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| Date |
City |
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| Sun 7/27/08 |
Chicago, IL |
Schubas |
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Some
people were just born to make records. Chicago’s David
Vandervelde is one of those people, and not just because his
name is, frankly, ace. Vandervelde has been writing and recording
since the age of 14. He scored a record deal with uber-cool
label Secretly Canadian earlier this year on the strength of
a song he wrote when he was 19 years old (Jacket, the second
track on this, his debut mini album). Now, aged just 22, he’s
delivered a short, sharp album that’s utterly at odds
with everything else released this year. Or, for that matter,
any year since Bowie last applied metallic face paint, Bolan
strapped on his platform boots and Thin Lizzy popped the Marshalls
in the back of the van.
Vandervelde writes classic rock songs in that early ‘70s,
post hippy vein. It’s glam rock without the camp –
stripped down to great melodies and crisp musicianship. And
it all started with dad’s record collection.“I like
good songs and good song writing,” says David. “My
Dad has a lot of records from the early ‘70s, and when
I was recording the album I took on the challenge of duplicating
the sound of that era. I was also curious if I could figure
out how to capture the most classic recording techniques fitting
to the song. I think that’s the deal with that era of
songs – a lot of those records just sound as they should,
and were captured perfectly.”
In doing so, Vandervelde roped in some talented friends. David
lived and worked at Pieholden Suite Sound, the studio run by
former Wilco member Jay Bennett, where he’s collaborated
on projects by Bennett himself, Jonathan Rice, Mark Eitzel,
Entrance, John Ralston, and the Outlaw Family Band among many
others. Much of the album was recorded there over the course
of two years, using some of the same gear used on Wilco’s
seminal Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
He also called on the help of Grammy-award winning arranger/composer
David ‘Some Call Me Beck’s Dad’ Campbell to
arrange the starry-eyed Corduroy Blues, the ELO-esque Wisdom
From A Tree, and the winsome album closer Moonlight Instrumental
at Capitol Records’ legendary studio. Campbell’s
previous credits include work with Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson,
Elton John and Leonard Cohen, and the Brokeback Mountain score.
But what of the mysterious Moonstation House Band? The title,
perhaps, needs some clearing up. Think of the Moonstation House
Band as a Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band-style entity
and you’re on the right track.“The Moonstation House
Band is a fictitious thing, which childhood friend Derek James,
who played drums on a few of the songs on the record, and I
came up with it at the beginning of recording,” says David.
“The record is pretty much a solo project (at least 90%
of what you hear is by me), but it’s my effort to try
to capture the mythology of what this band might have been like
if it existed. To deliver the record live, I’ve been fortunate
enough to have a circle of friends who have joined me, and we
have a great time playing the rock.”
That live band, currently plugging their way around the American
Midwest, will hopefully make their way over to British shores
sometime in 2007. Expect to hear an astounding cover of lost
Rolling Stones’ classic, Cocksucker Blues as part of the
set.
You should, by now, have marked Vandervelde as one to watch.
Just don’t expect to second-guess his next move. “I
love nasty hip-hop booty music that crosses the line,”
says David. “It’s led to a side project of mine,
featuring a recording of the original gangsta song Stanky Booty.” |
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The
Moon Station House band
Secretly Canadian
2006 |
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