Finest A Capella Metal in interview
A few weeks ago, I had the honour and pleasure of interviewing Inga and Stefan from Van Canto at Rockharz Festival. They had just finished their set a few minutes before… After a quick handshake and introduction, Inga starts the interview.
Unusual start
“How are you, how many interviews have you had already?
I’m surprised and pleased by this unusual beginning. “You’re my first, I only have three. Either you see a band, or you do an interview, so you have to compromise”.
Then I take over. “You have finished your slot, how was it for you? Personally, I was very happy to see such a crowd so early”.
Inga answers. “The audience at Rockharz is always something special. You think it might be the last time you play here. And then they are all very grateful”. We have to wait for Stefan for a moment.
“Do you have to go home tonight?”
Inga confirms: “Some of us have to go to Berlin, they have to record a project with a choir. So, we have to split up tonight.”
“Oh, that’s sad, I think last time you spent the whole time at the festival.”
“Right, that was cool, I have to go home too. My parents are looking after the kids, so I have to pick them up. Things are a bit tense today”.
No Stress
Inga calls for Stefan who still is involved with some other guys. “No stress, no stress!”
He comes over and explains: “There’s a band without microphones, so they thought ‘there’s an a capella band, they must have microphones…'” Lisa from Napalm Records, who is standing next to us, mentions: “That’s a funny way to start an interview…”
“Yeah right, by the way, Stefan, you were my first interview partner at all, shortly before the release of your latest album. I already asked Inga how the show went for her, what do you think?”
“I think it will be the same for me, it was great as usual here at Rockharz. It’s amazing when all the excitement you build up results in such a great show. The feedback is great, no comments that something went wrong, so I’m really happy”.
The Cosy Festival
“You play Rockharz quite often, maybe eight or nine times so far, is it your favourite festival?”
Inga answers first: “It’s a kind of comfort zone. It’s a bit like coming home. It was one of the first festivals we played as Van Canto. And they really take care of you as an artist. Everyone is friendly, very nice. Everyone who has a job here is always friendly.”
Stefan adds: “I think it was six times. I feel like the crew itself is more relaxed here than at other festivals. They have really found a balance to distribute the work so that not everyone is exhausted by the afternoon. And this good mood also reaches the artists”.
“What do you think about the audience, the infield was already very crowded, though it was just early afternoon…”
Both confirm: “Yes, very crowded indeed”. “They reacted to everything and did what we asked them to do.” “Even stupid speeches were applauded.”
The “new” album
“Let’s have a look at your new album, which is already three years old…”
Stefan chimes in: “We can’t talk about it as ‘the new album’ right now. But we played two songs from it”.
“How did the fans like this album?”
Stefan replies: “From what we heard; it was very well received. Unfortunately, it was released just before Corona took over. So, we have no live feedback as if we had toured it right after the release. It would be a bit unfair to compare it with previous releases. Sometimes we went on tour on the day of the release, so you get the feedback on the spot. If I ask someone now, the answer might be ‘Oh yeah, I heard it three years ago’. But the album was really well received, and we still like it”.
“But can we really talk about ‘tours’ in your case? Your last shows were more like every now and then than a full three-week tour or two dozen shows in a row”.
Stefan explains: “We did it in the past, but we were certainly a few years younger. We actually realised that these festival gigs are the best way for us to get back into a routine of playing more shows. For this year we have already announced some festival shows. We are already in the booking process for 2025, but what hasn’t been announced on our website hasn’t been finalised yet, so wait and check the site frequently for updates.”
Before we move on to the next topic, Stefan adds: “We will play Wacken two days after the gig in Aschaffenburg, which is our warm-up gig to say the least! We were announced quite late when it was already sold out. A lot of fans were sad about it: ‘Now you play there and we can’t come because it’s sold out’. So, we decided that it might be demanding to play on that Monday night, but we should play a single show close by so they can see us.” [Some of the Van Cantos live near Mainz, 100 km from Aschaffenburg, so it was indeed their home gig.]
Corona and The Consequences
“Apart from Corona, were there any other reasons why you were so scared? At one point I was really afraid to read the news that you broke up!”
Inga has the right answer: “Corona did indeed pull the plug and sucked out all the energy. It was quite an effort to recharge and regain the strength to start again with all the restrictions and obstacles. Things and tours that had been left behind and postponed had to be dealt with. So, we were at the back of the queue. It really killed some bands”.
Stefan adds: “At that point we were pretty far ahead and established. For a band that started in, say, 2015 and was at a point of breakthrough or not, it was much harder. We were in the luxury of being able to sit back and relax a bit because we had already done everything we wanted to do. It could have been that everything stopped and there was no more live music anyway. So, everybody was looking for a plan B or C. So, it was a good feeling for us to realise that we still have the desire and people still want to see us live”.
