“Founded in 2016 as the vehicle for music that needed to be shared, Vandenborre is a funk/acoustic project lead by 18 year old musician/writer Nicolas Vandenborre. With a diverse sound ranging from relaxing funk to emotional acoustica, Vandenborre aims to explore the spectrum of modern music through an original sound. With influences ranging from post-rock to electronica, the diversity found on debut album The Feast Of Worms highlights the potential and ambition that exists. Lead by an artist who also delves in poetry and playwrighting, Vandenborre embodies Nicolas Vandenborre’s beliefs and experiences alongside a gifted group of musicians, all sharing the objective of making the music they feel needs to be heard.”
Let’s get to Vandenborre and your music a little better. What attracted you to the styles you practice?
Vandenborre’s style is sourced primarily from the genres of funk and acoustic music. Rather than a hybrid sound, Vandenborre’s songs can be either characterised into one of those main categories, as both genres represent key ideals I see at the heart of the project. For funk, it started when I first discovered greats like Funkadelic and Vulfpeck. Listening to them, I felt a huge pull towards the bounce, energy and liveliness of the music. Even with more relaxed and soulful versions of funk, it was the best pick me up music I’d ever found, and I knew it was what I needed to create that positive and joyful element. The acoustic side of the music is a huge part of my personality and represents the sensitivity in a person. Artists like Iron & Wine, Ben Howard and Bon Iver have taught me a lot about life through their words, the delivery and the mood and emotion. It was almost a lifeline for me at times. It made me want to tell some of my personal stories through these songs. I can only dream that someday my lyrics and music could have an effect on others like my heroes did for me. In the end, it felt right to me to bring those genres together for this project, with the band’s message being about striving for happiness and a good life even when things are difficult and we need to face emotional burdens. That was the objective for the album: to find a balance between joy, happiness and emotional reconciliation. All of these elements are working together towards a sense of healing, to overcome and find happiness.
How long have you been making music? Have you been performing or sharing it with the public all that time?
I’m only soon to be 19, but I’ve been writing songs all the time for about 7 years. It started out with a lot of years of incoherent and illogical basslines, but overtime I got a bit better at figuring out what sounded good, where it made sense and on more instruments. I started sharing some songs with people when I joined my first full-time high school rock band. We spent a lot of time together having fun, writing and jamming songs as a team and coming up with all sorts of weird stuff. We shared a handful of songs with an EP, and it was nice to get a feel of what people thought. Performance wise, I’ve had a handful of shows in Singapore, most of them based in my old high school. I wasn’t great about actively looking for shows, but I absolutely love to perform, it’s amazing.
Who or what influences your writing and performance?
A lot of it is based in my life experiences, exploring different places, meeting and understanding people. I also enjoy writing literature and I’ve always been told to write only from what I feel I understand deep inside, so that’s where I try to focus it from. Musically, I feel like the music is influenced by the little things of a lot of different genres. I listen to a range of stuff from Jazz to Metal to Post Rock. Within these genres, there are moments of brilliance in a lot of artists that inspire me to try to capture those moments for myself, whether it be an incredible mood that was created or the intensity and message being really moving. Really, I just sit back and learn by listening. Performance wise, I’ve been performing in music and in theatre for 4 years more or less consistently, so I’ve gotten a lot of sound advice, the most important of which has always been to be powerfully energetic. Nobody likes a stale live show.
It seems all creative people go through rough patches or writer’s block of some sort. What motivates you to keep going?
Rough patches are difficult for me personally because of how they vary. I’ve had weeks of no productive output and I have had quite a few months where nothing seems to work. In fact, I haven’t written a poem that makes any sense in probably 4 or 5 months. I always want to be creating and usually am in some artistic field, so I can end up really restless at extended periods of getting nowhere useful. It can be really frustrating and even nerve-wracking, but I keep going always because I love doing it, so I don’t mind if I have a streak of a couple average ideas. It’s all in the perception really. For example, if the enjoyment is too focused from the success of creating “greatness”, instead of the pleasure of creating in general and the overall process. If my attitude is success based, I’m going to struggle with a lot periods of weakness because I’d be too dependent on making something great. Bad enough artists are constantly doubting they can make something great.
Were you trying to accomplish something different or specific with this project – creatively or otherwise?
Having learnt a lot from jamming in a rock band, I definitely knew that I wanted this project to be more cohesive sound wise. That band used to write anything from blues to funk to metal, and no song stood out because we kept pushing into new musical territory without a lot of clues as to what we were doing. I wanted to channel the ideas towards the specific funk and acoustic mix because it’s broad enough to have a range of sound, but still controlled enough that the album makes sense. Vandenborre itself was created because I suddenly saw an opportunity to record an album that could help kickstart the musical career. I was recording all of these songs I had written at different points of the last 2 years and I knew it wouldn’t fit into the rock band, so I just started something fresh.
