A Conversation with Mark Charles Heidinger of Vandaveer
WORDS Allison de la Torre
Simultaneously dark and transcendent, Vandaveer’s alt-folk harmonies are a fitting soundtrack for the perfumed tumult of May. The Washington, D.C.-based touring band will be making their Montgomery debut this month.
While Vandaveer’s Mark Charles Heidinger and Rose Guerin make their home in DC, Heidinger’s Kentucky roots shine through in the duo’s music and in his recent conversation with MADE.
Most Southerners have a keen sense of storytelling, and Vandaveer’s front man is no exception. A complete range of human experience and emotion is revealed in a shuffle of songs from the group’s four full-length LPs and one EP. Highlights include the whimsical, swelling modern-folk tracks “Concerning Past & Future Conquests,” “Dig Down Deep,” and “Everything is Spinning,” from previous albums and the traditional murder ballads that make up their current release, “Oh, Willie, Please.”
The feelings evoked by Vandaveer’s music call to mind an essential passage from William Blake:
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
Montgomery’s own Hank Williams masterfully embodied Blake’s bittersweet sentiments, and the country crooner’s influence on Vandaveer is clear. “We were listening to Hank today,” Heidinger quickly enthuses as we discuss Montgomery history on our recent phone call.
Vandaveer will come through Montgomery on May 14 during the Southern swing of their acoustic Living Room Tour. I ask Heidinger why the band is focused on intimate shows at this moment in their career. “It’s about carving out a niche [in the music industry], creating your own mom and pop business,” he says. “The connection with the audience is far more immediate. You get a better sense of a town’s identity. It feels more community-oriented.”
Here at MADE, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
THE DETAILS:
Helicity and MADE Paper Present Vandaveer
The Sanctuary, 432 S. Goldthwaite Street in Montgomery’s Cottage Hill
Wednesday, May 14, 8pm
Tickets must be purchased in advance at www.vandaveer.net/shows. Save $10 when you buy 2 or more tickets using the code 10BUCKSOFF at check out.