Independent Singer-Songwriter Vince Palmeri on His Upcoming EP

Vince Palmeri was practically born into musicianship. His father was the frontman of a cover band in Upstate New York, which gave Palmeri exposure to rock and pop music from a young age.

"Probably younger than I can realistically remember," Palmeri says. 

Palmeri was recruited to sing for the band as a teenager, covering the likes of Bruno Mars and Maroon 5 at dive bars around town. 

After being encouraged to go to college and take a "traditional route," Palmeri ended up majoring in biochemistry with a minor in business studies. Still, music never left his side. Palmeri taught himself to play guitar and continued to cover songs at bar gigs.

His studies landed him a job in the corporate pharmaceutical industry. Yet, he felt unfulfilled. 

"I just kept having this feeling like, 'You're not doing something, you're missing something that you need to be doing,' and it turned out to be music," Palmeri says.

The realization led Palmeri to write songs on his guitar and eventually record a handful of demos at a local recording studio in Albany, New York. A short-lived deal with a local management company was soon to follow. 

Now, Palmeri finds himself in Los Angeles as a fully-independent artist. Still an employee of the pharmaceutical industry, he uses his income to fund his music career. 

As an independent artist, Palmeri doesn't worry about the restrictions that labels can place on his music and distribution. Instead, he says, he can put out a large volume of music at the rate he wants to.

Palmeri released the No Angels EP in March 2023, and is set to release another EP in January 2024. 

"Two EPs in less than a year is exactly what I need to be doing right now to push myself to the next level," Palmeri says. 

The upcoming six-track EP — which has no set name, but Palmeri says he’s leaning toward Holding on for Life — includes a heavy guitar-driven, pop-rock element. 

Palmeri describes the project as a diary of the past nine months. 

"It's a very personal project overall," Palmeri says. "The way I wanted it to come across was closing a chapter of my life that maybe has been a little tumultuous."

Four of the EP's six songs are out now: "Dirty Talk," "Sabotager," "Cigarettes & Chocolate Cake" and "Unbreak You."

While Palmeri calls "Dirty Talk" and "Sabotager" the strongest tracks in terms of energy, "Cigarettes & Chocolate Cake" is more of a laid back tune "meant to sound like a walk on the beach."

More new music is sure to follow the EP. After all, new releases are a must, especially for independent artists, Palmeri says. But he notes that his sound has evolved over the years and will continue to do so.  

He lists Max Martin as a main musical inspiration — "anybody who's ever touched a Max Martin record is somebody I'm a fan of" — as well as rock groups Royal Blood and Måneskin.  

Those glam rock sounds are where Palmeri sees himself heading musically after the release of the January EP.