Usually, this would be the part where I tell you a little bit about vera, etc., the incredibly talented songwriter, producer and graphic designer from the Netherlands. Today, though, I'm going to take a different approach, because I think Vera did a pretty good job introducing herself on her song "hey", released in July 2020 as part of her "hey hi!" single.
"Hey,
I'm Tac
I'm 25, I'm Dutch
I cannot drive
I would tell you my real name
But I think it might
Think it might die"
"hey" will be the opening track on 'offline', part of a series of two albums that Vera is currently working on. The other album is 'online', which will be hitting Bandcamp September 3rd, on her very own netlabel avant en garde!
Vera's music is a mix of glittery, distorted electronics, emotive indie rock guitars, and a very autobiographical lyrical slant, as showcased in the lyrics above. She is also an incredibly talented graphic designer, and is responsible for the artwork on every release on her label. One glance at the label's Bandcamp will immediately suck you into her personal aesthetic - an enchanting mix of pastel colours and psychedelic, abstract dream worlds.
I sat down to talk to Vera and ask her opinions on all sorts of things, and also to see how she's feeling now that she's on the cusp of releasing her most ambitious musical release yet.
L: Firstly, how are you? What have you been up to?
V: Hi! I’m doing well! Thanks for having me on! I’ve been making a lot of music and artwork trying to finish my first album! It’s pretty stressful but I’m also really excited to share these songs!
L: The earliest recordings on your Bandcamp date back to 2019 - was this when you started making music, or did you start at an even earlier date?
V: I think I started making music around 2012, but I was pretty much just messing around with software and I never really made anything beyond weird sounds and tiny loops. Making weird sounds is a lot of fun! But I really wanted my songs to be more than that. So, I think around 2018 I decided to take it a little more seriously and it was then that I really started to learn how to play instruments and write lyrics and record and all that fun stuff!
L: Your music is super varied and unique, betraying an eclectic array of influences. Who are some of the artists that influenced you the most? I do remember you mentioning "Field Mouse" was inspired by 80's indie pop band the Field Mice.
V: For this album I’m definitely very inspired by indie pop in all its different shapes and sizes. There’s something so pure and great about indie music, and how these bands manage to take very simple parts and make really great songs. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about making music just from listening to tons of indie pop. I think Spinvis, the Softies, Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain might be some of the biggest influences on my music currently, but it’s actually really hard to pin down because I’m a big nerd and I’m constantly looking for new music and sounds I’ve never heard before!
For example, electronic music also is a huge influence on the way I make music. I grew up listening to it and I’ve really grown to love electronic music that is simultaneously experimental and pop. I think acts like the Chemical Brothers and Björk really struck a sweet spot in the 90s, but there is also a lot of music like this happening right now in internet spaces. PC Music, and all the scenes adjacent to them are constantly making exciting music. And of course, SOPHIE is a huge part of this and she will be sorely missed.
L: In the 20th century, it was pretty uncommon for creative people to take on two or more art mediums at once in equal measure. But I feel like the Internet age has made it easier for someone to become a jack-of-all-trades. Case in point, your graphic design pursuits seem to be just as important to you as your musical endeavours. Would you say that's true, or is one of the two mediums more important to you?
V: I think that’s true! Music has more of my attention nowadays, but I’ve always loved making visual art as well. In fact, one of the reasons why there’s such a large amount of time between when I started to make music and now, is because I spent a lot of that time developing my own visual style and getting a degree in visual design. It’s like a pendulum that swings back and forth. If I get tired of making music, I can draw instead, and vice versa. However, eventually I would love to bring the two different sides closer together. I’ve always loved when albums incorporated different media in one bigger piece. Like Beyoncé’s Lemonade or the Constructus Corporation’s Ziggurat album.
L: Downloads of your debut EP 'Sunday' came with a 40-page comic written and illustrated by you. Does the comic tie in to the music on the EP, or is it its own thing?
V: The comic is very much its own thing. I added it as a bonus to the EP for one of the Bandcamp Fridays last year, but the comic itself I made in 2019. I originally made the comic for a Patreon page I briefly ran, until I realized that making short comics every month is far too much work for me to sustain. The Patreon page collapsed pretty quickly, but the comic still existed, so I wanted to give it a home, and that home became the EP! I’m still pretty proud of that little comic and I definitely think I will make more comics in the future. I’ve always had passion for making comics, so it’s just a matter of when I get around to making something new!
L: After the 'Sunday' EP you started employing more guitars and vocals in your work, which started heading into a more indie rock-inspired direction. Was this a conscious change?
