoting it?
DF: The first CD was just a six song demo that I needed basically to help find gigs. It was very basic music, just guitar, vocals and bass. Then when I went in for the next CD which was a full-length CD, expanded on the demo, laid down more tracks and by the time we finished, the sound was electric instead of acoustic, so there was a progression. As far as marketing goes, I've utilized some of the heavier hitters such as Disc Makers to get the new CD out there. It looks really professional and I'm starting to get good reviews on it.
MM: I see that you performed over one hundred gigs in 2002. Do you feel that is one of the most important aspects of growing your fan base, getting out and performing as much as you can?
DF: I did. In the beginning, I used to go out there solo and try to play as many shows as possible. Now I am looking at more quality gigs as opposed to quantity. We are concentrating more on larger shows like benefits and festivals. We thought we had something to prove in the early days, but we also did look at it from a marketing standpoint of trying to get as many people as possible out to the shows. Now that we have a fan base grown, we can cut down to playing maybe once a week and spend more time concentrating on getting larger crowds out.
MM: Do you feel that you are headed towards some level of success with your music career and what do you think it will take to get there?
DF: I have to keep getting new ideas to record new songs. I'm happy that I am able to have new songs recorded and out there, and I am happy that I have a company like E.H. King who wants to be able to continue to promote my songs to radio overseas. The idea that I have control over what I do, in picking out the songs I want to do, and the logo I want to use the t-shirts that we sell...in some ways it can be a burden taking care of all of those aspects, but I do like having that control. I also have to be different from the rest, and how do you do that when you have hundreds of other singer/songwriters out there? Some of my friends and I have found a niche where we go to senior centers and retirement homes and play there. In the summer months, we get outside and do craft shows, art shows, music fests and events of that nature. We look for those unique outlets, we play for fire departments, benefit shows for police departments, and we even played in a jail once. As opposed to sticking to just the bar scene, we try other outlets to get our music out. There has also been some talk about touring in Australia because we are getting such good airplay over there. I will only do that though if I can at least break even. I can't really do it if it is a losing cause.
MM: So you understand what some musicians don't, that you have to treat your music career like it is a business?
DF: Well, I come from a financial background so I have a bit more understanding of that. I do have the habit of looking a bit closer at dollars and cents then some people do. Gas money, travel time, tolls, I figure in all the expenses. But then I will try to get an extra gig to cover those expenses.