David Vandervelde has officially blown up a good chunk of the West Coast with his spitfire, spaced out and gleaming white, hot rock sounds. His music and style harken back to the late 1960’s and 1970’s, only with a flair of the modern and the resourcefulness of being in the right position to make his music what he demands of it. He recently played at the Detroit Bar, a venue within the heated boundaries of Orange County. And while we caught up with him on his first ever U.S. tour, opening for another Secretly Canadian labelmate by the name of Richard Swift, Vandervelde took on the audience like a seasoned and very well groomed pro with an astronaut’s grin. His character truly enveloped the crowd that night as he held nothing back from the action in his music, taking most of the two to three minute songs from his new album, The Moonstation House Band, and elongating their recorded territories into epic, six-minute live pieces. He slashed that guitar up for those brief moments and the audience went right along with the ride, shouting their joys and dancing to the rock grooving sounds of songs like “Jacket,” “Nothin’ No,” and “Cocksucker Blues” (an old Rolling Stones tune). He’s also got the right people behind and directly next to him on stage, as one can see the almighty and faithful presence of the other Moonstation gents in Derek James (Drums) and Richie Kirkpatrick (Bass). Vandervelde gives us many good reasons to listen, absorb and emphatically bow down to the grace of his electrifying performance.

DZ: How’s everything going with the tour so far?
DV: Great so far. We started off in Seattle at the KEXP radio show and have been going steady at it since. The only problem we have run into was at this one place called, Chopsueys, where Derek had his cymbals stolen and I also got robbed of my pedals. We were just hanging out in the hallway after our set, not paying attention I guess and they were taken from us. Other than that everything else is going really well.

*DZ: How did you and the band meet up for this tour? *
DV: Well I’ve known Derek since we were in junior high back in Holland, Michigan. He’s a great friend and we don’t really fight with each other, opting to agree to disagree on most things (laughs). While I was in Chicago recording the record, Derek was doing some stuff with his own band out there and I asked him to come in at times and lay some stuff down. And I met Richie out on a brief acoustic tour on the East Coast a while ago.

DZ: So, the only thing solo about the record is the sound you wanted to get from it?
DV: Well, this is my first solo record ever. I’ve worked on some other records in the past, but as far as it being my tunes and my recordings it is a solo record in that respect. I always look at it as a real treat for me to have friends come in and lay down some tracks. It’s not like I went out to make this record thinking, ‘I’m going to play everything by myself and I won’t let anyone else play instruments on it.’ That wasn’t my intention at all. I just had so much time over the past two years making the record and having so much equipment to use that when other people came in to play on it I already knew what sound I wanted.

DZ: Who would you say are some of your musical influences?
DV: I really dig the early Bee Gee’s tunes. I also really like George Harrison, Donavon and Todd Rundgren.

DZ: What did you look forward to about coming out to California for this tour?
DV: I totally love it out here. Everyone seems to be really nice and I think it’s got something to do with the climate. That and the lush vegetation!

DZ: Where do you envision your music taking you?
DV: I’m personally looking forward to and I’m really excited about doing some more recording. I’m really interested in getting back into that personal space where I really want to be in to record more good music. I also really love playing live. I mean I’ve never really played live like this so much before and I’m really getting to like that aspect of it a lot also.

DZ: What are your future plans for the next record?
DV: Right now I’ve actually got two more tunes that I need a good amount of time to just wrap up and finish. I was even thinking about the next record and doing something like putting out two records almost simultaneously and having it be like a double disc. I want it to be more of like a live type rock album with minimal overdubs and with Ritchie playing bass and Derek on the drums, and me playing a lot of electric and singing and just doing a lot of it live…or most of it live. I was even thinking about bringing in some other friends for keyboards and other instruments. I also have this other idea of putting together some of this other pianoy type stuff that I like to do. I’m just really into writing a lot of ballads right now. So I play a lot of piano when I’m at home back in Chicago.

DZ: Are you classically trained?
DV: I don’t read sheet music at all, but I’m getting a little better at reading and knowing the notes. I just can’t look at sheet music or the piano and be like, ‘What’s that key…or note,’ you know?

DZ: I guess you have a good ear for music then?
DV: Yeah, I like it that way. I have no interest in really wanting to know the way to read music. I think what’s cool about not knowing is that little bit of magic or even a mistake you make in playing music because you’re going to do something a little bit differently if you don’t fully understand it. I really like playing instruments that I’m not familiar with. I’m very much an ear guy.

DZ: How did you meet up with the David Campbell (Beck’s dad) to do some of the string arrangement on your album?
DV: After high school, I was doing some recording work in Grand Rapids (Michigan) and put together a demo of the “Moonlight Instrumental” track and sent it to him along with a demo of “Wisdom From A Tree,” which didn’t have any strings but it was dying for it. So those went out to him and he put some work on them and made his own demos of them. I later got a call from him saying that he was really digging my tunes and he wanted to know if I would make it out to LA to check them out. The stars were just aligned appropriately. I feel, too, that I’ve just been really, really lucky and got in touch with the right people. I mean meeting up with Jay (Bennett), recording, getting lined up with Secretly Canadian, opening up for (Richard) Swift…I couldn’t ask to be around better people.

DZ: Any other bands/musicians you’re into right now that are making records, touring and a little under the radar?
DV: Yeah…Eli Reed. I saw him live at SXSW this past year. He’s so real, believable and special. A great musician really.

DZ: With what you accomplished in the studio are you looking to re-create that same magic in your live shows?
DV: I have no interest in trying to recreate the record live because live is a totally different ballgame and it should be different. There’s an entirely different type of energy playing with a band onstage than it is when you’re listening to a CD in a quiet room or hanging out with friends turning a record up loud and having fun. Plus, I’d have to find like seven players to re-create the sound of the record. I look at Moonstation as a real experiment in the studio. I couldn’t re-create that kind of organization.