Warmer Sucks: An Interview With Vlad Stoian

Vlad Stoian is really awesome.

Seen here…

He’s one of those rare people who seem to live by their passion, which I think is why I quickly connected to what he does and who he is. Where many people seem maybe terrified of intense emotional expression, good or bad, real or imagined, lest someone were to judge them harshly and unfavorably, Vlad… is not. That’s one of the things that makes him very special and relatable for me in the world today.

His blog, Warmer-Climes, is iconic, a shared/collective and highly personal journal, offering musicians a place to share pieces of their souls with the world and with each other in the form of mixtapes; a track list of 10 or more songs are put together by the artist that have great personal meaning to them. These are shared, along with comments about why the songs are so important, memories related to hearing it, of loves and loss and forgotten times. Interspersed are the stylized images that Vlad creates for the artist. The website has its own aesthetic, very calm and bright… a mood of sea breezes and tumblr art/photography lifestyle chic.

It’s my weird opinion that everyone should do a Warmer-Climes mixtape… so if you’re a musician and haven’t already done one already, you totally should send one in!

Because of the coolness of the blog and the numerous questions I had burning inside, I decided to take a metaphysical journey to București, Romania to visit with Vlad!

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Welcome to another installment of Why I’m Not An Animator!

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Alex: I saw you post about this a bit, but I wanted to know, what are your thoughts about music streaming?

Vlad: I think Music Streaming is the Future. Time is precious, nobody sane cares anymore about collecting digital tunes so much. I did that extensively before and you remain with this bitter taste… THERE’S ALWAYS MORE. No matter how much you organize, there’s tons of albums released weekly. Of course, I have my very favorites and it’s good to have them stored somewhere close, away from the Internet vs. offline issue… But all in all, Life will be much easier in a system where platforms like Soundcloud and Bandcamp are primary. It’s necessary, pure and simple. I would almost force all musicians to upload their entire catalogues to Bandcamp and Soundcloud and anything with free streaming. I’m anti-Spotify and paid-streaming and paid-anything about Music online. It sounds terrible and redundant for the Music Industry, but there must be new ways invented for musicians to survive besides PAY TO HEAR ME ONLINE. One of the main reasons I love Bandcamp is the NAME YOUR PRICE option. If you truly, insanely believe in that respective artist and you want to literally support their efforts with cash – you can do it. If you don’t have the income to make such payments – that shouldn’t mean you’re not allowed to hear the songs. I’m simply anti restrictions and I believe in a world that makes profit from Freedom and people feeling nice and OK all the time. I’m in an Amanda Palmer/Thom Yorke state of mind about the whole thing. But, staying with Amanda in the end: “I firmly believe in Music being as free as possible. Unlocked. Shared and spread. I believe that in order for artists to survive and create, their audiences need to step up and directly support them. Honor system. No judgment. If you’re broke – take it. If you love it, come back and kick in later when you have the money. If you’re rich, think about who you might be karmically covering if you really love this record. Once you have it, SHARE SHARE SHARE! COPY COPY COPY! SPREAD THE EVIL!!! We are the Media.”

Alex: On the subject of how the arts should be supported, it’s a topic I’ve had a LOT of mixed feelings about. I think you’re accurate, and it makes me think and re-analyze things. I despise the industry, but hate how so many really talented musicians can’t even afford bread. There was a period of time in which I thought that maybe things would be better if musicians were all subsidized, haha… but I neither think that would be possible or desirable. Musicians, like all artists, are spending large parts of their lives creating something for the world to enjoy, and I’ve always felt music is best shared freely. Maybe its just that the world at large (and not just radical music-obsessed people, really all people) need to have more of a feeling of obligation to artists who’ve created things of appreciative value and beauty and given so freely of themselves, to ensure these artists can live freely to continue sharing, not be put in too bad of a life situation that would make it difficult for them to continue making art.

Vlad: I agree. It’s such a fog, controlled by big cats sucking all the money while others don’t have clean water to drink, as I posted yesterday. It’s such a fucking sad circus, I know I’m a loser, yet my dreams are bigger than myself. I’ve “wasted” the past 4 years compulsively spreading love with this blog because I truly believe it can change SOMETHING IN SOMEONE and people don’t forget. People never forget how you made them feel.

Alex: Also, you’ve curated some really nice music through Warmer-Climes, I was checking out your bandcamp earlier! Do you see Warmer-Climes becoming it’s own kind of label, or maybe mutating in some other way into something more than what it is today?

