Music / Alt rock
Van Zeller: Road Songs
“We love service stations. Membury, Tebay, Gloucester… we’ll go out of our way to get a good-quality sausage roll.” When I sit down with Ben and Charlie of rock ‘n’ four-piece Van Zeller, they make it clear they’re serious about their road snacks. The band are about to embark on their first tour ever, and they’re planning their route carefully. They’ll be headlining venues across the UK through September, with a final blowout aboard the Thekla alongside LEECHES and Milo’s Planes on the 29th. Puff pastry stops are a big deal when you’re on the road for hours on end.
Ben and Charlie know doing a headline tour straight off the bat isn’t how this usually goes, and when it was first suggested, they were understandably intimidated. “We were like, ‘are you sure? We’ve never toured!’” Ben recalls. “We only have two songs out, and we don’t have a manager or anything – it’s just us with a Gmail account. We don’t even have a van!”
Despite their pre-tour nerves, Charlie refers to the string of shows as “perfect timing,” and Ben agrees. “This is reflective of everything we’ve done so far – we play live to learn about our songs,” he says. And it sounds like the band is in a period of flux. “We’ve found our form together,” explains Charlie. “At first, we all played really loud because we were anxious about our lack of skill, and gave each other tinnitus.
is needed now More than ever
But now we sit down and work out how we can make music that changes and moves. This tour has come at the right point – there will be a nice balance in it between our older, faster stuff, and the stuff that will come on the album.” And when can that debut LP? “I want to make an album that’s all killer no filler,” says Charlie. “I want every song to be really concise and make sure all flows. But that won’t be for a while.”
No wonder – the band are currently busy completing degrees at Bristol University, where they’ve also become good friends with another set of Bristol Uni alumni: much-shouted-about post-punk band, LICE. “We didn’t know anyone when we first moved to Bristol – we’ve met loads of people through them, and them through us,” says Ben. “They’re an insane package, and they’re really inspiring to us as musicians – they made us realise we can’t just play three chords!”
If Van Zeller’s first anthemic, excitable tunes are anything to go by, they’ve learned a lot so far already and as for the tour – let’s just hope they have enough time to nosh on some choice savoury pastries on their way.
Van Zeller headline Thekla on Friday, September 29. Grab a ticket at www.theklabristol.co.uk
Main image by Jake Haseldine
Read more: Simon Raymonde, Bella Union
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