| Chad VanGaalen is a 28-year-old one-man walking symphony with a persistent DIY ethic that he attributes to being raised as an only child. The Sub Pop artist makes his own records, instruments, artwork and music videos. Humorously, he constructed his own mini skate park in the backyard of his northwest Calgary home so he could wipe out in private.
As a kid, he spent a lot of time quietly entertaining himself. On long road trips with his single mom, there would inevitably be a stack of Mad Magazine, Thrasher and Reader’s Digests by his side. A sketchbook wouldn’t be too far away either.
Upon knocking on his front door, I’m ready to meet someone I’ve been told is completely friendly, but is a bit of a recluse. VanGaalen has been consumed with home recordings for years, striking a chord in people’s hearts with his official 2004 debut Infiniheart. Initially intended for friends’ ears only, he was convinced to release his songs on Ian Russell’s Flemish Eye imprint. Soon after its release, Infiniheart became an underground sensation that was quickly snapped up by Sub Pop. Not bad for a guy who got his start busking outside the Wicked Wedge pizza joint, where he plans to return for a spontaneous CD release party.
Since gaining global popularity in the discerning indie scene, VanGaalen has had to leave the solitude of his home to tour. It’s a reluctant departure since home includes the loves of his life – his girlfriend and their dog. He’s about to start the whole promotional flurry of activity again with the release of his stunning sophomore album, Skelliconnection. Another testament to his work ethic, he plays all the instruments on Skelliconnection himself and recorded the album in his basement. This basement studio, cluttered by VanGaalen’s infamous collection of homemade instruments, has been ogled by visiting on-camera personalities from MuchMusic to the CBC.
The door swings open and I meet a good-natured and gentle-mannered fellow who speaks to his beloved dog Lila in a very goofy voice. She proudly follows VanGaalen as he shows me the new half-pipe in the backyard and a few landscape paintings created by his friend, Mark, who appears on VanGaalen’s Skelliconnection cover art. We then settle down in his living room to talk about music and how the enthusiastic commotion over Infiniheart left him with a temporary identity crisis.
"(When) people start reviewing your music, it’s inevitable that you’re going to hear about it," he says, with Lila now fast asleep. "So, then you start formulating this other self, next to yourself. Then, you almost become… like it’s almost like a farce at a certain point. At least, that’s the way that I was feeling. At a certain point, I’d totally forgotten about what was fun and what I liked about it because I was just trying to emulate something that wasn’t me, that was invented outside of me and my circumstance."
The expression on VanGaalen’s face reveals that the learning experience left him somewhat crestfallen. However, he feels as though he has come full circle on Skelliconnection. It’s an enormously strong followup album that seems to privately represent a personal victory for the composer. It’s a victory in being able to shut out needless pressure and reconnecting with the simple joy of making music.
"I had to come all the way back around to ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad.’ A lot of stuff that I recorded years and years ago is horrible, I can’t even listen to it. I never had any plans that anyone was going to be interested or hear any of this. Now that people are waiting for it, I want to give people the best and most positive thing I could possibly put out there."
VanGaalen was not an overnight sensation. He admits that he was a late-bloomer with music. He and his mother never owned a television while he grew up, so he bypassed pop music culture in his youth. While attending Ernest Manning High School, VanGaalen finally got into music. He was inspired by a friend’s older brother who convinced him to start recording on a four track.
A few years later, while attending the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD), VanGaalen began making instruments that were otherwise too expensive to purchase. He started building his impressive catalogue of songs that currently weighs in at over 200 albums worth of material. He overcame a bad case of stage fright, went on tours and gave a stellar hometown performance opening for the Pixies.
Part of the secret to his success seems to be that he has surrounded himself with an excellent group of friends. He affectionately says that they’ve served as the litmus for the greater population. Some of them helped decide the final batch of songs on Skelliconnection – VanGaalen’s girlfriend arranged the track order. Other friends (from the Constantines, Holy Fuck, Sarah Harmer’s band and local pals) have served as his live touring band.
It seems ironic with the highly anticipated release of Skelliconnection that VanGaalen is starting to supplement his income with a separate career in drawing. He created the cover art for Shout Out Out Out Out’s Not Saying/Just Saying. He just finished the cover for the forthcoming release by locals, The Cape May. He has also animated music videos for himself, Love as Laughter and the Impossible Shapes. A huge time investment, VanGaalen’s music videos require two months of solid 12-hour days as a dozen drawings are required for every second of animation.
This autumn will be bustling with more projects. He’ll be working on a new 20-minute film. Sub Pop will be releasing a compilation of all of his music videos. He’s working on another album for Flemish Eye, from his jazzy psych-rock band, Broken Ankles. He’s also composing hip hop for another side-project, Inventions of Science. With all of his projects, he’s left with two dreams. To score soundtracks (perhaps for Wes Anderson films) and to return to his skateboard roots and become a hip hop emcee.
"It’s pretty embarrassing because I haven’t really perfected my rhyming skills. I kind of have, but I know what my voice is as far as folk music goes, I feel settled. You can put on other personalities for different types of music, but I really don’t want to for this kind of stuff. If I could be an emcee, that would probably be my dream come true."
For a man whose brilliant creative energy is visibly spreading throughout the music scene, that’s one dream that a ton of people can’t wait to come true. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.