(Updated October 2009)

My bio was written in the 3rd person for a long time.
But really I am the "man behind the curtain" and there is nobody else doing this stuff,
so now, I give you my bio, as told by me, Vanja (sounds like Vonya) James.

I was homeschooled after grade 3, and started college at 15 (my idea!) Contrary to popular belief this allowed me many opportunities for socialization and learning I had a knack for public speaking and performing. Through Ice Skating (one of my biggest passions pre-music era) I started going to this highschool church group which had an awesome worship team. This prompted me to take classical guitar in community college, and at my mom's encouragement, singing classes and gospel choir quickly followed. During this time I also developed a fond love of electronic music (house, breakbeats, techno). By 18 I was convinced I wanted to learn how to produce and record electronic music, and actually worked a month straight as a zombie in a haunted house to pay for some gear myself. But I found the whole process of electronic gear a little daunting and with that money bought some turntables at the encouragement of a friend. This was good since I learned how to count rhythm that way (and match beats, which is fun.)

By 19 in my senior year of college, a good friend of mine showed me how to record music on my own. I was also taking this "Singing for Actor's class" (required for my Theatre major) and the teacher (Linda Vickerman is her name) put me through the ringer and had me singing double or triple duty any time we had a chance. By the end of the last class, I ended up giving this solo performance. I guess I picked a good one (A Greenday song!) since the whole room was in tears. The catharsis and captivating the audience which gave me a big  "ah ha, this is what I want to do with my life." kinda moment.

Later that Summer I recorded my 1st EP with Linda's friend (who later became my guitar teacher and chord arranging partner) David Beldock.

So I did that 7 song EP, and I also recorded an EP myself titled "Home Recordings" - which featured a bunch of tracks I recorded in my livingroom and bedroom.

I had always wanted to be in a band - I jammed with people and tried as best as I could. My friend from Myspace land named Ralph Carney invited me up to the bay area to play a show, where I met Marshall Leonardy, who coincidentally used to play bass in Divit (one of my fav. defunct punk bands.) After he heard me play, he immediately made plans for the following day to take me to a place called Red House Studios in Walnut Creek and a bunch of his friends helped me record a song. It was a fantastic day. By that time I had been played on local radio in San Diego, had played pretty much every good venue I was interested in. I fell in love with Red House and the kid/adult friendly environment it had to offer, so I moved!

Soon after though ( I think 3 weeks after the move) tragedy struck when my father suddenly passed away. It's really hard to get any work done in mourning. I shoulda moved home right then and there but stayed a few months to finish the EP I started at Red House with some new friends, then moved back home which didn't feel as much like home as it once did. I sent that EP off to a big indie exec who didn't like it....which only motivated me more....So I went straight into working hard to finish a full Album.

Finishing that album (to my super high standards....) took longer than I expected. We recorded it Sushifish Recording Studios here in San Diego. My good friend Eric Shefstad was super supportive in helping me pull together some musician friends of his like Jim Hughes, Andrew Heine, Damon De La Paz, Danny King, and Ismael Velasquez (who later became my bassist.) Through Craigslist I also met Lauren Leigh Martin, who did backing vocals for the album. Lauren pulled in Adam Barker for drums (he later became my drummer, cool!) I wanted my first album to be like a "Resume" of all the various styles of music I like to write.

In all I think we had over 25 people play on that record from 3 different cities. All within a surprisingly reasonable budget.

Probably the most crucial process was before recording started, when Jim Hughes and Andrew Heine sat down and starting asking me questions about my goals. Jim said, "how long do you want this to take?" and I said, "I just want it to sound good, I don't have that answer." all stressed-like. In a moment of Jedi-zhen, Andrew said, "So how good it sounds is more important than how long it takes."
I kept those words with me from beginning to end. Instead of focusing on time (for once!) I focused on what my ears heard, and ended up with a album that I am truly happy with...but most of all it serves as a fantastic memory of all the amazingly talented people I've met on my journey, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. And, for as "Ipod Generation" and multi-style it may be, it was met with rave reviews from not just one source, but from many sources, and its first song even got picked up by Transition Music Corporation, so you might hear it in a movie someday soon.

Post album, After searching for people to tour with both locally and afar, I decided my best bet would be to tour on my own.
Growing up doing road trips I figured, I could pretty much travel anywhere, so long as I was smart about it. I booked I think all but 1 show entirely by myself. And just to prove a point - I didn't get on the phone even ONCE to book any of those shows, nor did I send anything in the mail - it was all done exclusively by email. Sure it took 600 emails, half of which bounced back, but I did it! I played 15 states and 27 show dates in just about a month. I went up the west coast thru Oregon and Washington, back down through Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona....up to Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois...played a few Ohio dates...NYC, Virginia, Tennesee, and Texas. Tennessee was probably my favorite place to play and stole a little bit of my heart.

