Victor Sanz
(Q)- Is there an untapped audience out there that is yet to be reached with the message of what a country song is or isn’t under the new definition and the reinvention of the genre?
Victor Sanz (VS)- Yes there is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31fJdcrJ-pI
(Q)- Then the most difficult aspect is or at least one of the most difficult aspects to this is, getting the message of what a new country sound song is al about out to the people via radio or alternative methods?
(VS)- (laughs) You know exactly how I feel inside. (he laughs again) Everything you’re saying is truly the truth. You’re saying what I’ve been telling people for quite some time now. There’s fans who really want to hear this kind of music and there’s people who want to hear this kind of music and aren’t really ‘country’ fans. The hardest thing is getting the music to the people in the major markets is tough. I think what they mean in this business by “working harder” is by making new contacts. I mean the hardest part is getting people to hear the record. If they don’t hear it then they don’t know how good it is. So we have to work really hard to make sure that they listen to it.
(Q)- What is the hope you hold dear in regards to your debut album?
(VS)- I hope this record does very well. I think it has the potential to break me into the country music genre on a national level. And it has done that. I see our next single “Destination Unknown” with the video on CMT and GAC adding it already is a big plus for us. That’s making a big difference for us because people are seeing the video and calling the radio stations saying, “Hey I seen this guy on CMT, I want to hear that song on the radio’. So the video has really helped us to gain more stations nationwide. For that to happen, that was pretty good. So my hopes for myself as far as country music goes, is to be around for a long, long time. My ultimate goal is to be in the Hall Of Fame. I know that’s a tough goal, but you never know what’s going to happen.
(Q)- You’re probably the most under-stated artist to have a single on the charts currently, mainly because you’re on an independent record label. Yet in a way that’s good, because you’re letting your music do the talking and that is truly rare right now. There’s so much shouting about how great everybody is and most of the artists are coming off like the jokers that they are.
(VS)- (laughs). You’ve got that right. I personally am not out there waving a flag shouting,’Hey, look at me, look at me!’ I just do what I do. I feel like I know what country music is all about because of where I grew up (small farming community in Wasco, California.). I have seen Buck (Owens) constantly playing and I’ve opened for Merle (Haggard) for several shows and I know him. Now I don’t know him real well, but I’ve talked to him and I know him from those times when we met. I’ve got to speak with merle plenty of times and I’ve seen his shows a million times. So me being from here. Traditional country influences are embedded in me. It’s there. There’s nothing that can take it out of me. Of course with country radio, there’s a lot of different types of country music being played on radio and I kind of like it, there’s nothing wrong with different songs. But with my vocals when I project a song, it comes across as more traditional country. Growing up the way I did (IN rural America.) I guess that influence is just there. And, that’s what you here. It’s undeniable, I guess when you here it. I think the Bakersfield sound definitely has to be there in my vocals as well as George Strait, because I grew u listening to George Strait. He’s been a huge influence on me.
(Q)- Did Merle offer any encouragement?
(VS)- He said, “Keep going. If it’s your dream, don’t give it up. That was in 1997. Those were encouraging words. It was saying to me, ‘Look you have a dream and I can tell it’s burning inside of you, so go after it.’
(Q)- What have you learned since your single has charted and you’ve begun getting some radio airplay.
(VS)- I’ll tell you what. When you’re first getting started, you can forget what’s really important and that’s the music. I mean when you’re record is first coming out, you’re so busy doing so much that it’s easy to forget that it’s all about a song. To me, the song represents everything.
(Q)- You played baseball and did quite well. The current environment is intensely competitive right now within the national country music genre. Do you as an athlete enjoy the competitive side of the business?
(VS)- I’ll tell you what, they’re really both kind of the same. When you take in sports the fact that you’re always taking risk. And in the music business, you’re always taking big risks. Like in baseball, risk when I was playing the game was like when you take the first pitch, instead of waiting for that good pitch. Because you know pretty much the first pitch is going to come right down the middle. And that’s a risk you’re taking because you’re saying to yourself,’ Hey, I’m going to knock the cover off of the ball on this first pitch because it’ll be right down the middle.’ And that’s a risk you take. In baseball, you risk stealing second base. When you’re young and first starting out in baseball, you’re thinking, ‘Man can I do it? Can I steal second base? Can I get there in time?’ When you’re that young and all of these things are going through your head all of those times when you’re playing the game, you’re learning to take little risks at each step of the way.
(Q)- Now the parallel is with your music you’ve thrown the first pitch straight down he middle. There’s no curve balls here. You’re up front and throwing the ball hard too radio on you’re first single.
(VS)- When we did this record we didn’t try to throw anybody any curves, we just went in there(the recording studio) and we did what we thought was a really good record. And the way I feel about this first album is, like when you do hit that first pitch right down the middle and you make good contact with the ball, you don’t know where it’s going exactly, but you know that you’ve hit the ball hard and you take off running. You don’t know where you’re going to end up. You might end up at first, second or third, you might even hit a home run you know? But the one thing that is for sure is that you’re running your tail off around those bases. That’s the way I approached this record.
(Q)- will you please give me some facts in regards to your career as a baseball player?
(VS)- I played on the Toronto Blue Jay team that was sponsored by the Toronto Blue Jays. That was actually in the San Jaquin valley (In California). I played for them from my freshman year to my sophomore year in college. I graduated from high school, I didn’t graduate from college. When I graduated from high school, I felt like I had the talent to do real well in professional baseball, but music was really influencing. I was dating my wife at the time (Josi) and we grew up together and we went to college together so I decided to get married (he laughs). So baseball kind of took a back seat and my marriage and music came to the forefront.
When I’d graduated from high school I really started also pursuing country music in addition to my career as a baseball player. In 1992, I really started to heart and souls pursue country music. I was married and my wife knew that I’d wanted all along to sing country music but she never really realized that I’d take it as far as I eventually have. But once she saw that I was really serious about it, she got behind me one hundred percent. Then I had a band I called prairie thunder in 1993 and into 1994. We had a big following around the Bakersfield area. Boy we thought that that band was going to be our ticket (to stardom).
We thought that we were going to really do bigger and better things in country music. Well, here it turns out three maybe four years later, we look around and while we’ve done well, we’re still at the same place as that we started. So everybody decided to call it quits, but I didn’t want to call it quits. I thought,’ Man this is in my blood. I want to do this’ So what I did was I started honing in my skills at writing songs and I got vocal training to better myself and to make sure whenever I did my record, there’d be no flaws and it’d be my best.
(Q)- Do you foresee traditional country making a strong comeback at country radio?
(VS)- I do see that, but the Faith Hill’s and Shania Twain’s there’s an audience for. So it’ll always be around. The more pop sounding country will always be around. I was listening to Loretta Lynn the other day on the radio and she was saying,’ Patsy Cline was pretty much pop, back in the day.’
(Q)- Do you see a re-definition of what a country song is and whom country fans are going on right now Victor?
(VS)- Yes I do. However I think that there’s room for everything.(both country and pop sounds). But here will always be room for George Strait. There’s always going to e that traditional type of country music. So as long as people are buying those records that (traditional) country music is going to be there.