Vlad: I think I am my very own kind of label already, exposing all these very different styles and kinds of musicians in one place in the way I do. But here I am, being the subject and irony of my own declarations: I am broke & jobless, I’m making no money with this blog and I’m very sad inside and without direction in that sense. Warmer Climes will mutate into something more at some point, maybe bringing back to life a section I shortly kept in 2010 called FACTS & FIGURES where I asked tricky questions to people from all forms of Art and expected tricky answers. A more Q&A side of Warmer, also allowing me to include more diverse kinds of creatives: producers, writers, managers, PR agents, painters, dancers, photographers, etc. It can surely expand, become more and more alive. But that requires extra free time that I don’t have. We’ll see about that. For now – I’m way too busy with filtering and finally publishing hundreds of mixtapes left behind since 2011, simply because the effort of staying informed – inviting new bands – keeping the thing alive… Takes way too much and I’ve gotten behind. I am often revolted with people not bothering to see the true meaning of these top 10 essays I’m creating, a lot of times being interpreted as another top 10 boring lister. I think the originality appears between the lines, in the way I present the features, in the way I insist the musicians open their hearts in these very personal manners… To me it tastes like uniqueness. To be there to explore their very naked sensibility and find something completely new about their lives behind the sounds… My blog is about revealing who’s behind music projects. That’s the purpose of my series. I did a few faceless/nameless features and it felt like crap. I don’t like mystery at this level. I believe mystery should stay in sounds alone. I’m not into masks, darkness or people using nicknames instead of real names. I’m about accurate information. I’m not Interpol, I’m just a man who wants to offer something nobody gives a fly about anyway: CLARITY. The format I follow is REAL PERSON > REAL NAME > REAL FACE > REAL FEELINGS > NAKEDNESS, TRANSPARENCY, HONESTY > REAL MUSIC > REAL EFFECT > SOMETHING TO LEARN FOR ALL OF US > A SENTIMENT OF FRIENDSHIP AND CLOSENESS CREATED. Lots of them refuse to reveal their wholeness, preferring to live like another Burial or Daft Punk… Even Burial posted selfies at the end of January this year… I simply don’t like the MASKFUL thing. It’s not exciting or mysterious or full of wild symbols at all in my eyes. To put it super superficially, it feels like “stupid people covering their faces because they’re afraid of something/or wants to hide something miserable”… I can’t deal with that. I’m gay and hiding stuff/hiding your true identity is something I can’t simply take. I come from a place where FREEDOM AND OPEN-NESS AND THE CAPACITY TO BE YOU: YOU, THE REAL YOU are all essentials of Harmony. To me, showing your physical body is part of having the power to expose your wholeness on whole levels. Of course the real truth of WHO WE ACTUALLY ARE stays captured in our hearts, in our veins and in our dreams… But to me, it is generally an act of Transparency and Friendshipness to expose your body at the same time with your spirit. I cherish that, I need that, and it’s what I’m fighting to offer with Warmer Climes. So… It’s an insane process, to constantly ask musicians to exclusively write about their favorite sounds connected to intimate experiences from their lives. Many people criticize the lack of links to YouTube and ways to easily play & listen to the selections the artists made and wrote about. But, to me, Warmer Climes never was about direct links. I started this in 2009 to function as an invitation to self-research. People can use Google and find all those platforms where they can hear the Music, read the information, bios, discography, stories and everything. Learn something totally new about themselves in a very original road-creating ritual.

Alex: I think you’re correct about having no links to the music on the mixtapes. I think it promotes everyone’s imaginations, keeps people from clicking away when really the whole point is that someone’s sharing their heart with you.

