For our next ‘In Conversation With..’ series, we caught up with the multi-genre-bending trio, VanIves. Hailing from South-West Scotland, their sound originates from the dance floor, layering catchy hooks and immersive imagery which is quietly making them Scotland's most exciting export.

For those who know nothing or very little about you, please introduce us to VanIves.

VanIves was created by childhood friends Stuart Ramage and Roan Ballantine, and saw the addition of Kyle Sharp soon after. The project began from sampling and making beats from old family VHS tapes, while writing about the memories they hold. VanIves records and produces its music independently from their flat in Glasgow.

You are very competent musicians. Do you recall when you first picked up your instruments?

Kyle: I started playing the drums when I was about 13 / started my standard grades, but had never played anything like this till working with these guys..

A very poignant time, but do you remember the moment you discovered how cathartic making music could be?

Stuart: I have been playing and writing music since early high school but I think I only truly appreciated its value towards the end of my years at university. After experiencing a heavy loss in my family, music became the only thing that made sense, and was a place where you can be brutally honest with yourself. I think this is where music became real to me, and let me explore emotions from years before that I didn’t understand.

Some musicians are influenced by every aspect of life, what influences you and what you create?

For VanIves everything we write about has to be personal. After trying different writing techniques we quickly discovered our best music always has a deep connection to us. However we also write for theatre, so really enjoy writing in a fictional style too.

You have kept a very D.I.Y. process of making music, with writing, producing and recording all from home. How important do you find this process?

Roan: You have complete control if you do it your self, DIY doesn't have to be shoddy either, you realise very quickly where you have weaknesses and what you need to learn to get your tracks sounding just like your favourite artists. You learn about the gear that's essential and you have all the time in the world to explore sounds and do your takes over and over again as you're not hiring a studio. Making music would be dull for us if we couldn't experiment with sound. An engineer isn't going to tell you to do that when you've paid £300 for a day in the studio. Yeah, 100% DIY is fun and full of mistakes and we wouldn't do it any other way.

VanIves released their milestone EP, ‘The Waves And I Would Wonder’, in 2019. Taking an unorthodox approach to composition, whilst travelling around Scotland, please tell us about that extraordinary experience?

Creating this piece of work was wonderfully submersive. So, we went on a big trip round Scotland collecting organic audio samples from the likes of Fingal’s Cave, snow crunching at the top of Ben Nevis, or the sound of the waves and a fire as we camped on a beach in Mull. While in these picturesque locations, we wrote the songs to accompany the samples we had collected. Creating music that is so entwined with itself makes such a rich story to accompany songs, which was a amazing to be a part of. In addition we had Ruari Barber-Fleming creating music videos on our trip which was an incredible addition to the project.

Last year you went on your first tour with Scottish pantheons, Fatherson. How did you find that, and what is the most invaluable piece of learning you took away whilst being on tour?

Kyle: It was amazing. We were all big fans anyway, so to spend a week with them was a lot of fun. They have such a loyal fan base and it was really lovely to see such a large portion of them show up early for us each night and have checked out the music.

As for what we learned… That was our first ever tour so we definitely took a lot away from it. But I reckon the biggest take away was how taxing it could be on your body. Especially for Stu who also did all the driving, and how important it started to become to eat well, drink water, get enough sleep etc., to put on a good show the next day. Meal deals definitely only go so far. Eat fruit.

COVID-19 has brought our beloved music industry to its knees, how have you been making use of quarantine, creatively?

Roan: Hmmm... Some days yeah, it's nice to see the world slow down a bit. Routine is very important for productivity I think, the start of lockdown threw us all out of our routine and into a bit of a creative stumble. The most annoying thing is all our studio stuff is at Stuart's so if I want to record anything I have one mic and a tape machine and a tiny midi keyboard. Not the worst I guess.

Your music has the ability of changing your listener’s perspective of the wider world. Does creating music in any way affect your understanding of yourselves?

Stuart: Absolutely. I think the brutal honesty we search in ourselves to create music from our own experiences leaves no stone unturned in your past. Personally, I find this creates a sort of unguided therapy session, which can bring joy and understanding, but in turn, find dark rabbit holes of over analyzation. However, I think this important in understanding yourself.

Once we step out of these uncertain times, what is next for VanIves?
We have so much new music and have made some of the loveliest collaborations recently, so we are excited to get releasing asap.

Listen to VanIves’ ‘Isolate Tape’ EP here, featuring four completely brand new songs.

All money will help fund their next release.

In Conversation With.. VanIves