The Van Tastik Life Of Chris Dell'Alone

American blues man Van Tastik has just finished a long and hard 50-hour work week. Wary but not swayed, this doesn’t stop him sitting down and chatting to Super/Unknown about his musical journey and where it’s taken him.

Recently moving away from Edinburgh, Van Tastik was a regular artist around the city in various venues and quickly established himself around town as a respected musician, with his powerful onstage persona, bellowing voice and finely sculpted facial hair. In fact, have a look around town next time you’re out, and I’m willing to bet you’ll see at least one of his “VT” stickers stuck to a lamppost, wall or crossing.

The recently married songwriter is now settling in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, juggling a full time work schedule with a full time music schedule. A natural wanderer, Van Tastik has taken his music around the world, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.

Hey Van! How are you today?

All good! Pounding away at work on new material and getting over a nasty hangover and a 50 hour work week!

You’ve recently moved from Edinburgh after an extensive stay here performing music around the city and the surrounding area, tell us how that experience was?

I miss the Burgh and the Edinbrites. The experience was good! A drive to Newcastle, Ferry, from Amsterdam to Utrecht and I was there. Settling here was another matter though lots more paperwork than in the UK for a European, funnily enough.

Was there a specific reason you chose Edinburgh/Scotland as a place to move to?

I liked the city when I visited it 8ish years ago to see family, also on vacation there. I came out of Waverley by the taxi ramp and as I rose up the pavement my jaw gradually dropped. I don't know maybe the gravity on my jaw was getting heavier as I went up or something, but I was dumbfounded at the beauty of the city. I didn't get to experience much of the nightlife there, but I did play a gig in the old quarters of the forest cafe back when it was in the big church building on Forrest Road.

As a performer from America in Scotland, what are the differences in music scenes/live etiquette? Do you prefer the vibe over here, is the vibe different?

Van Gig Bound On The Streets Of Edinburgh

Now honestly, I couldn't tell you for sure I'm an exile and have been for the past 10 years or so partially because I strongly disapprove of the way my country is run and partially because I can't afford to go there. What I know of the scene over there is different for sure. In America, there is a lot more competition. Children take music and stick with music throughout their teens and beyond and the pressure is immense if you want to do something with your music. I would also say that everything in the US sort of takes a backseat to Pop and Hip-Hop and R'n'B. In the UK the fact that you're playing different music, in my experience, and particularly of the type I play (people there seem driven to blues and Americana) is applauded and encouraged and becomes a thing of its own.

However, I would say there is also more audience driven to original music in the US whereas in the UK there are heaps more cover bands and cover artists.

You were very busy during the Edinburgh fringe just passed, tell us a bit about the experience of the fringe as a performer…

Man, the Fringe is crazy. I really disliked the experience of busking there because the whole thing could be a bit cliquey and there was no real money to make, I much preferred playing bucket shows because the audience is there to listen to you and enjoy music. I had over 90 gigs during the Fringe past and worked some seriously intense hours, but I had a great time with it. Unfortunately, I do also think that the Fringe's fame has been its downfall. As it has become more mainstream and popular, it's become a way for comedians and theaters to charge for shows they are still fucking around with or material they aren't sure of. It has also brought such a saturation of acts of ANY kind to the city that it's near impossible to stand out from the crowd and the whole thing has become much more contrived with numerous rules around busking and performing.

Your stage performance is pretty unique, as a solo guitar player you always seem to have something like a briefcase to use as percussion, do you have an idea of what it is you want to use or do you find these objects by chance?

Always. And if at first I'm not sure I always have an intuition in the back of my mind calling to me, and some objects just take longer to piece into my act than others. The suitcase was always going to be my kickdrum. It's got wheels, it can carry my shit and I can paint my name on it. What more can a one man blues-rock band ask for? (laughs)

You've recently released a couple of singles, is there a plan for a full - length album in the future?

There are plans for a release within the year, maybe even two, but I don't want to spoil the fun….

Since leaving Edinburgh a few months back, it seems you travelled around for a bit and ended up in the Netherlands, was there any particular reason for that location?

Yeah, I love travelling and discover new lands and cultures. There are more stops in store but it's the Netherlands for now. The reasons behind that are the unfortunate visa agreements between commonwealth countries and the mother-island. My wife being a colonial, her visa only lasted two years and we weren't married by that point in time and even so, the legal ins and outs were too strenuous and the chances of obtaining permanent residency for her too slim to risk it. I also wanted to be somewhere more accessible for the rest of Europe and the Netherlands or my homeland of France were two considerations and Netherlands won out because of the stronger language barrier my partner would have encountered there.

I see that you're coming back to Edinburgh to perform a couple of shows, are you excited to return to Scotland, how did this come around?

Absolutely! I love and miss Edinburgh! And I was very sad to leave it! May 17th! Keep the date free! I was offered a gig with the Edinburgh Blues Club before I left the country and I of course accepted the opportunity to play for such a prestigious entity in such a dark and lavish setting as the Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms. That will be on May 17th and tickets are already available and going fast! Also did I mention May 17th?

I see you got married recently, congratulations!

Thank you. It was a bit of a whim and neither of us are very marriage-y people, but it seemed smart to try and shove all the cards up our sleeves that we could in order to get my partner to stay here with me and give us the possibility to travel Europe and New Zealand freely.

That’s just about it today Van, thanks for taking the time to talk to us, any last words?

Don't forget to check out all my social media pages and click like, follow and add to playlist (on spotify) if you enjoy my stuff. The more people like my page the more I'll be able to travel around and gig and therefore come back to Edinburgh! Check out my Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, iTunes and Soundcloud! I've even got Deezer, Shazzam and Tidal now for you hipsters.

Take it easy man, thanks!

Buy tickets for Van Tastik's show at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms (May 17th) here

Watch Van Tastik's latest music video for "Drag Me To Hell" here