Van Plating Essential 8 Questions
- What do you love most about being on the road?
Performing is a collaborative act between audience and artist, and every night is a one-off: a never-to-be-experienced-again moment in time that will stand still in the memory of both performer and concert-goers, if it's a really good night (or a really not-so-good night). And all those nights, the good, bad, mediocre, and somewhere in-between are distinctly themselves, unable to be replicated or repeated because you can't turn back the clock. I LOVE connecting with people through song. There is absolutely nothing else like it. No experience compares to that feeling when you're baring your soul in melody and the audience is leaning in. When you're winding down on a low, soft moment and they're hanging on the melody and then the band explodes and they (the audience) explode with you. When you’re playing by your lonesome, just yourself and a guitar or piano and you can hear someone drop their drink in the back of the room bc everyone is holding their breath, experiencing the moment with you. You're together, intimately together in the act of performance. I miss it deeply right now. I miss the togetherness of it all.
- Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else, or a combination?
Everything I write is personal, even if/when it’s drawn through the abstract lines of reflection, observation or first/secondary experience. So I’d say my writing is definitely a combination of moments I’ve lived, observations I’ve made through reflections, and poetic imagery/things imagined or seen in real life-- that draws the listener into the mood or landscape I’m trying to create through the lyric which then drives home the story that the song is trying to tell.
- Who would you love to collaborate with?
This question is too easy. Patti Smith, Emily Haines (Metric), Brandi Carlile, Ruston Kelly, Andy Park, Ethan Johns. If you can connect me with any of these amazing humans please feel free to do so. I’m ready. I can repay you in undying love and affection. I’ll buy you dinner. No, I’ll cook you a five-star dinner post-pandemic at my house. Deal? Deal.
- What has been your biggest struggle so far?
Digging myself out to start again after leaving the music industry 10 years ago to build a family. The process of excavating my own creative vision to write an album while working and homeschooling. I was totally unsure if what I was doing was the right thing, but I was doing it anyway because I was compelled internally to do so, no matter what anyone else said or thought about it. I had to do it because I was made to do it. And that was the hardest thing I’ve done. To practice resurrection means first death has to happen, and it sure felt like that when I was going through the immersion therapy that was the early stages of beginning anew!
Performing is a collaborative act between audience and artist, and every night is a one-off: a never-to-be-experienced-again moment in time that will stand still in the memory of both performer and concert-goers, if it's a really good night (or a really not-so-good night). And all those nights, the good, bad, mediocre, and somewhere in-between are distinctly themselves, unable to be replicated or repeated because you can't turn back the clock. I LOVE connecting with people through song. There is absolutely nothing else like it. No experience compares to that feeling when you're baring your soul in melody and the audience is leaning in. When you're winding down on a low, soft moment and they're hanging on the melody and then the band explodes and they (the audience) explode with you. When you’re playing by your lonesome, just yourself and a guitar or piano and you can hear someone drop their drink in the back of the room bc everyone is holding their breath, experiencing the moment with you. You're together, intimately together in the act of performance. I miss it deeply right now. I miss the togetherness of it all.
- Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else, or a combination?
Everything I write is personal, even if/when it’s drawn through the abstract lines of reflection, observation or first/secondary experience. So I’d say my writing is definitely a combination of moments I’ve lived, observations I’ve made through reflections, and poetic imagery/things imagined or seen in real life-- that draws the listener into the mood or landscape I’m trying to create through the lyric which then drives home the story that the song is trying to tell.
- Who would you love to collaborate with?
This question is too easy. Patti Smith, Emily Haines (Metric), Brandi Carlile, Ruston Kelly, Andy Park, Ethan Johns. If you can connect me with any of these amazing humans please feel free to do so. I’m ready. I can repay you in undying love and affection. I’ll buy you dinner. No, I’ll cook you a five-star dinner post-pandemic at my house. Deal? Deal.
- What has been your biggest struggle so far?
Digging myself out to start again after leaving the music industry 10 years ago to build a family. The process of excavating my own creative vision to write an album while working and homeschooling. I was totally unsure if what I was doing was the right thing, but I was doing it anyway because I was compelled internally to do so, no matter what anyone else said or thought about it. I had to do it because I was made to do it. And that was the hardest thing I’ve done. To practice resurrection means first death has to happen, and it sure felt like that when I was going through the immersion therapy that was the early stages of beginning anew!