What was the last song you listened to?
The last song I got stuck in my head was ‘All I Ever Wonder’ by St Paul and The Broken Bones. Those guys can do no wrong.
Do you prefer a certain medium for listening – vinyl, CDs, mp3, reel-to-reel, Pono,(lol sort of)?
I’ve mostly used vinyl and mp3, and between them it isn’t easy to choose. The difference between vinyl and digital music is a lot like a manual and automatic transmission in a car. With vinyls you have both the warm but imperfect sound and the inflexibility of changing between songs, both of which are a lot like the pleasant struggle of driving a manual gearbox. Digital is so much easier and simpler, but come on, everybody knows manuals are more fun than automatics. Plus, some vinyls are absolutely gorgeous. I recently picked up Caspian’s Waking Seasons and the design on the vinyl is incredible. However, for sake of convenience, ease and reliable quality, digital is still preferred for me.
If you had to choose one place to host your music, would you prefer Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, or … ?
This is a tough one. Spotify gives exposure with very limited financial results, where as Bandcamp is the complete opposite: not really known by casual music listeners but an awesome site that treat artists with a lot more respect. Because this project is really new and unknown, I’d go with Spotify, just to build up exposure and help get the band out there. I’ll need the money to go full-time one day, but until then, I can afford to get paid very little as long as people take a chance to listen to what I have to offer.
Do you ever feel as if your tunes are lost in a sea of music? What are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract new listeners?
The biggest problem is probably standing out and sounding original. While taking a risk and doing something new and unique might do really badly, it’s probably still better than sounding like the thousand other bands that describe themselves and stay very true to the typical indie/metal/rock sound. I don’t know if I’ve taken nearly enough risks with this album, it’s intimidating to step away from what people expect of you. It’s every bit harder when you step away from your own expectations. But I definitely think originality is a huge factor in finding success and getting people’s attention, so the big obstacle to overcome would be being unique.
Are you playing on live stages, clubs, bars, the local town picnic, festivals?
Right now, since I’m moving to London as part of university, live shows aren’t really an option. Because of the range of instruments on the album, I’d need quite a few musicians to help me create a worthy performance, and sadly I don’t know how realistic that is for now. I’ll definitely aim to perform in someway if and when I can, but for now it isn’t likely.
Do you ever stream your performances over the net? Where can music lovers see you perform?
I have never thought of doing it, and it’s a brilliant idea, thank you! If I manage to get a few live shows going when I’m in London, my Facebook would definitely be the place to look out for updates on my part. Maybe even a stream, if I figured it out…
Where is the best place to connect with you online and/or discover more of your music?
I’ve got the debut album ‘The Feast Of Worms’ out on a good range of platforms such as Itunes/Spotify/Bandcamp for the music and ‘Vandenborre’ on Facebook to get in touch and see what’s the latest news. I’m planning to create an instagram, snapchat and what not for the band one day, but that’ll probably wait until I have the chance to go full time with a group.
Can you share an anecdote or tale of woe or inspiration like a story about an out-of-touch club manager, your favorite fan interaction, broken busses, or you know… just some experience in your musical journey you’ll never forget?
I haven’t been on a on tour yet and I have only done 8 – 10 live shows, but one of my favourite experiences would still be the final performance my high school band did. We took a fairly big risk and played a cover of 2 Slipknot songs for an audience of 500 people whose collective taste would probably not fall far from indie, pop or EDM music. A lot of people thought it would be a big mistake, but once we hit the opening verse of Psychosocial, I was amazed to see so many people get into it, even if most of them would never listen to the song in their own time. It was amazing to see the energy in the place come alive, and for people’s enjoyment to come before any preference in taste. Hardcore EDM fans moshing to Slipknot! And all in the name of just having a good time and letting loose. The experience will stick with me because I realised everything goes when it is a live show. All that matters is if people having a good time.
Lightning Round
What’s your favorite ice cream?
Rum raisin. Works anytime of the year!
Place on Earth you must visit some day
Antartica
Batman or Spiderman?
Batman, he’s far more interesting on a psychological level.
James Bond or Jason Borne?
James Bond. My Dad and I watch the movies every now and again.
Favorite beer or beverage of pleasure?
As a nationalistic Belgian, I’ll go for Leffe
Left with a choice of one instrument, which would you keep?
Always the bass. It’s where I first feel in love with making music, and is the instrument I’m most comfortable with.