Since tour I've been playing shows with my band, which includes Adam, Ismael and Jason - we've been going strong for over a year now and  they are rad. I've also been mentoring a girl named Aja Alycean, who's an amazing 14 y.o. country singer. I set her up with my old guitarist (who is all of 18) named Lisa Schoberg, and they are a match made in heaven. We even got to audition in front of Randy Jackson (of American Idol) this year - it was great to team up with the kids for something so awesome!I I've also been in regular contact with people from Nashville and they're telling me I should do some showcases out there. But they also say that it would be good to spend a month there to really create a name for myself in Nashville. I've been talking with a hit songwriter from Europe named David Campell also (a lot of the records he has written on have been on the #1 billboard charts for some European countries.) , and we are set to start working together at the beginning of next year.

When it comes to doing everything yourself - I'd say that 80% of things are spent on administrative duties like phone calls, emails, creating promotional materials, booking shows, etc. While I'd love to be on a label that could maybe flip that focus so I can spend more of my time doing music, I'm pretty happy being able to have the creative freedom to make the type of music that feels right to me.

Currently I'm getting back into the game of doing more web work (I have partnered up with a great local web guy named Scott - he is AWESOME)  and I'll also be starting an all girl Beatles cover band called The Penny Lanes - with my friend Nam Chi Vu. The band is her idea (her baby!) and we started talking about it a long time ago and are now finally getting it off the ground, right in time with all of the Beatlemania that seems to be happening.

My goals are to have a new album out by June 2010 and to do another tour in May 2010.

Vanja James signing out!


OLD BIO BELOW:



Born & raised in the US, Vanja has been playing solo to local audiences since 2002, and has been a regular on radio stations since 2005. Most recently, in May-June 2009 Vanja embarked on a solo tour, which consisted of driving by herself in her SUV and playing 21 cities in 27 days (which just to be clear, included 15 states along the west/east/midwest/southern regions of the US). When asked how she did it, the answer? Completely by email. Sending out 600 or so emails to set up bookings (half of which bounced back), setting up some house shows via Craigslist, and the occasional open mic on her days off. Now no stranger to driving long distances, or couchsurfing with people she has just met (thank you CouchSurfing.org). She can currently be found working on side projects with a number of local and out-of-state musicians, mentoring some talented younger artists, and is quietly working long hours to save up for another 30 day tour, and to spend some time making waves in the songwriter scene in Nashville.

Vanja's Past:
Starting college at age 15 and graduating from with a bachelor's degree at age 19 gave her a different set of musical experiences than most.

Vanja completed her debut solo album in fall 2008 - featuring 15 songs and over 20 musicians. It was mastered by Gavin Lurssen (Grammy Award Winner for mastering the soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") and was engineered/recorded by Matt Reynolds of Sushifish Recording (San Diego, CA)

Ms. James credits myspace for bringing her close to so many talented musicians to play on the CD, such as Anton Patzner (Violinist for Bright Eyes), Ralph Carney (instrumentalist for the Black Keys/Tom Waits), and Gilbert Castellanos (Trumpet player for Diana Krall).

The core group of musicians who played on Vanja's album is a group of people she is happy to call friends. They are talented, experienced friends too! Drummers, Bassists, and Guitarists...they collectively have played with acts such as The Gift/Curse, Demasiado, Blink 182, Fenix TX, The Vandals, Steve Poltz, 30 Foot Fall, and other well-loved bands.

What people are saying:

"One of San Diego’s most beautiful, unassuming and determined musicians,
Vanja James reminds me of a stealth bomber."
- Mary Leary, San Diego Entertainer

"She comes on as a latter day Janis Joplin, belting out
the words as if there’s no tomorrow...Even in the slow or quiet songs,
there’s a force of personality evident that will blow your hair back if
you stand too close." - Jeremiah Sutherland, BullfrogMusic.com

"Vanja James could become the next big female singer/songwriter.
Her ability to succeed in a variety of styles is refreshing
and is definitely an artist to keep your eye on."
-Chris Homer (Assistant Senior Editor, MuzikReviews.com)

"While it’s the road less traveled, for musicians like Vanja James,
the quest to make their music a unique statement through arrangements
and instrumentation sets them apart in an overcrowded field. "
- Bart Mendoza, SdNews.com

"You won't be unsigned long. This is good music."
- Skip Ogden (The Acoustic Network, Wilmington NC

