BIO
Vaughn Chung was born in Houston, Texas in 1992. He was born to two parents, both second wave Vietnamese refugees, and grew up as the oldest brother among 4 siblings. He primarily grew up in Alief, and was taught Vietnamese as his first language. He first developed his passion for music through listening to his father play the guitar after work. In his primary school years, he became an admirer of alternative music and utilized it to encapsulate and cope with the environment around him. After graduating high school, he attended Houston Community College for two years before briefly transferring to the University of Houston. Deciding university wasn’t for him, he dropped out of the University of Houston and began working several jobs, such as teaching guitar lessons and becoming a music tutor. Through the Internet and local music communities, he befriended his fellow band members and solidified his band, Paper Gliders, an indie rock band, in 2018. He currently resides in Houston with his wife. In this interview, Vaughn Chung discusses growing up in Alief, generational differences between himself and his family, his musical discoveries and journey, his parents’ immigration story, learning English in primary school, his curious personality growing up, his mother’s parenting, giving back to music, his love for teaching and teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of leadership in the music industry, creating an Asians meme page and the impact of the Internet on community, his band’s origin story, the inspiration for his band’s latest single and upcoming single, his reasoning for why today is the best time to be an Asian American, and further, an Asian American artist.