Vlad: Warmer Climes is a Window. Where you’re going – it’s totally your choice. Maybe you know many of the songs in a list, maybe you don’t want to hear them all, and if you do want that… You can create a playlist somewhere! You can feel something new by moving your own hands, getting involved, feeling like a part of something… in a way, I don’t like the Fact mixes series, for example. They rarely post the tracklists, names of tracks… And it makes me feel like I have no importance or way to connect to that… I’ve delayed more than 1000 interviews since March 2011, when I lost my last proper paid job. It’s a huge, very huge responsibility and I’m not having fun leaving them on hold. It’s tough work and requires tons of sparks and energy from my heart and soul. The original artworks – personalized for each artist… And the chemistry itself… It takes TIME to really FORM. Everything feels like a song in my head. WHO AM I KIDDING! YOU, YOURSELF, ARE ARTISTS… YOU KNOW HOW MAD IT CAN GO… I’ve slowly lost interest, to be sincere, in keeping this dream of mine alive, since 3 springs ago… I’m sick of rejection from some superficial musicians, lack of replies, homophobe managers, retarded lazy PR’s and so on… AN EXAMPLE, FROM DAYS AGO… THEIR CREEPY REASONS FOR REFUSING TO LET THEIR ARTISTS JOIN WARMER CLIMES: “I don’t mean to be rude or insulting in any way. My response given was prompted purely by the stylistic choice of writing from your email. The reason we have decided to pass is based on your blog not fitting aesthetically for us.” ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?… I’ve become very lonely in this process. And I live with mom and grandma. And I make no money. I’m broke officially since March 2011. And, unofficially, since September 2012 when some friends stopped using my PR services. I’ve been a radio host / dj for national (now defunct) Guerrilla Radio, also Radio France Internationale and such… an Editor for important Romanian Music Magazines also… Worked first 4 months in 2010 for Vice Romania. But now I’m fucked. I just turned 27 this past November. Mom is the only one working in this house, with a real day-job. I feel humiliated and very unstable and stupid and retarded. When I try to get a job, they never call back. I tried in June, July of last year. More recently: This March… Same freaking numbness. Almost nobody understands what I’m doing. I try to prove them all wrong. But the process is very lonely and alienating when you don’t make money and you can’t sustain yourself in this REAL BATTLE. Sometimes I am pretty close to giving up. Because… Even if its the best thing I’ve ever done… This blog starts, day by day, to suck away the few good parts left in me and leaves me with NOTHING instead. I started it hoping it would lead me somewhere. That I’d figure out a way to survive while doing it. I’m stupid. And naive. Real life is a nightmare. Combined with me being gay and into straight dudes, joblessness, on an economical fucked up scene like Romania’s… I’m close to make a big mistake and give up this existence. I don’t do drugs, I don’t go out much since I’m cashless, I don’t have a boyfriend. It’s mental illness. Pure madness. Since August 2012, for the horror to be complete… I’m dealing also with pains on the back of my neck… My neck muscles are forever tense from too much constant stress in front of the computer. I went to the doctor only in March 2013 and going nuts because I didn’t respond so well to the supposedly anti-inflamatory treatment. I still feel exhaustion and pain in my entire body. Anyway… And I don’t know why I’m doing it since there’s nothing decent in it for me. I basically promote everybody for nothing. And all I get is nice words. Which can be fulfilling for a while. But not when you start having fights with your mom at 6am in the morning. When she’s leaving for work and you discover yourself pretty fucking unable and ossified in something that pretty much destroys you. It’s still… In many, many, different ways… The best thing in the World! THE JOURNEY JUST BEGUN style. I just… Never wanted to rush anything about it. This is about being super opened and sincere and transparent and dreamy. LIKE NEVER BEFORE. Of course it requires time. I am here, slowly trying til… Probably SPRING 2015 to post all the content I’ve ignored for way too long. I’m just… Mentally and soulfully unstable and everything feels like a huge never-ending chaos in my whole real life. Yeah, SELF PITY… I’m doing my best to move on and grow some new balls… Madly hard when you’re jobless in a very difficult economical circus… I try. But most of the times it feels senseless lately. And I’m so pretty sure the healing will come only from inside. There’s no one out there with special-instant solutions. …At least so far!

Alex: What are your dreams for music, how would you like the entirety of the music world to change if you could alter anything about it and how it currently works?

