CoolTop20 New Release Talk: ‘Drag Me To Hell’ by VAN TASTIK
by Lean at https://cooltop20.com
Choosing a suitcase for a bass drum and his trusty resophonic guitar VAN TASTIK, a one-man-band from Virginia based in Utrecht, hit the road in 2017, and has been winning over fans since he started this bohemian touring life playing the streets, bars, clubs and living room shows all over the globe.
VAN’s debut single ‘Ain’t No Man With Money‘ was featured in over 30 playlists. His second single ‘HANGMAN‘ has been in the top 3 of the Cool Top 20, 5 weeks in a row. VAN will debut his third and final single ‘Drag Me To Hell‘ in anticipation of his album ‘The Church of VAN TASTIK’ on all streaming platforms on June 24th.
“I’d describe it as a Gothic Folk/Alternative Rock ballad turned intense, swelling Gothic Hymn will remind listeners of classic heavy rock acts like Black Sabbath and Steppenwolf or contemporary acts like Rival Sons and All Them Witches.”
”This song is about ill-fated relations and solitude. There are people around you whom you care about and, yet, are terrible for you. Such relationships inevitably spiral downwards and pull you into the pits of hell. The song is about toxic people and aimed at all types of human relations – romantic or not. It was inspired by a bad relationship which was leading towards a break up … dragging me to hell.”
“To some degree its autobiographical. All of my songs have some sort of autobiographical level to them.”
“We recorded ‘Drag Me To Hell’ live in studio in London. It was a great experience.”
“The single cover was taken in the snow at a local park here in the Netherlands. Me and my team created everything and the photo was taken by my wife who is a photographer. We had an idea of how we wanted ‘Drag Me To Hell’ to look and I think we executed it well.”
“I have been working on the music video for sometime. Similar style to ‘HANGMAN’ video clip ‘Drag Me To Hell’ has clips from a Royalty Free classic black and white film. This time I used a Bela Lugosi classic ‘White Zombie’ from 1932. I merged footage to create my own narrative of the film. It will be released separately to the single so you will have to keep a close eye on all VAN TASTIK socials to get updates.”
When releasing a new single is there a sense of excitement or panic?
“Definitely both, it’s hard to release music to the world as an artist. It’s your baby. I am also worried about the press and how it will all go. Will people like it? Will this be the single that gets me to the next stage of my music career?”
(This story first appeared on https://cooltop20.com on 22 June 2021)
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- This week’s Bucket Playlist!
- Django Jones and the Mystery Men: ‘We wanted to do something like that to finish our EP, to have an epic Bondesque song!’
- The Bad Shots: ‘It’s a bit of something for everyone – songs about loss, hate, desperation, marmite and trousers!’
- Kasador: ‘They speak from a place of vulnerability – taking an honest look at love, self doubts, mistakes, frustration and triumphs’
- Polish Club: ‘That’s how these things last beyond the people that make it, the people who experience it – that’s the thing that appeals to me about creating music, it’ll outlive all of us’