Chad VanGaalen

Calgary native Chad VanGaalen lives in his own universe way up in the Rocky Mountains. It’s something that he conjured up in his own mind, then animated and populated with cartoons that occasionally shapeshift into stuffed animals. It only makes sense that he also builds his musical instruments, and writes and produces his own albums. With his new record Shrink Dust out, and an animated movie on its way later this year, we talked about recurring motifs, weird love and nature – the holy trinity of muses

 

Phone Interview by Brenda Bosma. Illustrations by Chad VanGaalen.

 

‘I do enjoy playing for people, but sometimes I don’t. It’s like a weird love’

 

You sing a lot about auto-mutilation and body morphing. Do you not like the human body?

I do! It’s more that I’ve been living outside the norm for a lot of years now – even as a kid I was outside of a lot of things. I’m more and more comfortable being outside of that and looking in, but I also find that I sort of alienate myself from the rest of the world in the process. That makes me feel a little strange about life in general, but it’s still healthy, I think.

 

Sounds like you’re locked in your own basement. Do you like it down there?

I do.

 

How do you make it nice and comfy?

I actually moved from the basement to the main floor! Lately I’m into carpentry, doing stuff with wood and concrete, ripping out the walls, making it my special place. And I usually leave a bunch of orange peels out and keep the door open to get a nice smell in there

 

Originally appeared on music and culture website Chart Attack, www.chartattack.com

 

So, working with your hands? The albums opens with the song ‘Cut off my Hands’. Strange, no?

That song summarises the vibe of the record and that statement kinda stands for who I am. To start from scratch, to grow out of nothing… That idea is interesting to me. It forces you into a new way of thinking.

 

But it’s also risky…

Yeah, with this record I felt the excitement of starting from scratch, but then also found myself looking down at the songs, judging them and realising I was in a place I’ve been before. I was battling with that. And I was also working on an animation at the same times. It was a major bummer when I found out that they couldn’t really coincide. But that’s actually when it turned into a better record.

 

You’re building a whole Chad VanGaalen world with your own hands!

I feel like I’ve won the lottery of life as far as the family and friends that I have. If I’m not doing what I promised myself as a child, then I feel like I’m betraying everybody, you know? I really feel like I owe it to the situation. Ever since I was eight years old, I wanted to do this. Making cartoons, building dinosaurs you can climb inside… you”ve got to do it, if you get the chance.

 

 

On ‘Diaper Island’ you were surrounded by turds; on ‘Shrink Dust’ it’s dust mites – from smelly to itchy. How can you keep your eyes and nose open?

You have to let yourself absorb all of that. The last two years were pretty strange years for me. Close friends passed away, my dog passed away, I was integrated into the proper adult world as a father, while not feeling all that ready for it. There’s a lot of tension with finding your way, thinking you’ll never find it. That fine dust ended up infiltrating me. It’s inevitable. You can’t sew up the cracks, it’s gonna seep in finally and get inside your brain.

 

About the song ‘Weird Love’. Why is it weird?

For me, everything is a little bit weird. I really battle with performance anxiety and at some point need to be making peace with the fact that it’s good enough to put out there. I do enjoy playing for people, but sometimes I don’t. It’s like a weird love.

 

That’s actually not that weird.

Let me put it this way: say you’ve got a distant cousin who you see occasionally and he smashes up all your toys and you feel like maybe he does that ’cause he has a crush on you. That’s weird and that makes him feel weird too. So now you both feel weird, but you secretly like him and feel that if he just stopped smashing your toys, you could probably have a lot more fun and get around the fact that you’re somewhat physically attracted to each other. Then somewhere later in life, you randomly meet again and talk about it.

 

That is weird. Do you also have a weird muse?

If I need to be set straight, I tend to go out in nature. I live close to the Rocky Mountains. I guess nature is my muse.

 

Chad VanGaalen plays on 14 September at Dokzaal in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members.