Pete Nguyen
Pete Nguyen is an upcoming solo singer/songwriter based in Orange County, California. Drawing from elements of acoustic pop, rock, TV commercial jingles, Satanic death metal, and whatever else happens to get stuck inside his head, he writes songs for your chill coffeeshop makeout session by the fireplace. Pete continues to play at small venues and student events both near and far. With growing success of the demo album due to singles "Temperature", "July", and "Christmas Song", Pete is currently writing and recording his first full-length independent release.
His favorite artists currently include John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Anna Nalick, Coldplay, Imogen Heap, Glen Phillips, and Kanye West.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
Pete Nguyen, 21, is a solo acoustic singer/songwriter from Fountain Valley (Orange County), California. He plays a distinctive combination of indie/pop styles comparable to Jason Mraz, John Mayer, or Duncan Sheik. He has a large and balanced repertoire of both original and cover material.
As a child, Pete discovered a need to speak out in a way that was bigger than words. Music was the answer, and at age 10 Pete Nguyen picked up the guitar and tried his best to copy what he heard on the radio. No station, no genre, no film score was safe from Pete learning it - and without the restrictions of steadily paced music lessons, he let his ear take him as far as he could go.
Eleven years later, he's still on that journey. He began tuning into the likes of John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Duncan Sheik, and Radiohead. He started to write songs. Using the generous amounts of financial aid leftover from the cheaper tuition at Cal State Fullerton, he slowly built a recording studio in his room and began recording an album. "Better Days" is his independent release, with singles 'July', 'Christmas Song', and 'Temperature' making its rounds on the live circuit as well as local Vietnamese radio.
Since the age of 16, Pete has performed live on a consistent basis at church events, coffeehouses, open mics, showcases, competitions, and concerts with and without a band, and both as a supporting instrumentalist and frontman.
At the same time, he found a way to nurture his lifelong love for film scores. He composed an entire original instrumental score for a Vietnamese Student Association Culture Night at UC Irvine, entitled 'The Dumpling Effect'. Since then, he's gone onto other scoring projects, such as composing for the local Vietnamese theatre troupe/TV variety show Club O'Noodles, and composing the score for the Vietnamese International Film Festival (ViFF) 2005 trailer.
While pursuing his two goals of becoming established as a singer/songwriter and a film score composer, he maintains a day job (a standard artist requirement) as both a payrolled and freelance web designer.
His immediate goal is to continue with his passion of performing live as much as possible in small to medium venues while writing and recording a new album.
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
Yes. Cafes, bookstores, library, clubs, outdoor malls, pretty much anywhere
Your musical influences
Jason Mraz, John Mayer, and Duncan Sheik
