Conversations with Warren Fenzi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Warren Fenzi.

Hi Warren, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a young child, I began my musical journey with the common experience of banging on pots and pans in the kitchen. From a very young age, I found drums and percussion wildly hypnotizing. Their thunderous energy and the fact that they looked cool drew me in immediately. I remember seeing a group of bucket drummers performing on the street in California one summer while visiting my grandpa. I became obsessed with owning my own drum set one day. After many vivid dreams and countless prayers to my parents, I received my first drum set a couple of years later.

Throughout Middle School and High School, I explored as many different musical genres (among other things) as I could. I played in the drum line, orchestra, jazz band, jazz quartets, and multiple rock/indie bands around Prescott, AZ, where I grew up. I even got to play my prom for my High School with an indie rock group I was a part of that included some of my best friends to this day.

When I was a Junior in High School, after one-too-many broken arms and realizing that I wasn’t cut out for my other career path as a professional skateboarder, I concluded that music was something I needed to do for the rest of my life. So I practiced my ass off and auditioned for Berklee College of Music. This was the only place I wanted to attend college and one of the two schools I applied to. Much to my mother’s relief and delight, I was fortunate enough to be accepted into Berklee’s undergrad program, where I decided to major in drum-set performance.

College was stressful for me; I moved from my small town of Prescott, AZ, to Boston, MA, where I knew no one and was thrown into the melting pot of Berklee College of Music. I was immediately surrounded by some of the best musicians in the world, all of whom were trying to prove themselves, including me. It was a messy, exhilarating, chaotic, and beautifully lush chapter of my life. I continued to explore more genres of music by joining a noise rock group, a jam band, countless jazz trios/quartets, playing long sets at friends’ basement parties, and busking out on Boylston Street on the weekends to make some money for beer and cigarettes. During this period, my love and interest in composition grew, resulting in my humble beginnings as a songwriter.

After 3 and a half years away at college, I found myself at the beginning of one of the darkest chapters of my life thus far. I’ve always had a curious mind which unfortunately led me to get involved with some less-than-ideal characters and substances. I hit a breaking point after waking up one morning, surprised at the fact I was still alive and withdrawing from my short-lived heroin/opiate addiction that I had picked up along the way. I had sold my drum set, guitar, and most of my clothes for drug money and had nowhere to go. So I called my parents, spilled the beans, and returned to AZ. At the time, I was unsure what I expected to find back in AZ, but I was quickly met with the same old problem: me. Luckily my parents refused to enable my addiction and gave me the ultimatum to either get the f*ck out of their house or get help. As one of, if not the best, decisions of my life, I agreed to get help. Strangely enough, this was still not the end for me and my hard drug use. I managed to find a way to get high while in treatment, resulting in me almost dying again. The following day, bewildered to be alive, I finally admitted to myself that I had a problem. This was the beginning of the best years of my life so far. I left AZ and moved to southern CA to live in sober living, where I took a year-long hiatus from my music. Over time, however, my musical urge grew as I couldn’t keep myself from creating. A long-time college friend suggested I visit him in Minneapolis, where he grew up. Upon arriving in the midwest at their thriving music scene, I was pleasantly surprised and sold immediately. Shortly after, I moved all of my things out to Minneapolis, where I started a musical collective comprised of 5 different bands, one of which I led myself. This began my slow shift from where I originally saw myself as a backing musician into the composer, songwriter, and leader that I consider myself today.

After 7 years in the Twin Cities and multiple tours across the country, covid hit. I had been working at Dakota Jazz Club for almost 5 years and supplementing my income with musical performances. Unfortunately, covid pulled out the rug from both of those lines of work, and after the tumultuous political situation that arose from the George Floyd murder, I had had enough. I packed my things again and drove my 1991 Ford Econo Line back to AZ. I was burnt out. I burnt out on music and the issues that were going on in the world, and unsure of what the future held for me. I was also about to turn 30, and I felt the weight of adulthood coming on strong. What was I going to do?

I was lucky enough to have some time to look at who I am and who I want to be during the pandemic. One of my best friends bought me the book “The War of Art” for my birthday, and for one of the first times in my life, I felt like words had been to the “Why” behind why I create and make music.

I create because I have to. Not because I have to; no one has a gun to my head saying ‘Create!”. I have to because I’m sure I will not be fulfilled or happy in this life unless I’m creating. And that in itself is enough. My only job as a creator is to finish and share the work with the world. My definition of success lives here, in the creation. In the finishing. In the sharing! Everything else is beyond my control.

For the longest time, I had defined success by metrics measured by other people’s opinions about my art. It’s been a slow shift, and I still struggle with this, but I’ve begun to put into practice the disconnection of my sense of accomplishment and what others would define as success in the arts. At the end of the day, as long as I tried to take the musical idea as far as possible, I successfully finished the project and shared it with people! The rest is out of my hands.

I’m currently just scraping the tip of the iceberg in this new way of looking at art and letting go of expectations of how my art will be perceived. I know that some of the darkest moments in my life have laid the foundation for lessons that I will hold onto for the rest of my life, catalysts for some of my best years thus far. This truth is something that I wish to keep close with me for the rest of my life in understanding that beautiful things grow out of the shit and ultimately save the power to be the jumping-off point that propels you into a reality better than one you could have ever imagined.

Since moving back to AZ, I’ve been reconnecting with my love for instrumental music, electronic music, and acoustic compositions. My longtime friend Sandy Delozier and I have a new project we are getting ready to unveil, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you for the first time here.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It certainly hasn’t been a smooth road, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The lessons I’ve learned along the way have been a direct result of my failures, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the knowledge I have today about myself and my art. Drug addiction is a real killer, and unfortunately, it tends to be romanticized in the arts. I’ve certainly been a faithful subscriber to that idea for many years of my life. I’m so happy to know that that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My name is Warren Thomas Fenzi, and I compose, produce, write, and perform my original music. I specialize in songwriting and hear music very much through a rhythmic lens, as I was raised as a drummer and percussionist. I still consider drums and percussion to be my foundational instrument. It’s the place I tend to create from. I’m most proud of the works I’ve released in the past and plan to continue to remove them for as long as possible. What sets me apart as a musician is understanding who I am and the knowledge of why I do what I do. I create art because I feel compelled to. I make art because I must. I don’t believe I have a choice. It is my duty to create art and share it with others; anything less would be a waste of the possibility of bringing something beautiful into this world that others can connect with and learn from. I’m also very excited to share this new project that Sandy Delozier and I have been working on. Here’s a link to our first live session: https://youtu.be/nYXI6Qu1Wi0

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some changes you expect to see over the next five to ten years?
Honestly, the music industry is in a moment where no one knows which way is up. With streaming services paying little-to-nothing for thousands of streams, it’s tough for a musician to make much income beyond live performances, merch sales, and licensing deals. I see the industry continuing to evolve into the uplifting of self-published, independent artists, which I couldn’t be happier about! It’s more accessible than ever before, making it much easier for the rest of us to find and connect with new, amazing art/artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: warrenthomasfenzi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wtfenzi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wtfenzi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1V_Klks41j3JT1Tlt2lBpw 

Image Credits
Photos 1 and 4 shot by: Erin Alimusa, Photos 2 and 3 shot by: Josh Hild, Illustrations by: Anabel Johnson.