Chad VanGaalen: Awesome Pizza Maker

03/11/09 3:06pm

by Evan Dickson (CHARTattack)

It doesn't take much to figure out that Chad VanGaalen is a borderline death-obsessed hermit. That's part of why we here at CHARTattack think it's pretty special that he'll be playing our Canadian Music Week showcase on March 12.

We asked him a bunch of questions before he got out here:

CHARTattack: I think it's easy for people who listen to your music to imagine you as this mad homebody who just sits at home all the time making music. For one thing, your songs are often surreal, but I feel like some songs almost yearn for the peace of dreams or sleep or even death. "Willow Tree" has that line "When I'm dead is when I'll be free." And there's "Clinically Dead." That seems to be a strain that runs through some of your work.
Chad VanGaalen: I've said in other interviews before that the idea of that helps my brain get outside of itself a little bit. Contemplating your ultimate end is kind of an impossibility. Out of that, I get other ideas.

Contemplating your death?
Or just trying to even contemplate what would even come afterwards. It's kind of impossible, so it sends my brain into that realm where out of that idea I get other ideas of why people even feel it necessary to imagine it or if it really matters or if there is anything. If there isn't, what are you really basing your life on right now? By imagining the big picture, you can focus in on the little stuff, too.

Really, sometimes I just use it to trick my brain into getting outside of itself and being able to imagine other stuff. I use a lot of ideas from my dreams, too.

Is there anything that you don't like about coming to Toronto?
Getting out there. I don't really like travelling when I have to play a show 'cause it's just like you're driving as fast as you can across vast expanses of space or else you're burning up insane amounts of dinosaur bones trying to get there. The whole thing is kind of insane. More and more, I'm just kind of feeling bad about that.

Are you going to do carbon offsetting or anything like that?
Yeah, we do that, but that's bullshit. You just gotta stop. You're just spending money to feel good.

I'd rather, I don't know, go buy 100 basketballs and roll them down the street or something. But whatever, there are infinite amounts of things to feel bad about in the world, so I don't feel that bad about it.

Slowly, we're trying to find better ways to do it, like playing more local festivals and sticking around Alberta, unfortunately.

Also, I kind of offset it by touring as a one-man band a lot of the time. I can't imagine trying to tour as a six- or seven-piece band. You know, like Shout Out Out Out Out or bands like that that are bringing, like, two drummers and five bass players and all their crazy synthesizers and gear and stuff.

I hate gear. I just want to perform in my basement and just get the holographic projections going.

Do you think travelling for music goes against your nature?
I'm finding more and more stuff to do on the road, but, for the most part, it's just a vicious circle of drinking alcohol and getting kicked out of your hotel way too early, and then everybody's hung over on the tour van.

You get to the next venue and you do soundcheck, you go get something to eat... It's not really travelling. I wouldn't really call it travelling. It's more like being in this time capsule. You get home like a month-and-a-half later and it's like, "What? What's going on?" You're kind of socially fucked up, too, because you've been talking to all these strangers constantly.

Having a daughter, I just want to stick around home and focus on my family. But what else would I do with myself? I was flipping pizzas before I was a musician, which wasn't bad. It was pretty awesome. I got as much free pizza as I wanted to eat. That was pretty rad.