Vlad: I’m very against everything that doesn’t include me, naturally. I deal with a lot of rejection and skepticism from managers, PR agents and musicians themselves, because lots of them generally CAN’T MANAGE TO BELIEVE THAT I’M FOR REAL, that THIS IS HAPPENING, GENUINELY. Even fighting with that, in the past four years, 1100+ artists contributed exclusively for WARMER CLIMES, including: Franz Ferdinand, Digitalism, Xiu Xiu, Christ. (of Boards Of Canada), Gotye, Iggy Azalea, Bondax, Memory Tapes, Supergrass, The Cinematic Orchestra, Gabriella Cilmi, Nathan Fake, The Wombats, Yelle, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Drums, Munk, Clock Opera, Louis La Roche… I’m completely humbled and honoured and extra excited by only thinking of their gesture to give me their hand and add their effort to my dream. THAT IS RARE. THAT IS WHY I’M STILL DOING THIS, AGAINST ALL ODDS. I wish the Music World would be MORE OPEN and MORE SINCERE. More tolerant. More ready to help. Many Music celebrities have secured their doors way too ridiculously. Like… I don’t want to be you or in your circle of friends, you know… I just want a bite of your cookie. I want to express my love for your Music and the fact that I have ears to enjoy you. I want to make a mark of feeling you. And WARMER CLIMES is my weapon of creating Magicness. You – not replying, you – not contributing, you – not being a part. Hurts a lot. To me it is a great deal to have them all, editing, with their own hands, their own essays about Life and Music they love. It’s a chance to know them better and for 20 minutes – to feel closer, like friends. It simply matters to me and I believe it can change perspective on the whole planet on many levels. I understand busy-ness, inner ambitions, maybe you feel too important to participate in the flight lesson of a such a small spaceship… There are no time limits from my side. I always invite them to feel free and do this when they can, how they can. The only “rules” are… Write about AT LEAST 10 songs and come with an open heart and with a clear face picture of who you are, physically and spiritually. So my call for MUSIC INDUSTRY, MUSICIANS, MANAGEMENTS & PR agents is… STOP LIVING IN YOUR CASTLE ONLY! Open the doors and windows of your palace from time to time, at least for invitations like mine! It could change something important in someone on this planet, it could be the start of a new Vision that will make this World WARMER & BETTER. I want people to check their inboxes more often and reply to kind invitations to be together. Even with a NO! In that way I’ll know at least that they checked my letter form and decided something, anything. What I’d change about Music World: The Unresponsiveness and Intolerance and Ignorance. Too many treat this medium as their own property, their own empire. And MUSIC is OUR EMPIRE. I don’t want to give names and make it personal, but too many have tailored this perfect/untouchable so-called “career” with cute nice little albums and live at Letterman performances and then they act so shitty behind the scenes, with people like me who invite them to exercise TOGETHERNESS more often. It just breaks me to see their silent, unmotivated “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK”s. It should be about something more than Coachella, Pitchfork, NME & Rolling Stone. It should be about giving a fuck when you can. And if you can’t or you don’t want to… At least hire someone elegant enough to motivate that coherently. Long vomit short: I want open ways to talk to anyone in Music World, no matter how celeb or unknown. I want limitlessness. Many asks me: Why me? Your invitation email looks way too general… Are you spam or are you for real?… Etc., etc., etc. And to that I answer exactly like above: I DON’T WANT LIMITS. I HATE LIMITS. I WANT NEW COMERS IN THE SAME PLACE WITH SUPERSTARS. We all have precious stories to tell. I plan to explore that as long as I’m alive and Google will keep Blogspot online. Ha! About that – I should start creating a back up with all episodes and collect them in some folders for a future book, when I get rich and calmer. And how will I get rich, haha: Many suggested I should open a PayPal “DONATE HERE IF YOU LOVE WARMER CLIMES” button. But that requires a bank account and some initial cash to keep the thing alive, cash I don’t have right now. Maybe in the future. But I would very much love some ads from cool products, I expect amazing brands to make me an offer so I can post their banners and create a way to stay alive with that. I get thousands of unique visitors monthly. It’s a shame I didn’t find a way to make money online yet, because I’m honestly too dumb and too poor to start something. All in all: Same as I think about Music Streaming – I would hate a world where people are forced to pay for things they don’t necessarily like. So I would love people to pay for WARMER CLIMES and support me to keep it alive ONLY IF THEY FEEL THE SPARKS AND THE MEANINGS behind… Who knows… In the meantime: I try my bad luck with finding a 9-5 job. And I fail graciously. They act so smiley and nice at the interviews and then they never call. You see: World is a complicated web of lies and survival techniques that I will always refuse to properly learn. And in the end, it disarms me when I realize that many of the admirers of my work live in civilized Western Europe or USA. While Eastern Europe and especially Romania experiences the most miserable economic context I’m aware about. Mom works as an economist in Train industries for 230 euro monthly. I’m jobless. Imagine that. Internet, food, dreams… I heard last week a friend who moved to Ireland and was so upset he used 200 euros to pay a whore and cancelled the buying of a sporty pair of shoes for the same amount. You see, people don’t understand contexts, reasons behind, why this blog is so important to me and why I can’t move or why I don’t act and think differently. Many advise me to leave for London or Italy or Berlin, but they forget how much more expensive life is there and I have no one to ask at home – “please, help me with some new cash, i’m having a problem”. I’ve sacrificed everything. And now it leaves me with a very bitter taste in my mouth… I plan to fight and keep on. And learn more about how this world is never about helping each other. Many tells me: “Wake up, its a shitty world, we all have your problems!” Well, then why the fuck I’m feeling like I’m “the only gay in the village”…

