The Van Pelt | Interview | New Album, ‘Artisans & Merchants’
After twenty-five years of waiting, New York City cult indie favorites The Van Pelt have announced a March 17th release date for their upcoming fourth studio album, titled ‘Artisans & Merchants,’ which will be released jointly by Spartan Records in North America, La Castanya in Europe/World and Gringo in the UK.
The album was recorded and mixed in Summer / Fall 2021 by Jeff Zeigler (The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile) at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia, PA, and features guest appearances by Nate Kinsella and Ted Leo among others.
The Van Pelt has announced a series of UK, EU and Brooklyn shows in March and April. See dates below. The band just released their second single from the album, ‘Image of Health’.
Frontman Chris Leo says, “When a bunch of old VHS tapes were unearthed, the band had them digitized and they turned out to be from US tours of the mid-90s. The footage is mainly of daily banalities: random purchases at rest stops, packing and unpacking the van, highway views that could be on the outskirts of Any Town USA. Yet there is a nostalgia to it that’s compelling. The song mirrors the mood in both sound and text. Lines like “The floor is filled with resin on the place where you’re to sleep / if you have enough to drink you can pretend that it’s a sheet” bring any musician back to the rougher side of days on the road — yet again, the subtext here is that the spirit of it all is to be longed for.”
“We felt like we had something pure and original”
I’m very excited to hear your upcoming album, ‘Artisans & Merchants’. It’s your first new studio LP in a quarter century. What have you been up to?
Chris Leo: We’ve made families, moved back and forth and up and down the coasts as well as across the ocean, we’ve all had to find our fiscal footings along the way, and none of us ever stopped making art.
‘Punk House’ is your first single off the new album. What inspired the song?
I was one of the luckiest people during the pandemic. I had a one year old son who didn’t know what a different reality looked like, I had just opened my wine shop which was allowed to stay open throughout the entire thing, and I am nearing my half century mark on this planet — there could have been no better time to reflect on it all in silence away from all the clutter and noise in non-pandemic America. When thinking about our tours, the mix of nostalgia and disappointment, it made sense that a theme like ‘Punk House’ should be our first single.
Can you share some further details on how your latest album was recorded? What was the recording experience like? How was working with Jeff Zeigler (The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile) at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia, PA?
I’ve known Jeff Zeigler for over 20 years. I recorded a few songs for him with my band Lapse for an album that was picked up and then dropped by Matador before it was ever released, yet I have such fond memories of Philadelphia in those days and of that recording session in particular. It’s incredible to see what he’s made of himself since then and I was thrilled that the rest of the band was into the idea as well. Artistically we were also looking for an engineer that would know what to do with us. Capturing minimalism is no easy task. The slightest tweaks can render a Van Pelt song either dynamic or dull. We felt safe in Jeff’s hands. This session was wild. Neil O’Brien, Sean Greene, and I recorded in person while Brian Maryansky sent us his guitar and synth tracks from Salem, Massachusetts. We’d record the skeleton of a song as a three-piece and send it off to him to finish — which was particularly nuts since his guitar is front and center on most of these tracks.
You had Nate Kinsella and Ted Leo also being part of the album…
Old friends and one’s even a brother!
Would you say it’s a concept album about the times we are experiencing?
Funny you should ask since I’m often asking myself if I’m writing old man reactionary lyrics to the current times. The answer is both no and yes that it’s about these times. Yes in the sense that I hope to god we are alive and integral to today rather than just walking relics. No though because a) times are cyclical and so many of the hot themes of today have been popping in and out since the Egyptians and because b) another half of the album are songs about human longing which is timeless, I hope.
I just love how the latest video for the single turned out. Truly fantastic…
Thanks! My parents have this huge house in Bloomfield, NJ that they should have moved out of decades ago. Every time I go back, I find there is always another piece of the onion to peel away. Lots of this footage came from lost footage in some closet there, and it keeps on turning up more and more too.
You are also planning to go on tour and we will be able to see you in Europe as well. Are you excited to be back on the road?
Can’t wait! I think we’re a better live band now than we’ve ever been as well. So I can’t wait for the rest stops, the dead time between soundcheck and show, the beers with old friends and hopefully new faces, but also I can’t wait to air these songs out on stage.
