I’ve been an unofficial consultant for on local Chicago bands for Lollapalooza since 2005, and this is the first year I’ve had the opportunity to select the “local headliner.” Based on his between-the-eyes rocket of a debut album, The Moonstation House Band, and a good bit of critical buzz, I pushed hard for David Vandervelde. I got to chat with this young dynamo earlier this year, and the results are telling. Are the early comparisons to Ziggy-era David Bowie and T. Rex’s Marc Bolan bold? Yes. Are they also spot on? Close - this 22-year-old songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist is an easy mix of self-effacing good humor and a swagger that’s less brash arrogance and more precocious devotion to rock ‘n’ roll.

David Vandervelde - “Nothin’ No” [MP3]

Super Bird: Do you feel like you’re associated with the Chicago music scene?

David Vandervelde: When I moved down here, I didn’t go out a lot but I’ve since made friends with some other artists in Chicago. I really like what Catfish Haven is doing, especially live. I’m living here and I recorded here, so I like to associate with this city. I think so many musicians who don’t live in LA or New York think that they have to move out there to meet people in the industry, or they’ll never be heard. In a lot of ways, I’d rather be a bigger fish in a smaller city.

SB: How did you hook up with (songwriter, producer, and former member of Wilco) Jay Bennett?

DV: When I was living in Grand Rapids, I recorded some demos for a few different people. One of them was a singer songwriter who was signed to a local label and they wanted her to make a record with Jay. I was kind of her producer at the time and played drums and guitar on her record, so I went with her to record with Jay. Things just went really well and we talked about making a record sometime, so I came down here off and on and worked at his studio. I eventually I took over the B room and worked on a couple of projects that came through the studio in exchange for rent, so I had two years with endless time and access to gear. I didn’t really know that I was making a record, I was just writing songs every day and Jay and I would occasionally work on each other’s stuff. He’s been called a mad scientist, and I guess we work in similar ways. I’ve referred to him as my best friend, my brother, and my father all rolled into one.

SB: You also worked with David Campbell (Elton John, Leonard Cohen, Beck) on the string arrangements on The Moonstation House Band. How did that come about?

DV: I was doing some soundtrack work for a company here in Chicago they sent a song I wrote to David Campbell’s office, because they wanted to put strings on it and use it for one of the soundtrack projects. Out of nowhere, I got a call from David himself saying that he wrote a string arrangement for the song, and asking if there was anything else I’d done that I wanted strings on because he had to hire the players in time blocks – something to do with their union. So I sent him two other songs, “Corduroy Blues” and “Wisdom From A Tree,” and they tracked all three of them in an hour, pretty much for free. He told me that he got pretty attached to the songs, which was amazing to hear.

SB: How did you settle on signing with Secretly Canadian?

DV: When we moved out of the old studio in Logan Square, I realized that I should do something with the songs I’d recorded - either look for a label or release them myself. I didn’t have a manager at the time and I was unsure about doing it on my own, so I started thinking about labels that could release it. I did things the old fashioned way: I just sent 20 or 30 burned demos with a little bio and my email address to labels, even ones I hadn’t heard of. When I was down in Champaign working with Jay on his record, I got an email from Secretly saying they liked the demo. What I like about them is that they have a lot of artists who don’t fit into conventional niches that are out there, like Richard Swift, Antony & The Johnsons, Catfish Haven and maybe me. They’re able to look at something and say “This is good music. We don’t know exactly where it fits, but it should be out there.”

SB: You were recently an “Artist to Watch” on a major music blog. Do you read blogs or think that they’re important?

DV: I don’t think I’ve ever read a blog in my life. My manager or label rep will call me and say “You were featured on (this or that)!” and I’ve never even heard of it. It seems like that kind of thing is more influential these days than, say, Rolling Stone as far as making people decide if they’re gonna get into the record or not. It’s all been pretty positive so far, so I’m not looking forward to the day when I read something really awful.

SB: So you don’t pay much attention to what’s going on in the online music space? You do have a Myspace page.

DV: (Laughs) I’m just not an email and computer kind of guy. Me, my manager , and my booking guy had a meeting with Secretly Canadian and they all basically said “Dave, you need to get on the Internet and promote.” I guess one hour a week at the coffee show wasn’t cutting it! So I got the Internet, but Myspace is kind of weird and every time I’m on there, I just end up looking at girls.

SB: What kind of musical comparisons are critics making?

DV: I get asked if I mind being compared to T. Rex or ELO, and always say “hell no!” because I much prefer people drawing comparisons to artists and albums I know and love, and not something modern that I’ve never gotten into. Though, I did read this hilarious thing in NME that said “Nineteen-year-old Chicagoan wunderkind is ‘country glam rock,’ as if Marc Bolan was jamming with Kings of Leon.” What’s weird is that I’m not 19 anymore.

SB: Um, no…you’re 22, and to many of the people writing about you, 19 and 22 aren’t very different. Do you ever hear the term ‘prodigy?’

DV: (Laughs) Yes, it’s an angle some writers have taken before. As I get older, though, it reminds me of that Jackson 5 movie [The Jacksons: An American Dream], how they’re always telling Michael to lie about his age. Their A & R person, “Michael, how old are you?” and he says, “I’m 12,” and the A & R guys goes, “No! You’re 10!”