“Yeah, a lot of people were actually focusing on streaming concerts instead and confessing that they are not into live shows anymore. I watched one and decided ‘that’s not my cup of tea, I want to experience real live music, sweat, noise, bruises.”
Stefan adds: “I don’t think Van Canto could work that way anyway. Our audience is impressed how loud it gets, even though we only sing. So, it is an interaction and powerful, give and take. All these things wouldn’t be there, so it wouldn’t work”.
How A Capella Works
“Good point, by the way Stefan, how do you create the sound of your voice on stage?”
He gives some unplugged examples. “Most of it is just vocal skills and technique. Like this ‘rigedigedirig’. Solos are sung with the head voice, and we have guitar distortion behind the mics”. He gives another example. “And on stage it sounds like Angus Young for example.”
“Cool, what about you Inga, you only do clean lead vocals?”
“Exactly, and sometimes a ‘whoa-hoa’ in the background, or a ‘wui-wui’ and ‘tata-tam’. “It is so funny to hear the two of them making these unplugged sounds, you should have heard them. “I don’t use any distortion for my vocals.
Stefan adds: “Inga, you don’t use technology that other bands don’t use, right?” She agrees: “No, no, in this case I am a 08/15 singer.” [She is not, see her live and find out, she is not an average 08/15, but I take it as a plausible understatement].
Stefan brings up an interesting point: “Demanding for our lead vocalists is that there is no rest for their voice when the instrumentalists take over, apart from the ‘guitar solo’. Either they are the first voice or the second voice or the background voice. Then there is a melody or a choir, so they are fully involved with no real breaks”.
Inga adds: “For the sake of it, otherwise I’d get bored”.
Favourite songs
“Let’s go back to your much too short slot, which songs were your favourites?”
“Today I enjoyed ‘The Mission’ the most.” Stefan replied promptly. “Of course, it is one of the later songs of the set, so you know how the gig went. And today we already knew, it was a great show. And of course, it has this cosy aspect. I thought ‘Cool, 18 years later and it still works’ because it was our first song.”
“Iron Maiden’s ‘Fear Of The Dark’ seems to be another song with a special connection for you.”
“Yeah, it really kicks in at the end,” Inga mentions, “It’s a nice last song.”
Stefan adds: “There’s nobody on a metal festival who doesn’t feel happy when he or she hears this song. Even if it is covered four times this weekend, they always sing along. It is one of those songs that had to be written. To put it like that, this festival tour is the tour to support the actual album, even after three years”. Both laugh.
The Future
“Do you already have plans for new songs, a new album?”
Stefan explains: “We definitely want to create new songs. We are just not sure if the full album size is still the right format. We could talk about it for a while if it still works for Van Canto. Maybe we don’t want to put ourselves under pressure to produce 14 songs at once, but maybe we have ideas for three”.
He continues: “Nowadays it is no big deal and easily possible that the whole world can listen to them if they want to.”
“As long as it is still available on CD…”
“Well, if you are one of those people… From our last album we sold more vinyls than CDs”.
Is The Past
“Vinyls are a big thing for collectors again. I am a real CD buyer, no streams, I prefer CDs”.
“Me too, I have to touch it, go through the booklet, read everything, I buy everything on CD too!” says Inga, but Stefan has another aspect.
“I started listening to cassettes again. I bought a Walkman and a big box of metal cassettes online. So, I listened to them, most are still in good condition.”
“I’ve got some in a box somewhere in the basement, as soon as I find them I’ll give them to you, you know, the old KISS, AC/DC, Van Halen stuff and so on. I don’t have a player anyway.” [I still have to look for them].
And The Unusual End
The last questions of the interview come from Stefan and Inga:
“How was the Rockharz for you so far?”
“Awesome.” “Why?” “Short distances, cool people, good music, nice artists, very relaxed crew. Like you said, everyone is very friendly. I have my camping group for socialising, so you don’t see me in the press area too often, because I want to spend time with them and watch the bands”.
“How many days are you at Rockharz?”
“The whole time, I just came from the Rock and Metal Day’z in nearby Oschersleben. I helped set up, took photos, kept our whisky stand running with a mate, helped with dismantling and came here on Tuesday”.
“Hard work.” Inga says and Stefan thinks “Maybe you need a holiday from the festival”. “Well, on Sunday I pick up my kids for their holidays with me…”
We finish on time without having to cut mine short. I’ll go and meet my camp group or watch the end of the band actually playing or in the best case both. Van Canto have to do another interview and a signing session. Tell me if you were there!
And check out Van Canto’s website for some news!
Check out our 2021 album review To The Power Of Eight and interview with Stefan!
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Homepage: https://vancanto.de/de/
Please buy physical music or download it from the bands official sources and don’t stream it for free because it takes away your artists income.
All live pics by Friend.X aka Mr. Deep, Rockharz Festival 2024