“I think my one dream before starting a band was to escape America”
Would you mind if we go back in time to your teenage years? What kind of records and fanzines would we find in your room? What did you dream about before starting the band?
The first fanzine I “subscribed” to was called Chairs Missing after the Wire album. It was made by some dude in Connecticut. In a way it still embodies this sort of “border crosser” I hope I and The Van Pelt are. It was equal parts punk, NYC no-wave, and what they called “college rock” or “alternative” back in the day. My first records were Adam & The Ants ‘Prince Charming,’ Def Leppard ‘Pyromania,’ and The Who ‘Paint By Numbers’. I think my one dream before starting a band was to escape America. From a very early age I just wanted to get the fuck out of here. I’m here today though. I’ve lived all over the place, got my Italian citizenship and married an Italian, but in the end we wound up just 20 minutes from where I was born. I tell myself I love the trenches.
The Van Pelt formed in 1993 at New York University. Would you like to discuss some of those early bands you were part of like Native Nod?
In fact Numero Group will be releasing the Native Nod singles on one album later this year, so between the The Van Pelt reissues, our new album, and the Native Nod reissue, I’m sort of bogarting content in 2023.
So what led to The Van Pelt and how did you decide upon a name like that?
We felt like all of our peers were NOT in NYC. It’s hard to imagine a reality like this, but NYC was not a place you thought of for guitar-based music in the 90s. It was a place for hip-hop, djs, electronic, jazz, art-rock, et cetera — but not what we were doing. That being said, we loved NYC too much to leave. So we doubled down with an NYC name. The nerds in us went with a ubiquitous but never famous Dutch name you saw everywhere as vestiges from the original colony. Like something in the air rather than in your face.
Tell us what do you recall from those early demo recordings you did with Geoff Turner at WGNS studio in DC?
It was New Year’s Eve in 1994 I think. Not knowing anyone in town we had no party invites that night. My most salient memory was of us all going to a late showing of Nanni Moretti’s Caro Diario at an arthouse theater where the screen was the size of current home TVs. When midnight struck I remember Barry London throwing some popcorn at the screen. Nanni Moretti’s obsession with Jennifer Beals still resonates today.
The first release was a split single with Radio to Saturn, right?
That makes sense. That was my brother Danny’s band with Nick from Rorschach and Andy from Les Savy Fav.
Toko Yasuda joined just prior to recording your fantastic debut album, ‘Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves’. What are some of the strongest memories from writing, recording and producing it?
My strongest memory of writing with Toko Yasuda was still my very first. She was taking an engineering class at NYU and invited me to lay down some guitar. She put bass over it with her eyes closed. When I think back to the best The Van Pelts tracks with Toko on them, she wrote all her parts with her eyes closed.
That being said, many of those songs were written with Barry London on bass yet recorded by Toko Yasuda.
Would you say that today you are influenced by different situations?
In fact not so much, there’s an overlap to what I’m drawn to that dates back to Native Nod and beyond. Themes around transitional spaces and how they might relate to everything from the political to the personal are constant threads that continue today.
Your second album, ‘Sultans of Sentiment’ has one of my most favourite openings. It’s a beautiful journey from start to finish. What are some of the recollections of recording the album?
You’re talking about ‘Nanzen’. That is one of the most important beginnings for me too. The other guitar player on ‘Stealing’ was David Baum, and he was a lick-master that could make whatever structure I’d brought to the table jump to life. We broke up shortly after recording that album and lost Dave to Los Angeles. About 9 months later, Neil and I decided to reform, but as a 3 piece I couldn’t match those parts. I took a deep breath and focused on what I could do, what I wanted to do, and the first 3 notes of ‘Nanzen Kills a Cat’ are that.
At the time Baum and Yasuda would leave the group. Yasuda joined Blonde Redhead. Brian Maryansky and Sean Greene would join in late 1996 for writing, recording of and ‘Sultans Of Sentiment’ in 1997. Tell us about those lineup changes?