Alex: It’s all so relevant to today’s world, filled with so many people trying to figure out where in all of this mess they belong.

Vlad: I believe in my shit and I keep talking about my issues, not because it’s so fucking cute to complain all the time but because IM NOT HAPPY AND I NEED TO SPIT THE SHIT OUT AS IT COMES and maybe someone will hear it and give a shit for real and will change something, somewhere if they can relate. Even the shitty attitude… “LOOK MAN, ALL THE WORLD HAS YOUR PROBLEMS”… it feels like the shittiest thing ever!

Alex: I think one of the major problems is that so many people are caught asking why things can’t just work the way they ought to, but it’s that things are all crazy and we’ve all got to make the change however we can. I feel like you’re a part of the solution.

Vlad: Instead of acting like… HOW CAN I HELP YOU? People so fucking ADORE seeing you in shit and say, fuck you, die in shit, why would I prefer you in a better state? That old saying is still very true “THEY LOVE TO SEE YOU DOING GOOD, BUT NEVER BETTER THAN THEM”. Thanks for seeing sparks in what I’m fucking trying, I’m honestly and intuitively moving to what it could become… but I have no idea what I’m doing and I guess that’s the magic part.

Alex: Yeah, no one knows, it’s like, maybe you will be able to see it years later in retrospect, but probably not even then, it will take someone else looking and feeling you. 😀 My last thing is, if you wouldn’t mind… could you give us a list in the style of your Warmer-Climes mixtapes of ten or more tracks you’re all about for now and forever?

Vlad: In a sense, the whole WARMER CLIMES blog is my “top 10 essay”. It represents all my fantasies and all my desires to be free, limitless, always above… There are small pieces of me in every single episode I presented since I started, back on August 9, 2009. If you want a very close to my heart top 10 that will always represent me… It would probably be like this one below…

1. Björk | It’s In Our Hands
I got my first Internet (Dial-Up) connection in December 2002. First three songs I ever downloaded myself were Interpol – PDA, Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know and Björk – Mother Heroic. To me, everything started with Björk, Alanis and Richard Ashcroft of The Verve. It’s In Our Hands and Who Is It are closest to my heart in terms of originality/creativity and Soulfulness. Björk is The Queen of Sound, even my email contact ID on Yahoo is bjorker.bjorker, so you can imagine what kind of a fanboy I am. I just feed myself with her productions every time my life feels Miserable: AKA Every single day since 2008. When the slow but Nightmarish process of losing day jobs caused by recession, losing Faith in people/friends, realizing my real place in the World sort of started… Björk reminds me of my core, of my plans, of my powers, that It Still Is In Our Hands and that we can do it if we keep believing insanely enough. She is the version of Wilderness my heart cherishes the most. I’m a lot like Björk inside.

2. Alanis Morissette | Out Is Through
Alanis is my female version. My sister, my second mother, my real friend. The philosophies in her lyrics feels like the blueprint of all Rages and Sadnesses in my veins. She keeps me Calm and Angry in ways I can’t explain. Mainly I learned to feel OK with who I am and never be afraid. The only way out is through and here I am, learning to fight daily, better and better, more triumphant and reassured. She is one of the few confirmations that I’m not that alien on this Earth and maybe one day I’ll find LOVE, PATIENCE, SAFENESS, THAT EMBRACE WHICH WILL GENUINELY CONFIRM ME AND MAKE ME FEEL KEPT. I’m less afraid of myself and my feelings thanks to her, and I can love her enough for being my only friend in the solitude that means creating Warmer Climes and ultimately MYSELF. She makes me want to save somebody.

