Pop singer-songwriter Derik Baker, who performs under the name Virginia To Vegas, came to Carleton to kick off the school year as the headliner for the annual Frosh concert. The Guelph native originally started his musical project for a college class, but it has since taken off. His music has had millions of plays and he has been nominated for a Juno.
The Charlatan caught up with him backstage before his exciting performance.
The Charlatan (TC): How did the project of Virginia To Vegas start?
Derik Baker (DB): When I was in college, it was a school project. I was in a business class and we had to design a business, and my goal was to create a YouTube channel that would garner the attention of the Canadian music industry. It was something I started, and I shot cover music videos, and we got a record deal shortly after.
TC: How did you come up with that name?
DB: I was born in Richmond, Virginia. It started as a duo, and the other guy that was in the band, he was from Vegas, and we met in Toronto, so it was Virginia, Toronto, Vegas.
TC: How would you describe the Virginia To Vegas sound?
DB: Some described it perfectly on Instagram. This isn’t my explanation, but this is how someone described it yesterday: “I wish there was a name for the type of song that was catchy, upbeat and worth dancing to, but also bittersweet and tingled with an unexplainable sadness…” Someone was like, “For me, that’s every Virginia To Vegas song.”
TC: What are some of your influences for this type of music?
DB: I try to write stories. I think that most of the songs have a bit of a true story in it. And then the influences come from all over the place. We have a new single coming out, it’s called “Better Man,” and the chorus is kind of country, and the progression is kind of like (French indie pop band) Phoenix, so I like dance music, indie rock. For me, whatever is a good song is a good song.
TC: In the years since you started this project, what have been some of the best parts of it?
DB: It’s really funny. Being in the music industry, it has its ups and downs. I think the best part being able to go out and play, and meet fans, and get new fans, and release new music. Someone described it to me the other day: the beauty of making music is not releasing it, it’s not giving it away, it’s the actual making of it because that’s when you’re actually inspired.
TC: You put out an EP this year. What was it like putting that out?
DB: There’s probably like 150 songs just laying around from when I moved to [Los Angeles]. I was just writing every day. So those were like three (actually six) that I thought fit really well together, I think there’s a bunch more music about to come out soon. It was a cool process though. I called the album Heartland Street because that was the street I was living on. It was an emotional process. I was leaving L.A. when I put that EP out. It was bittersweet.
TC: How do you think your fans responded to that new EP this year?
DB: I think like overwhelming pretty well. “Just Friends” has been our strongest release so far. It’s been pretty epic.
TC: Are a lot of your songs about personal experiences?
DB: Yeah, I think most songs that most people enjoy, the reason why people enjoy them is because there’s a level of authenticity to them. Most of them come from snippets of true stories.
TC: What’s next for you?
DB: We have a bunch of new music coming out before the end of the year, and then we’re about to do a tour. This is kind of kicking it off. We’re going on tour for the next three or four weeks, and then we’ll take a little bit of time off, and then hit back again in January.
TC: Anything else you want to add?
DB: I’ve actually never been to Carleton, so it’s nice to be here!
Feature image by Jeff Pelletier.