With Barry London and Dave Baum we were still so young. We had a blast but were predestined to implode. When Toko Yasuda left though, it cut deep. We felt like we were on to something. We sort of knew we would always be scrappers, never having the fancy record label or big mags behind us, but we still felt like we had something pure and original. So when she abandoned ship to join Blonde Redhead it took the wind out of our sails for sure. Luckily Brian Maryansky and Sean Greene’s band Cathode Ray was also imploding and when those two joined The Van Pelt, this idea that had been trying to find itself finally fully formed.
Who did the cover artwork for ‘Sultans of Sentiment’?
Sean Greene, the bass player!
What led you to disband in 1997?
A combination of youth, irreconcilable musical differences, and a sort of foreshadowing of a change of zeitgeist as well I think. For example, we had gotten really good at restraint. A logical choice would therefore be to keep honing restraint. But I wasn’t able to. I can only restrain so long until I need to release. After The Van Pelt I made a lo-fi album with Toko as The Lapse.
About half of the songs were former Van Pelt songs we would eventually release with The Van Pelt as our ‘Imaginary Third’ album. Thinking back on that Lapse album is a mind fuck. It’s rushed, poorly recorded, and overly antagonistic to everything including music itself. Of all of the albums I’ve ever made, it’s the worst. But at the time, there was no other way forward for me other than making an album like that.
What made you get back together in 2009?
A friend put together a 90s bill at SXSW and asked us to play. It was a blast, but an awkward blast. Replaying those songs stirred up all of the unsettling emotions in me that were there in 1997 when we broke up. With age and wisdom in our corner though, this time we faced them differently. It was clear to all of us that we were still a band and that no one would ever be allowed to quit again.
How come ‘Imaginary Third’ was not issued at the time of its recording?
We had planned on releasing it with Furnace Records, but they folded and instead became a vinyl pressing plant when they saw all other vinyl pressing plants closing. The owner Eric Astor was a visionary genius in seeing far far ahead of the curve that he just needed to stay the course and vinyl would come back.
Did your approach to music-making change? What’s the typical creative process for you these days?
These days I am mostly just a lyricist and vocalist who adds instrumentation to songs the other guys bring to practice. In the early days of The Van Pelt all my songwriting began with guitar though. The death of Tom Verlaine has me thinking about falling back in love with guitar, but right now I mostly want to sing.
Your finest moment in music?
I’ll have to answer this as if you are giving me a Rorschach test and just blurt something out. The first thing that comes to mind is The Van Pelt playing at Sojus 7 in Monheim, Germany in 1997. While we were on stage I thought to myself “wow, we’re really good.”
And the craziest gig you ever did?
Again Rorschach style: we played a squat in Postdam in the dead of winter in 1997 and there was no electricity. The place was lit by candles and all instruments were powered off a generator. As we were the headliner of three bands by the time it was our turn there was no juice. I remember thinking about how The Rolling Stones hated their performance on Rock & Roll Circus because it was too quiet or something but actually it was amazing. So we leaned into quiet and had a blast.
Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?
Again, Tom Verlaine took the wind out of me. So I’ve finally been giving all of the non-‘Marquee Moon’ albums the love they deserve. Like the self-titled album from 1992 is great! Listen to ‘1880 or So’ and tell me that’s not worthy of being up there with the rest of them. I have a four year old son who has been digging through my record collection and so a lot of what I listen to depends on what he likes. REM ‘Reckoning,’ Buzzcocks ‘A Different Kind of Tension,’ Sisters Sledge ‘We Are Family’. But I can’t blame it on him, the pandemic had me turn inward. I think the only new album I bought during it was Jessie Ware’s ‘What’s Your Pleasure’. When my son isn’t around I go a little deeper into my collection. Easterhouse was a band that never got its due over here. I can’t figure out why people still talk about The Minutemen but never Firehose. When neither my son nor my wife are home I listen to ‘The Year of The Cat’ and am endlessly jealous that I didn’t write those lyrics. We also listen to a lot of Italian music in our home. ‘Ancora Tu’ by Battisti are another set of lyrics for example that I stand humbly in awe of. And while we’re here talking about a band having a second wind, Wire’s ‘The Ideal Copy’ and ‘A Bell is A Cup Until It Is Struck’ have never left my rotation in 30 years.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
Thank you!!!
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: David Baum, Chris Leo, Neil O’Brien | The Van Pelt in 1995 at Neil’s house in Columbus, Ohio
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