3. Richard Ashcroft | Make A Wish
Richard and The Verve were my first Let’s Wiki This Band group. I’d been fascinated with Bitter Sweet Symphony and felt like my dreams live in his voice. It never was about Urban Hymns, I felt like I wanted to know him much better, and one hit album wasn’t enough. Years of research and collecting all his musical activity, both solo and with bands… 2001, 9th grade, the start of me collecting articles from magazines, buying DVDs with Verve’s videos, being completely nuts in Internet Cafe’s about finding more. You know those first feelings of NEWNESS when you experience something for the first time. For me it was being completely Sucked In on Verve’s, Alanis’, Björk’s sites. Collecting all picture albums possible, trying to be as informed as I could possibly be… I remember to be Crazy and Alive when I play him. He has the kind of masculine balls I adore in a dude. Richard Ashcroft is the symbol of cool Masculinity in my book. I’d marry him, but he’s already taken, and with two sweet boys by that splendid woman formerly in Spiritualized. His lyrics pretty much perfectly represent my WARMER CLIMES concept and Life philosophy… “This world is so full of people, they’re just masquerading I wanna know the real you not the mask you have been wearing”

4. Shout Out Louds | Very Loud
It was fall 2005. I’d call it The Start Of Lying While Living In The Capital And Being The Student I Never Envisioned. I managed to get my first and only girlfriend (!) in that terrible College of the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest. And we spent 2 years together til summer 2007. It felt awful because I was pretending the whole time, dreaming about blonde Scandinavian dudes at every step. I functioned with her, but it was only because I needed a safe spot of Intimacy in her apartment, away from the World and my homophobic family. I was a moron in that sense, but I was afraid and felt helpless. It was the necessary evil. Before going to College, in Summer 2005, there was this Jay Leno Show episode airing on TV with Shout Out Louds performing The Comeback live. I was amazed by how Cool they sounded and I wanted to know everything about them. My old computer bought in 2000 died that spring and I felt unable in all senses… I needed to wait til October, when School started, so I was finally able to search and listen to everything by SHOUT OUT LOUDS. You see I keep spreading these SEAGULLS in every of my artworks for WARMER CLIMES… It’s all inspired and taken from their debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, from where you can listen to this very magical song called Very Loud. I want my dreams and WARMER CLIMES to be felt and heard VERY LOUD on the whole planet and rest of The Universe (Thank you, Neil deGrasse Tyson!).

5. Boat Club | Warmer Climes
Yeah. It’s an essential in all ways. Sometime in Summer 2007 I managed to reveal to my girl the insane truth of me being into straight guys and that I’d been dreaming of David Hasselhoffs on the beach… That season, I must mention, I spent the whole 3 months on Mangalia Beach at our very own The Black Sea, working as a DJ for Radio France Internationale. Later that year, in September, started my first job as a radio host for Total Radio, airing in capital Bucharest only. It was the season of major changes for me. I was living a Dream. Experience after experience, with my first blog ever only starting in March of that year under the name To Deny A Sound, inspired by a Verve lyric from Come On… I developed this unexplainable passion for Scandinavian Music and Tropical places to live… Me on the beach in what it felt a PERMANENT/FOREVER SUNNY state of mind, eventually connected to my eternal/infinite love for blonde Swedish dudes… I found Boat Club. One of the guys in the duo, Magnus: Blonde and beautiful like an angel. He was the Prototype. The Music was so special and unique… It made me cry many times. I wanted to make love to Magnus and live with him in Sweden and forget all the lies and failures in my existence… He’s also a real life pilot… It was… Husband material. Perfect Music, Perfect Face, Perfect Feelings, Perfect Everything! And he’s also an exquisite guitarist… I can’t really believe how many miracles my unrequited love for straight boys made me produce…

6. The Legends | He Knows The Sun
I told you I’ve spent 2005-2007 with a girl I sadly never loved, dreaming of hot blonde men while being with her. Sometimes I believe I’m paying some karma debt, having such a bad time since 2011… Because I lied to her. I sort of believe in this gay bullshit of “you do bad – you get bad”. Dunno… Well, 2006 was a total disaster, watching the whole LOST series in a week style, unlimited potato chips bags, organizing music albums in infinite insane categories, getting fat and feeling bad and locked in something I didn’t like, forcing myself into College and listening to The Legends and The Tough Alliance permanently. It was chaotic and it felt good. Perfect Escape. Life still felt free and full of possibilities… I never wanted to go to an Economics School… It was mom who recommended it, and me being stupid and fragile and controllable enough to agree. I’ve always wanted to be an actor. There were some special prizes in High School that sort of confirmed my talent and I believed, still believe, in my talent. The reality kicks in all the time, made me realize I would become, eventually as Highlight, a star of BEER/DETERGENT ads and small roles in Romanian soap operas… And that disgusted me. Now I feel like that would’ve been so much better than the misery I’m experiencing in my current life. Johan Angergård of The Legends, Pallers and Acid House Kings is a total LEGEND himself. Changed my perspective about Music and what you can do with sound (especially on his Over And Over album) and made me fall in love madly with the Supremacy in Pop that is Labrador Records aka house of The Radio Dept., Club 8, and mostly everything I truly adore about Swedish Music.

