Interview: Chantel van T
Chantel van T started off as the lead singer of LA.VI, and then decided to explore her range joining as the lead singer for the electro act Diamond Thug. This then lead to the establishment of her solo project dubbed “Chantel van T and Friends”, a musical initiative consisting of various talented local artists to perform songs with the Chantel van T solo set.
I got the chance to ask Chantel a few questions about the recent developments in her musical career, and this is what happened…
What’s it like going solo?
“It’s exciting, it’s been a whole new journey trying to improve my guitar skills of which I had none to start off with. Just a few chords here and there, slowly finding melodies I like and writing around them. The song writing is a lot more personal than being with a band.”
Which other artists would you like to work with on your album?
“I’d love to keep working with local musicians. Being solo has given me the opportunity to work with some great people that are from other bands or that used to be in a band, or friends who I love playing with. But I would also love to get some international collabs done for the album, so we will see if that works out.”
Which artists do you look up to? Who inspires you?
“For my solo music I have tended to write a lot more folky music, so artists which have aided this a lot are Great Lake Swimmers, Youth Lagoon , Josh Ritter, Matt Corby, Local Natives and Joe Purdy.”
What are your plans for the future?
“I have so many! But for now I’m going on tour with Diamond Thug in June up to Joburg, where I’ll also be playing 2 solo shows and hopefully doing some collabs with artists from up there. Then I might be travelling to Europe later this year.”
You recently released your first single, “Slow Rain”. Can you tell us a bit about it?
“It’s always hard trying to explain exactly what a song is about and sometimes it’s nice for whoever listens to take their own meaning out of the song. I used nature as a symbolism of a journey of love, and by doing this I hope more people can relate to the feeling of the song, rather than the exact thoughts that ran through my mind when writing it.”
There are definitely big things on the horizon for this rising star and you get a pretty clear picture of that in the first single, which you can here below.
And to find out more about the ‘Lights Out’ tour that Chantal van T will be doing with Diamond Thug, go here.