V: It definitely was! The Sunday EP came from this challenge I put on myself where I tried making a song every week in 2020. I didn’t last super long, but I did end up writing a handful of tracks I still quite like, and it really helped me to explore songwriting. Some of the songs on the albums actually predate the Sunday EP. One of the reasons why I put “etc.” in my alias is because I didn’t want to keep making different aliases for different styles of music. It feels corny to say but I do think all my music is some sort of extension of me as a person. I’ve always loved how bedroom/indie pop feels like you’re in a room with someone listening to a person talk about their life, and I hope that energy makes it onto the music I make, regardless of the genre.
L: Obviously your big project at the moment is the 'Online' and 'Offline' albums, which you've been dedicating a whole lot of time and energy into. What can we expect from these albums? Will they show a different side of you than what we've already heard on your singles and EPs?
V: In a way, I feel like the albums are closer to the 'Starshy' EP, rather than the 'hey/hi' single. I know the 'hey/hi' single is literally a part of the two albums, but 'Starshy' is the first project I released where storytelling plays a big part in not only the lyrics, but also how the music sounds. The albums are like that as well. It’s indie music at its core, but it’s also always exploring other styles of music. It’s just a matter of what I feel is right for the moment in the story.
L: How will the 'Online' and 'Offline' albums differ from each other? Will they be tonally different perhaps?
V: Basically, 'Online' and 'Offline' are sister albums. They take place around the same time, but tell different stories. 'Online' is told from the perspective of being online, whereas 'Offline' is more about experiences in the real world. I’m not entirely sure yet how connected the two albums will end up being, but there are definitely references back and forth between the two projects. For example, I released a song called “ghosts in a burning building” late last year. That song will be on 'Offline' and is pretty much a direct response to “hi”, the opening track of 'Online'. The two albums definitely start at the same time, but then go on to tell their own stories. Tonally, I’m not sure yet if there will be a massive difference between the two projects. However, 'Online' turned out to be a very digital album with a lot of distorted guitars, bit-crushing and a Gameboy on every track. I really want 'Offline' to feel more like it has a space in the real world, so I think it will feature a lot more acoustic instruments and field recordings, but I’m not entirely sure yet.
L: Tell me about your netlabel, avant en garde! What I really love about it is how every release conforms to a uniform aesthetic that I love - it's super colorful and psychedelic, just lovely all around. Was that intentional?
V: I suppose it is intentional, but the label is still very young, and the vast majority of the releases are my own, so the aesthetic just kind of follows from that! It’s actually kind of a tough decision to make eventually. I love labels that have a uniform aesthetic like PRÍNCIPE, but I also really don’t want to stand in the way of artists releasing the music in whatever shape they want. If an artist already has artwork, who am I to say they can’t release it? I would hate it if that ever were to happen to me!
L: Now for some miscellaneous questions. What's the last album you listened to in full?
V: Oh, Kississippi’s 'mood ring'! It’s a really fun pop album and “Around Your Room” is definitely one of my favourite songs of the year so far.
L: What's the last movie you watched, and how was it?
V: Oh jeez, I don’t watch a lot of movies at all. I thought about this for a little bit and I think the last movie I watched was 'Kocorono', a documentary about the Bloodthirsty Butchers. 'Kocorono' is one of my favourite albums ever, but this documentary named after it isn’t really about it at all. Instead, it’s a very sad documentary about the band trying their best to make a great album and make it to bigger stages after being stuck playing small venues for 25 years. It’s especially devastating because the album they made in the documentary didn’t reach a larger audience, and the front man of the band tragically passed away a few years after the documentary was made, and the band broke up. Sorry for the bummer. I don’t know if I would recommend the documentary unless you’re already a fan of the band, but I do really think everyone should at least listen to 'Kocorono', the album the movie is named after! It’s a post-hardcore/emo/indie rock masterpiece.
L: I concur! 'Kocorono' is super moving. Sounds like I need to check out that documentary. If you could only have one kind of candy for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
V: Oo! I love chocolate, so I hope that counts! Any kind of chocolate is great, but I usually go for 70% dark chocolate or white chocolate with rice crispies...
L: If you received an e-mail one day asking if you wanted to be an extra in the new Fast & Furious movie, with all expenses paid, what would you say?
V: I would say hell yes, and then try really hard to pretend I have a driver’s license. I would probably have a bad time 'cause the film industry sounds very stressful and the Fast & Furious movies sound very stressful but it’d be a fun story to tell when I’m old and my skin is shriveled like a raisin. I guess I could also make a bad indie folk album about it later and maybe get a 5.0 pitchfork review from the novelty of it all.
L: To say the very least, and I am now greatly saddened that there's no Fast & Furious-themed indie folk album. Maybe someday. Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to the people reading this piece?
V: Thanks for reading!! If you want to hear some weird indie/electronic music you can check out my album 'Online', it’s out September 3rd on Bandcamp via avant en garde! The label is going to keep growing and releasing more fun indie and electronic music, so stay tuned! Oh! If you want to follow me anywhere you can find me @veraetcetera everywhere. And finally, don’t forget to drink some water and get a good night's sleep!
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