7. The Movies | Creation Lake
All those very lonely nights in 2006.

8. The Shore | I Found You
The US version of The Verve. And the band that sent me a t-shirt with their logo back in February 2010, just before my uncle died on April 8 at 41, from a heart attack, or poisoned with pills by his evil scummy wife, like mom and grandma imagine. I remember going to the Postal Service point, an hour from my town, where they collect all US packages, to finally get my present from The Shore. Being so happy and listening whole time to jj – Pure Shores on repeat in the bus. It was a time of still feeling FREE AND ABLE. Destiny changed drastically in that Spring and everything feels like a constant decline since then. I hope and fight to rise again.

9. Fear Of Tigers | The Rich Cry Too
I don’t like live shows. I can’t remember feeling loved. I’ve always felt sort of left behind, an outcast. Mom had me as an accident and planned an abortion initially. I guess it’s in my nature to feel unwanted. I always search for confirmation. Even with WARMER CLIMES. It is my legacy in trying to squeeze HUMANITY into people and their skills in wanting TO BE FRIENDS. I guess all I ever wanted and needed was a friend. And yet I don’t feel like really having friends. I hate the Hypocrisy in most people and, lately, the way I smell it daily in Musicians. The way they accept only features on big famous magazines and maximum exposure at very known tv shows and worldwide sensation festivals. I feel completely rejected with separation, people trying to be special without me. Not because I’m some fuckin’ extra miracle myself, actually I am. But because WE ALL ARE! I believe in this undeclared UNITY, WHERE WE ALL BRING SOMETHING SUPER MAGICAL TO THE WORLD AND WE SHOULD STAY TOGETHER AND DREAM TOGETHER. Warmer Climes is exactly me trying to express that. And it’s not fake, or an illusion kept alive. I think it’s real and people are just very afraid and disoriented and in confusion about being open and exposed. We’re educated to keep secrets, to act in a certain way in public, to pretend and wear masks. I come from a life like that, and I’ve been continuously in horror with it. I’m not perfect, part of my theories might be incomplete, incorrect or uninformed. We’re here to help each other and learn from each other. I dream about this revenge where I can show to all those monkeys who dared to deny me that LOVE AND TOGETHERNESS are possible through wires and giving something that we all can enjoy isn’t boring, wrong, gay or less gay. I want a planet of Genderless Concepts and better schooled about the meaning of terms like ACCEPTANCE, TOLERANCE, HELP, FRIENDSHIP. We lie too much and we keep the wrong illusions alive way too often. I can’t accept something that doesn’t INCLUDE ALL. As long as we don’t create harm to each other, we should be in unison. Alanis Morissette again put it so gently in Utopia: “We would stay and respond and expand and include And allow and forgive and enjoy and evolve And discern and inquire and accept and admit And divulge and open and reach out and speak up We would share and listen and support and welcome, Be propelled by passion, not invest in outcomes, We would breathe and be charmed and amused by difference, Be gentle and make room for every emotion We’d provide forums. We’d all speak out. We’d all be heard. We’d all feel seen. We’d rise post-obstacle, more defined, more grateful, We would heal, be humbled and be unstoppable, We’d hold close and let go, and know when to do which, We’d release and disarm and stand up and feel safe”

10. 808Funk | Moments
I hope I’ll live to experience all my dreams and politics in this Real Life and I’ll manage to meet and embrace all people and all friends who ever believed there is a place on Earth… With WARMER CLIMES.

The seagull will be your link to Warmer Climes:

** Edit, November 2015: Recently, Vlad found a way to receive support through Western Union. Hit him up for easy details at his email: bjorker.bjorker@yahoo.com **

** Edit, JULY 2016: Recently, Vlad found a way to FINALLY receive support through PAYPAL!

HERE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=A9TDK7W9F2U4Y