"You rock -- you rock -- you rock."
-Adam Levy (Guitarist for Norah Jones)

"Vanja has a great voice - no arguing that - she would emote to the max,
booming her beautiful voice to the people sitting on the tables near the stage.
I did like her song called “August”, which had a guitar sound that reminded
me of those early Billy Bragg records. "
- Greg, Melodygeek.com

We really loved your music and your voice."
- Tom Pearce (Pro-demo.com)

"All I can say about your music is WOW what
a great sound I would be blessed to play your
music on gatorbroadcasting - personally I like the song
"To The Man" but then again, I like most of the cd!"
- Scott Beaty (Gatorbroadcasting.com)

"I like the vibe. Good stuff."
- C.C. Chapman (Accident Hash Podcast, Boston Mass)

"I really like what I heard - we'd love to play your music."
- John O'Day (WCH Radio, St. Louis Missouri)

"Very Nice! Powerful and polished!"
- Lee Widener (NeverEndingWonder Radio, Portland OR)

"Very impressive. I heard the music - loved it
and you have a sense of humour, love that too :)"
- Dan Cortese Entertainment (Ontario Canada)

"You are one Dynamite Singer/Songwriter!"
- John Frank (Singer/Songwriter, Las Vegas NV)

"Your album sounds amazing Vanja!
And your cupcakes arent too shabby either!"
- Demasiado (Band from San Diego, CA)

"Love your voice! your sound is great.
A thousand thank yous for the music - it makes me smile big time."
Alden (Salt Lake City, UT)

"Vanja James? More like Coolja James or perhaps
Radja James. Maybe even Awesomeja James.
Thank you for what you do in music! National Noise
wants to play some tunes from a Vanja James album SOON!!!"
-Jason Gears (National Noise Podcast)

"Holy crap... I just watched the "War song" on Mookie's site.
Jeez... I predict big things for you. Gotta go see ya live!"
-Marco Collins (91x fm, San Diego)

"You sing as if jesus was mad at the world
and wanted to punch a f*cker in the face.
god bless it."
- Aaron S., The Attacks

"Do you miss the Lilith Fair? Vanja James would be playing the opening slot on the side stage if it were still 1998. The only distinguishing characteristics are the lyrics, which sound like excerpts from Sarah McLachlan’s 11th-grade diary. MS/vanjajames."
—Todd Kroviak, San Diego Citybeat

"Vanja James could become the next big female singer/songwriter. Her self-released, self-titled debut album is a powerful composition of pop-rock and indie ballads that are instantly pleasing. James’ powerful vocals are backed beautifully by a diverse cast of musicians on her promising debut.
The album opens with the fast-paced, acoustic guitar driven pop-rock of “On Your Own.” The song has a simple, but fun pop rhythm. It has a stripped down sound that really allows James’ vocals to come through. James has a voice that will remind of you of other singers like Sara Bareilles or Alicia Keys.
“Craptastic” and “The Bayou” share the same light-hearted, fun pop-rock sound that “On Your Own” has. These songs would be right at home on pop radio.
While James can definitely write a successful pop song, she also shows a great deal of diversity on the album.
“August” is a fantastic indie rock song that plays with Appalachian melodies on harmonica. It’s definitely a uniquely composed song that later cuts loose with a horn line. Likewise, “Mouthful” shares the same country-rock feel as “August” by using smartly crafted slide guitar.
At other points on the album, James writes heart breaking songs like “To The Man” and “Beautiful Mess” that use delicate arrangements of guitar, strings and piano. On these songs, James establishes herself as a fantastic singer and truly shows how promising she is.
James continues to surprise you with diverse songs throughout her album. The piano filled, jazz influenced “Deal With The Devil” sounds unlike any other song on the CD. However, James sounds right in her comfort zone with the song.
Late in the album, James even proves she can do straight-up, electric guitar fueled rock with “War Song.”
Vanja James delivers an incredibly talented debut. Her ability to succeed in a variety of styles is refreshing. James is definitely an artist to keep your eye on. "

 - MuzikReviews.com Assistant Senior Editor-Chris Homer

"There is no shortage of local performers who fall into the category of singer-songwriter, but there are precious few who work to subvert the genre.

With much of the singer-songwriter boom coming in the wake of Jewel’s mid-90s success, it’s easy to see why so many artists rely on the simple guitar and vocals mix to get their message across. And yet, it’s artists who push musical boundaries that keep this music interesting.

While it’s the road less traveled, for musicians like Vanja James, the quest to make their music a unique statement through arrangements and instrumentation sets them apart in an overcrowded field. "
- Bart Mendoza, SdNews.com