Check Out Daniel Cieplinski’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Cieplinski.

Hi Daniel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Where to begin? I grew up in Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington D.C., and was an eccentric and hyper imaginative kid pretty much right out of the gate, both the class clown and the rebel, and constantly getting into trouble for drawing pictures during class. Music, art, books, and movies became immensely important to me very early on and I first saw such horror classics like Psycho and The Exorcist when the rest of my classmates were still watching Saturday morning cartoons and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood-which I was also into. I wasn’t a completely morbid child. When I was twelve years old, my mother bought me an electric guitar with the hopes that it would give me something constructive to do with my free time and keep me out of trouble. It didn’t keep me out of trouble one bit, but I did get competent enough on it to play guitar in a couple of local hardcore bands a few years later. After graduating from high school-somewhat miraculously, I started taking art and graphic design classes at the local community college before earning a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, Georgia, where I perhaps unwisely switched to a film and video major-inspired largely by the American independent film renaissance of the 1990’s, in addition to that lifelong love of movies. After graduating from SCAD-with honors no less, I dwelled in a post-college limbo for about a year in Western Massachusetts before I eventually found the inspiration and nerve to make a couple of my own low/no budget features-a cross-country road documentary (True Highways), and a nobly attempted but ultimately doomed pre-Stranger Things 80’s kid movie (Sneak Out! Late Night Tomfoolery For The Early Adolescent), both of which you can find floating around online. Like everyone else, I then moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 2005 with the aspirations of a career in the motion picture business, but ended up working in the mental health industry, for the Los Angeles Public Library, and inadvertently forming The Vigils, a rock band, instead. That is a brief overview of my autobiography, “I Know Why The Caged Boy Sings”.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My life has been anything but a smooth road, more like a boxing match. In addition to being a creative child, and perpetual day dreamer, I was also a total misfit, and for a few years there, a bonafide juvenile delinquent, spending the majority of my early teens in and out of detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, and reform school before finally getting my act together to enjoy the last remaining years of my adolescence as a free (young) man. I was put on Prozac before it was cool! Adult life in Los Angeles has had more than enough of its trials and tribulations as well. My girlfriend was hit by a car and killed in 2014, and I write this, incidentally, on what would’ve been her 36th birthday. It was by far the darkest and most difficult point in my life. A grief that still resonates, in varying waves and degrees, to this day. During the pandemic, my cool, cozy, spacious, and super affordable Frogtown apartment/in-law suite for over ten years was sold by the owners and I’ve been “homeless” ever since February of 2021. I put that in quotes because thanks to my friends, and a growing demand for my five-star pet sitting services, I am fortunate enough to where I’ve never had to spend a night on the streets. My life is a constant struggle. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. But like the old Elton John song goes, I’m still standing!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Creatively and artistically, I suppose I’m most known for being the lead singer for The Vigils. By how many, that I’m not sure, but it’s certainly not enough! While we’ve yet to rise up from the barroom and night club ranks-still waiting for that one lucky break, the band and the music have easily been the most fulfilling and all-encompassing outlet for me in years, if not ever. Having a heavy hand in composing the music, I also write the lyrics, design the album covers, T-shirts, stickers, flyers, produce and edit the music videos, and administrate the obligatory websites. That and I’m also the one who’s setting up the lights and operating the fog machine on stage! While I enjoy every creative aspect of the band, for me and my bandmates, nothing beats performing our songs live to an audience. Our shows are a transcendent experience, for us, and for the people who come to see us perform. A respite from the hardships, grind, and mundanity of everyday life. To be able to witness in real time, the positive and often profound effect that our music has on an audience, that has been the most gratifying facet of all, and completely worth the effort. The music is, as Fran Lebowitz once put it rather succinctly, “A drug that doesn’t kill you.”

In addition to my musical endeavors, and because I’ve been hardwired for creativity-whether I like it or not, I’ve always got a number of other personal projects going to keep me occupied and sane. A young adult novel that I’ve been periodically revising since 2012, a teen drama series that I’ve developed-based on my experiences and expertise as both a mental health patient and worker, and a feature-length road movie that I will be shooting later this summer. I’ve yet to make a career out of any of this, and perhaps I never will. All I know is that I can never stop. Alas, the struggle of the artist!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
When I was a little boy, the first thing I can ever remember wanting to be when I grew up was a Chippendales dancer. I had seen a few scenes with those dudes in movies and imagined that was THE life! That and I wanted to be in a really cool, sexy music video like the ones I would watch obsessively day and night on MTV-back when MTV played music videos. I pretty much got the opportunity to fulfill both of those childhood dreams by appearing as the dancing cowboy in my friend Riki’s music video for “Napoleon” back in 2019. A number of people I know have seen that video and still have no idea that’s me glistening beneath the cowboy hat. So there you go, a Voyage LA exclusive!

Also, I’m not sure if this qualifies as surprising, but as I mentioned above, I’ve worked for a number of years in the mental health field. First with troubled teens at a residential treatment facility-the shoe really on the other foot there, and then later with adults suffering from schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. As someone who has always had a certain kinship and affinity for outcasts, indigents, and the mentally unwell, it’s a calling that I took to rather naturally and effortlessly. I strongly believe that enriching the life experience for others-be it through your art, your occupation, or with a simple act of kindness, is our foremost duty as humans. We’re all in this mess together, so just be cool.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thevigilsofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/funparkinc/
• Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/thevigils_rnr/
• LinkedIn: https://www.tiktok.com/@danpyre
• Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/funpark
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@funparkinc
• Yelp: https://www.youtube.com/@thevigils
• Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/61uyjUBph4HrUXiEjDOU0O
• Other: https://thevigils.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Main photo: Don Mercelo