Interview with Van Canto

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Thanks for the interview and let’s get started with the questions:

Van Canto is one of the most unique ‘metal’ bands we have ever heard. How did you guys came up with the concept of singing A Cappella metal?

V.C: After the split of my former “regular” metal band I wanted to create something vocal orientated. I knew the other members from my former bands or from sharing the stage. It wasn’t planned to be a capella at first, but evolved that way.
It was first seen as a project. But we quickly noticed that playing in this band means lot of fun, so step by step we got more serious. At the end of 2006 it was clear to everyone that this is a real band which will get the main focus in future.

I.M: Were you guys ever afraid that you would be taken as a joke and never considered a serious band?

V.C: In the beginning we didn’t even expect anybody to take notice of the band. And after the first gigs and latest after Hero it was clear that this is a real band and that we love metal and we love to perform it. We’re not making fun of anyone.

I.M: Having released 3 full-length albums, did you ever imaged the band would come this far, did you ever expected the success that the band has had in such a short time?

V.C: No, as I said, we didn’t expect anything. Having played in “unknown” metal bands for over 10 years you are happy about every single person coming to a gig or buying an album, haha. It’s a great thing we are now able to play really cool gigs and we are happy for everything else that is about to come.

I.M: Featuring only 2 cover songs “Tribe Of Force” is a very solid album. What is the main concept you guys had in mind when writing the songs?

V.C: We wanted to focus on own songs again, like on our debut “A storm to come”, where we also had only 2 covers. Covers are and will be an important part of our liveshow, but songwriting is a very important part to us. So we wanted to stress the fact that we write metal songs on “Tribe of Force”.

I.M: How do you write songs for a style like this? Do you ‘jam out’ in a rehearsal room until you come up with songs?

V.C: Jamming is not so easy with this band. When we meet in the rehearsal room at least parts have to be arranged completely. We start like every songwriter starts: with a melody or some chords on piano or with a guitar riff. After the song structure is fixed, we arrange the song into our metal a cappella style.

I.M: The new album features a DVD from your Wacken 2008 performance. Can you tell us more about how it felt to perform in the biggest Metal festival with your unique music?

V.C: It was the greatest experience in the band’s history so far. I had visited the WOA about 5 or 6 times as a fan before and of course I had always thought things like “someday you will play on that stage”. The Wacken audience was fantastic and this gig really gave the band a big push.

I.M: What direction do you think you will take Van Canto’s music in the future? Any ‘extra elements’ you will add to the vocal arsenal of the band?

V.C: We have a guitar solo duell with a real guitarist (Victor Smolski of Rage) on “One to ten” and we worked with a real orchestra on “Magic Taborea”. So we always try to add new dimensions to our sound. I don’t think it would make sense to add more metal instruments to our sound, but I definitely can imagine recording a more musical style album with more guest singers and so on. But I don’t know yet, let’s see what future brings.

I.M: You guys have a upcoming European tour and a few festival dates. Do you have anything in the works to make it to the USA?

V.C: As you said correctly, our 3 albums are now released worldwide for the first time. So first of all we’ll have to do some promotional stuff and hope that there are many open minded metalheads around who are interested in Van Canto. If so, anything is possible. After having great reactions from brazil we already did a promo tour there in 2008. Why shouldn’t we think of doing something comparable in the USA?

I.M: Anything else you want to add for your fans and our readers?

V.C: Thanks for your interest in Van Canto. Visit us on our website vancanto.de or on our myspace (myspace.com/vancanto) and spread the word of hero metal a cappella. Rakkatakka!