- What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
Work really, really hard. Practice your craft every day. Pay attention when you're listening back to yourself and accept what you hear before you try to fix anything. You might be surprised in a good way by what you did naturally. Metronomes and breathing exercises are your friend. If you're a singer, work on honing your vocal technique. This applies to any instrument! Explore the possibilities within your God-given toolset with an open mind, and then push against the boundaries of what you think you can do. You're probably more capable than you think. Voice memo the crap out of yourself! Learn to use your quirks and/ or weaknesses as strengths. Develop a creative discipline, and then foster an environment in your life which invites creativity as part of your daily routine. That doesn't mean floating around in a dreamlike state hoping the muse will strike. That means having regular times during the week for all aspects of your chosen discipline: technical practice, music writing, lyric and poetic writing. If you love it, none of this will seem like work. Instead, it will feel a lot like freedom. By doing those things, you are consciously creating an environment from which beautiful, focused work can flow. Otherwise, you're gonna be stressed out because you're never inspired or too intimidated to start. Do the work, and the work will come.
Work really, really hard. Practice your craft every day. Pay attention when you're listening back to yourself and accept what you hear before you try to fix anything. You might be surprised in a good way by what you did naturally. Metronomes and breathing exercises are your friend. If you're a singer, work on honing your vocal technique. This applies to any instrument! Explore the possibilities within your God-given toolset with an open mind, and then push against the boundaries of what you think you can do. You're probably more capable than you think. Voice memo the crap out of yourself! Learn to use your quirks and/ or weaknesses as strengths. Develop a creative discipline, and then foster an environment in your life which invites creativity as part of your daily routine. That doesn't mean floating around in a dreamlike state hoping the muse will strike. That means having regular times during the week for all aspects of your chosen discipline: technical practice, music writing, lyric and poetic writing. If you love it, none of this will seem like work. Instead, it will feel a lot like freedom. By doing those things, you are consciously creating an environment from which beautiful, focused work can flow. Otherwise, you're gonna be stressed out because you're never inspired or too intimidated to start. Do the work, and the work will come.
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- Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
It’s hard to say when the work starts and stops for me. I feel like when you’re a writer, you’re always writing. Everywhere you go, as you walk around living your life (hopefully with eyes and heart wide open) everything you encounter can become fodder for story and song. I always have a stack of books around my house and studio that I use for reference in my writing time. Some of them rotate and some writers just tend to stay with me, timeless like a Bible for my art. This year I’ve been obsessed with Patti Smith’s memoirs, such as Just Kids, M Train and The Year Of The Monkey. In writing my first record I went back to Annie Dillards’ The Writing Life over and over again and the poetry and prose of Wendell Berry. I still keep dog eared copies of their work out and around me when I’m working. I don’t draw material from these writers. What I gain is inspiration. 
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So, heart direction comes first, then it goes straight to the melody. I’m a big fan of music-first writing. I either start from a melody I’ve had kicking around in my head or a chord progression. Once I find the melody, then the vibe of the melody makes itself known and the words begin to come out. I usually will have an entire song written in with full melody and chords all sussed out within a session. Lyrics come last. I also keep a Google doc of phrases as they come to me and sometimes if I’m stuck or if there’s a phrase I remember particularly loving that I wrote down, I’ll open it up and play with it. But the melody always dictates where the words will go. So then as I’m improvising I begin to uncover the inspiration for the lyrical context for the song, and all those influences from my day to day life, moments I’ve lived, thoughts I’ve had, the beauty I’ve seen, conversations I’ve had, they all culminate into the melody and poetry becomes alive in the lyric. It’s a kind of mystical discipline, I suppose.
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- What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician?
From my violin professor in college who was like a second father to me for many years and would often quote South Park in orchestra rehearsals from the conductor's platform while using a hand puppet named "Pepe" - he said, "If you're gonna fail, go big. Don't play timid. Play with everything you've got, with all your might and if you screw up, they'll remember your heart and your musicianship way more than your mistakes." From my violin teacher when I was six years old when I asked him how many days a week I needed to practice--"Only on the days you eat."
- Is there a professional “bucket list” item you would love to check off?
I have LOTS but here are a few favorites: headline a sold-out bill at Red Rocks, win some Grammys, tour with some of my favorite artists like Ray Lamontagne, Patti Smith, and Brandi Carlile, the cover of Rolling Stone, playing a tiny desk concert at NPR.
Singer-songwriter Van Plating brand new single "Bird on a Wire" comes after her 2019 self-titled album after a nine-year hiatus from music.
The new single is an intimate personal tune that dives into feelings of being tired and no longer able to carry a burden. Yet, despite struggle Plating sings “I’m not strong enough to carry you, but I can hold your hand as we wander blindfolded in the dark.”
This is the first in a series of four upcoming singles from Van Plating’s new musical direction that she can’t wait to share.
Check out Plating work via this link