Onbar
Onbar, also known as Troy Tuan Truong or The Vietnamese Prince, was born and raised in San Jose, CA. He is an artist of life. His love for creativity comes naturally as he takes everything around him as inspiration to create.
His artist name “Onbar” was born when he was working at a coffee shop. Being “on bar” refers to the person making the drinks. As he was slingin' espresso, he thought Onbar sounded like a cool stage-name. From that moment on, Onbar would practice singing and dancing during his shifts and everyone in his shop would vibe to it.
Onbar is..?
... a stage name I came up with when I was working at one of my coffee shop jobs. Being “on bar” means you are the person making the drinks. I thought it sounded cool so I went with it.
How did you get into music?
I played piano at a young age and picked up singing and guitar in high school. Then after I dropped out of college, I started writing and composing music. In 2020 during the pandemic, I decided to make one of the songs I wrote into a fully produced record. That’s when I released my first song “MANIAC”.
"GOOD" sounds great, what's the story behind it?
One day, I flew down from Northern California to San Diego, CA and met up with my 2 friends Patrick Hizon and Orion-Song Lewis. In 2 days, we wrote, produced, and recorded the song start to finish. It was a fun time and it was one of my favorite studio sessions to date.
What's for you the most difficult part concerning songwriting?
The most difficult part of song writing is finding authentic inspiration to write something that has meaning. I think in the current music industry, we often see songs that mimic each other.
So to find authenticity, it is a rarity and I constantly challenge myself to switch up my sound depending on how I feel at that moment.
Being an Indie Artist/Band is ...?
Being and indie artist means to be a big believer in yourself and what you do. There is no time for self-doubt.
Do we have the chance to see you somewhere live on stage?
I generally perform live in my hometown in the Bay Area. I hope to do a spontaneous small tour in places I know I can build a listenership.
What can we expect from you in the near future?
In the near future, I want to re-create one of my EP’s into a musical play. I have songs that tell a story and I love performing live.
Photo credits:
Nino Panes