Our focus on New Releases has mainly switched over to our Instagram Stories these days, but we’re making an exception for a band who have seemed to appear from nowhere fully formed. We first caught them at the Albert last November, bottom of a bill which would have people queuing around the block for these days, alongside the New Eves and Fliptop Head. At that point Van Zon had only been going for a few months, but managed to leave a big impression.
A few months down the road, and they’re ready to release their debut effort Cannon Fodder. You could call it a single, but it clocks in just shy of eight minutes. It defies genres – Post rock weaves it all together, but the violin pulls it into folk territory, and the clarinet and 6/8 time signature sometimes nudge things toward neo-classical and further away from any sort of classification. Not wanting to just regurgitate their PR, I can’t disagree with line that says that it’s “Like a painting by a renaissance master”.
With an Instagram feed of less than a dozen posts, no Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, and very little else about the band anywhere online, I met up with them to try and demystify things. Van Zon tell me that they’re named after a Dutch serial killer, but that the name also means From The Sun in Dutch. Drummer Ewan is part Dutch too, something the rest of the band didn’t find out until they’d settled on a name. They tentatively describe themselves as experimental folk rock, but don’t feel like their sound can easily be slotted in alongside any pre-existing genre. Cannon Fodder was one of the first songs that they played live, and has evolved each time it’s been played out, only becoming it’s final version when it was recorded around a month ago. The rest of their unrecorded material continues to change each time it’s performed, with the band keen to continue to make them “even more epic”. They claim the lack of an online presence isn’t a deliberate attempt to be mysterious – that they don’t have the time, and that they aren’t great at social media. Yet, as we part ways they upload a post of an old painting, with nothing but the dictionary definition of Cannon Fodder in the description, and no hint that it might refer to their upcoming single. So much for not being mysterious. However, the phone signal isn’t great and there’s part-serious, part humourous concern that it’s going to upload multiple times. Maybe this approach to social media is the essence of Van Zon right now – embracing their contradictions and letting their subconscious lead the way, wherever that may take them, and things just turning out just right.
Van Zon are playing five alternative escape gigs next week:
15 May / Pipeline (10:30) – Brighton Noise Stage
16 May / Grand Central (6:45)
17 May / The Gladstone (5pm)- Slack City Stage
17 May / UnBarred Brewery – (9pm) – JOY stage
18 May / The Hope And Ruin (2:30) – Love Thy Neighbour Stage
The EP was produced by Bobby Smiles, who’s an artist in his own right as well as a producer. “He’s amazing to work with – Some of us played in Tin Man so we worked with him on those recordings, and Charlie and Owen also play in Soft Top, and they worked with him too. He was on Our Family Dog a few years ago as well. He’s got around, but he’s also one of the nicest guys. He’s recording a lot of Brighton bands at the moment.” It feels like there’s a really strong Brighton Scene at the moment – you’ve mentioned bands you and Bobby Smiles are linked with, Flip Top Head are touring with Ideal Living, you go and see one band and the first three or four rows are full of members of other bands. It feels like the Brighton scene is the strongest it’s been in a long time. How does it feel from your perspective? “For us it feels like we’re just hanging out with mates. We’re really lucky, we started gigging just after lockdown and were ready to go once everything opened up again. We played gigs every three days for the first four months, but we weren’t the only ones – everyone had that energy and hunger to get out and about. You meet people and everyone becomes friends and then you’re all just doing it together. If they’re not playing in the bands, they’re working at the venues, at the bar or booking the shows. Also you play with loads of bands and everyone inspires each other, and that’s a beautiful thing. You go and see a band like Ideal living at Green Door before Christmas, and seeing those guys, you’re like Wow, there’s something really amazing going on. The competition is FIERCE! – We’ve been lucky enough to go and play elsewhere and meet a bunch of other bands that are local to those areas and there’s such great vibes, but then you come back to Brighton and there’s things like Mumfest and 234 – the standard of bands in Brighton is so high. We’ve got to try and be the best we can be. And everyone’s doing their own thing, it’s not like everyone’s overlapping, they’re supporting each other, it’s just wonderful. There’s always new bands cropping up as well. Van Zon are the new ones to watch. And Moon Idle (who supported Van Zon on the night we met up). We played at Mutations, and they played just before us. They’re a really cool band. One of those ones where you see a band and you say to yourself give this band a bit of time and they could be huge.”
Brighton Music Blog 