Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 15 hours ago
Prior to this interview I reviewed Vanessa Van Ness's dramatic slow dark folk song "The Muscle" (song for Kate). A love song that she wrote for her girlfriend that has a almost mythological forming scope in it's songwriting. You can read the original piece and learn more about her song here:
americanpancake.com/2020/07/vanessa-van-ness-and-dark-heavy-folk.html
On this interview I find out about Van Ness's absolute attention to detail in framing her songs with interesting back stories. Her background in traveling to destinations as a relief responder, moving rubble in the Nepal earthquake, her involvement in the television industry, her love of Lucy Lawless or rather Zena, the Warrior Princess as a Lesbian icon and more. I found her to be a free and giving spirit and look forward as her music career expands.
My apologies to Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde fame as I pronounce her name as something in between Janet and Johnette (hey, this is live streaming folks).
Cheers
Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
LINKS TO THE ARTIST: Vanessa Van Ness
spotify
soundcloud
bandcamp
instagram
Vanessa Van Ness is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer from Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Before pursuing music she worked in film & television, and would often volunteer as a disaster responder between film shoots. This led her on various disaster relief projects in Ecuador, Nepal, and the American Midwest.
"The work days were typically 12 hours and involved a lot of physical labor," said Van Ness. "Playing music and writing songs was a form of decompression."
Van Ness' debut single, True True Shot, released September 20, 2019, reached #12 on the Hype Machine popular charts, and was written while she was living in Nepal as a disaster responder after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.
"I didn't have anything to play on in Nepal, so I ended up buying an electric guitar from a teenage boy off of the Nepali equivalent of Craigslist," she told Australia's 4ZZZ. "It was called a Givson GS 1000. When I took it back to the village, some of the local guys who played music laughed at me. I later learned it was considered the worst electric guitar in Nepal and India."
Beginning as a bedroom guitarist inspired by 1950s guitar heroes Bo Diddley, Link Wray, and Howlin Wolf, Van Ness began writing songs at an early age. She was encouraged to sing and release music by friends Ry X and Phil Danyew (Elephant Castle, Foster the People), and began adding vocal elements to her songs while learning audio production on a budget DAW.
Despite having a voice called 'inimitable' by Tonspion, Van Ness says she never considered herself a vocalist until recently. "I was always scared to sing, because I'm not a trained singer. A lot of musicians can sing and hit all the right notes, so the best chance I have is to be myself. I try to focus mostly on my delivery and intention. If I can sing a word in a more interesting or emotive way, then I do it."
Van Ness' second release, 'The Muscle (Song for Kate)', a dreamy LGBTQ indie rock lullaby with lush ambience written for her girlfriend, is slated for release on July 31, 2020.
Prior to this interview I reviewed Vanessa Van Ness's dramatic slow dark folk song "The Muscle" (song for Kate). A love song that she wrote for her girlfriend that has a almost mythological forming scope in it's songwriting. You can read the original piece and learn more about her song here:
americanpancake.com/2020/07/vanessa-van-ness-and-dark-heavy-folk.html
On this interview I find out about Van Ness's absolute attention to detail in framing her songs with interesting back stories. Her background in traveling to destinations as a relief responder, moving rubble in the Nepal earthquake, her involvement in the television industry, her love of Lucy Lawless or rather Zena, the Warrior Princess as a Lesbian icon and more. I found her to be a free and giving spirit and look forward as her music career expands.
My apologies to Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde fame as I pronounce her name as something in between Janet and Johnette (hey, this is live streaming folks).
Cheers
Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
LINKS TO THE ARTIST: Vanessa Van Ness
spotify
soundcloud
bandcamp
Vanessa Van Ness is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer from Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Before pursuing music she worked in film & television, and would often volunteer as a disaster responder between film shoots. This led her on various disaster relief projects in Ecuador, Nepal, and the American Midwest.
"The work days were typically 12 hours and involved a lot of physical labor," said Van Ness. "Playing music and writing songs was a form of decompression."
Van Ness' debut single, True True Shot, released September 20, 2019, reached #12 on the Hype Machine popular charts, and was written while she was living in Nepal as a disaster responder after the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.
"I didn't have anything to play on in Nepal, so I ended up buying an electric guitar from a teenage boy off of the Nepali equivalent of Craigslist," she told Australia's 4ZZZ. "It was called a Givson GS 1000. When I took it back to the village, some of the local guys who played music laughed at me. I later learned it was considered the worst electric guitar in Nepal and India."
Beginning as a bedroom guitarist inspired by 1950s guitar heroes Bo Diddley, Link Wray, and Howlin Wolf, Van Ness began writing songs at an early age. She was encouraged to sing and release music by friends Ry X and Phil Danyew (Elephant Castle, Foster the People), and began adding vocal elements to her songs while learning audio production on a budget DAW.
Despite having a voice called 'inimitable' by Tonspion, Van Ness says she never considered herself a vocalist until recently. "I was always scared to sing, because I'm not a trained singer. A lot of musicians can sing and hit all the right notes, so the best chance I have is to be myself. I try to focus mostly on my delivery and intention. If I can sing a word in a more interesting or emotive way, then I do it."
Van Ness' second release, 'The Muscle (Song for Kate)', a dreamy LGBTQ indie rock lullaby with lush ambience written for her girlfriend, is slated for release on July 31, 2020.
