Two years ago, Burnaby native Luca Fogale decided that university was no longer for him.
“It was the best decision I ever made,” Fogale said.
He was in the middle of a psychology degree at the University of British Columbia when the musician inside him kept calling.
“The decision wasn’t tough but the process was tough,” Fogale said.
Eventually Fogale decided to drop out of UBC. Although it took his parents some convincing, the singer has begun to climb his way through the heavily populated British Columbia music scene.
On Wednesday (Dec. 11), Fogale will be performing for the first time in the Harbour City at The Buzz Coffee House.
Fogale’s pathway into music began when he started studying piano at an early age. Eventually he switched to guitar and then tried singing.
“I started loving music when I started playing guitar,” he said.
The Burnaby North Secondary graduate has a broad range of influences including the likes of B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Nick Drake. Fogale said he really developed a love for folk artists such as Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
“I just fell in love with the simplicity of it and how honest it can be,” he said about folk music.
Fogale released his first EP titled Paths this past July and is currently working on a new record. He said Paths addresses his journey and struggle to find himself and his true passion.
“It’s really lyrical, with a lot of stories and a lot of questions,” Fogale said.
Fogale, a former lifeguard, explained that he enjoys watching human interaction and incorporates those interactions in his lyrics.
“In a lot of songs I’ll ask questions about the way people live their lives and explore what people do and what makes people tick,” he said.
He said he often got plenty of ideas for songs while he was guarding, but was practically helpless in being able to record those ideas.
“I’d get a good idea in my head and I’d have to try and whistle it to myself for about 15 minutes,” he said.
Earlier this year, Fogale took part in the Peak Performance project, put on by 102.7 The Peak radio station and Music B.C. The project provides up and coming musicians from across the province the opportunity to win $102,700 and other financial rewards.
“I felt like I grew immensely in that six months. It felt like 10 years because they packed so much into it,” Fogale said.
The Peak Performance project also provides young artists, such as Fogale, with valuable workshops and courses about all aspects of the professional music industry.
“That was something that was incredibly valuable because I didn’t have any idea about how the business works,” Fogale said. “I think it’s made me more savvy. You have to be your own manager and your own publicist until people want to start working with you.”
As part of the project, the Burnaby native participated in a week-long boot camp in Princeton, B.C. The camp focused heavily on the business side of the industry and covered a variety of areas such as social media use, marketing, and budgeting.
“I think I learned the most about setting realistic goals and being true to your brand and trying to figure out all the different ways you can make money, because it is kind of a business of pennies,” Fogale said. “You’re trying to make money where you can and through every stream you can.”
Fogale placed in the top 20 in the project. For his efforts, he received $3,000 as part of a business plan he had to submit while participating in Peak.
“Another thing that Peak helped with is it kind of showed people that I was taking this seriously,” he said.
For more information on Luca Fogale visit www.lucafogale.com or follow @LucaFogale on Twitter.