Interview with Guitarist and Vocalist Maico Ordelmans of Vault
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By Mick Michaels
Cosmick View: Hello! Welcome to The Cosmick View. Thanks for taking
some time out of your day to speak with us. It's greatly appreciated.
Maico Ordelmans: Hi there Cosmick View, thanks for taking the
time to have a chat with us.
CV: Please introduce yourself, your band and give us a brief background on the band…releases, touring activity, any latest news.
MO: I am the lead singer & guitarist for the Progressive Rock band Vault (NL). At this moment in time, we are about to release our debut album ‘The Perfect Truth’ on November 11th 2022, before that we released an EP called ‘Blindfolds Aside’ on March 14th 2020, containing 2 live songs and 2 studio recorded songs.In recent times we have released 2 singles for our “The Perfect Truth,” with corresponding music videos. For the songs ‘The Perfect Truth’ and ‘The Future Day of Yet to Come’, both can be found on YouTube and are available to stream on all the major streaming services.
At this point in time, we are doing a big release show on November 11th with SAGA (CAN) in Metropool Enschede (NL), which is the city where it all began for us. Following the release there will be a release tour in the first few months of 2023, from February till April. Several shows have been booked so far, a few headlining shows and supports with bands such as The Paradox Twin and SAGA. Mainly in The Netherlands for now, but we intend to cross the borders of our tiny country as soon as we can.
CV: Given so many major changes over the last decade, do you believe the music industry is a practicable and stable enough environment for new artists to even consider making it a valid career choice? Can a level of sustainable success really be achieved in your opinion?
MO: Of course, even in this day and age a stable enough environment in the music industry is tough, but definitely not impossible. Don’t get me wrong it’s not easy, but with the right mindset and a lot of hard work many things can be achieved, I think. And to be honest, when I started out learning guitar and music in general, I wasn’t thinking about making a sustainable living in terms of money, I was merely driven by the fact that music gave me such an incredible feeling, connection with others and I saw it as a possible ‘out’ of the everyday society. This alone was enough for me to go at it every single day, and in what way shape or form wasn’t clear yet, but I did always dream big. If I was going to do is, I was going to do it right and I wanted to be up there with all the bands that I saw in my childhood.So, to get back to your question, I think that if you have true incentive to make music, because you want to make music, then a lot is possible. And yes, you also need a good share of luck, and being in the right place at the right time.
CV: What do you see as the biggest change in the music industry since you first started out?
MO: I am now 31 years old, so I was just on the brink of a major shift in the industry when streaming services and the internet came. I used to go to the record store to buy CD’s & vinyl of artists, and even ones I didn’t know! One example is hearing a song by Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind,” it sounded very interesting to me at the time, and so I saw one of their records lying around in my local shop, and I bought it out of interest. In that year AB.III was probably the most played album in my collection..jpg)
What I’m trying to say is,
it felt more like a journey or a quest, finding new music and stumbling upon a
gem in the record store. Nowadays music has become a disposable product, like
cheap plastic or renewable drinking cups. It’s not about whether you write
something interesting or unique, it’s about if you can write something that’s
easy to listen, not to difficult and makes everybody dance. In a way it has
become a product to please the masses, instead of a piece of art made by an
artist. Most musicians nowadays are therefore in my eyes ‘entertainers’ and not
so much an artist which makes something in his/her perspective, because they
feel the need to do so, they make something to pay the bills and make money.
CV: How do you see your music separating itself from your peers and avoiding just being another cog in the wheel?
MO: Well, I think the previous response answers this to some amount. I mainly write music in such a way that I really like it, when I’m writing a song I’m not thinking about ‘will this be a song that pleases the masses?’ no, I am writing something that feels good to me, and contains my own perspective on the world. That might sound quite selfish, but I think you must be as a musician. Otherwise, your music would never sound like it’s your own. Now of course I also have artists and music who I like, which in their turn influenced me, and this will probably be audible to some extent, but I try to take something from an artist that I like, make it my own, and implement it in our songs.CV: Has the industry’s many changes affected how you write music? Has it influenced your songwriting style in any drastic form?
MO: Well not in a way that the music industry itself has changed my songwriting, otherwise you might as well stop being an artist, then you are just an employee working for a big corporation, which is fixed on current trends and going along with them. So I like to think that it hasn’t.CV: Has digital technology led the way for almost anyone to be a musical artist in your opinion?
MO: It most definitely has done that for me. Being able to record myself playing guitar, singing over it, tracking another guitar line over another guitar line, adding some bass, even drums because I write a lot in midi, and all that from my little bedroom! I think that our music wouldn’t even exist in this shape or form if this wasn’t possible. Because it allowed me to compose whenever I felt like it, and really allowed us to go in deep in the tiny details. Listen again and again, seeing how the bass fits the drums, how the vocals fit the guitar, all of this can become quite muddy in just the rehearsal room. Being able to record ourselves and listening back to it made us better musicians, I think. And in the old days you could only do this at the time you went into the studio.So now basically everyone can do this, and you have ‘bedroom artists’ these days, people who became famous through YouTube from their home studio. The other side of the coin is of course that EVERYBODY is doing it these days because everybody can. So, the music industry is a lot more saturated these days, but then again this also allows everyone to learn from each other. There are kids now who haven’t even reached the age of 12 and they play some of the stuff that took me years to accomplish or haven’t even been able to do so. So, it’s one of those things that has big pros and also big cons, I think.
CV: Has music in general been broken into too many sub-genres? Why do think there are so many classifications of music types? Can this be confusing for an artist who is looking to build a brand? As well, can it be confusing for the fans?
MO: Sure, it can be quite confusing if all these different terms exist, especially in the metal scene and the EDM scene. However, I think this is also a consequence of bands making music they want to make. It’s called evolution, and it happens all around us in the world, so why not in music? People progress, so their music also progresses, I think this is completely natural and part of the game. Of course, it can be confusing to explain to others what you do, the same could be said for us playing in a genre which is a niche where we come from. So, the journey might be longer, and it will definitely be harder to find the right crowd, or even to get shows because bookers don’t know where to place you. This is actually exactly the problem we are running into, people think we are too soft to be booked with metal bands, to abstract to be booked with a generic hard rock band, but to loud to be playing support for something like a Pink Floyd tribute band. It’s tough and confusing but I think it’s just part of the process. People will get used to it in time, and fans are usually the people that will stick with a band, because the band itself stuck to something they believe in.CV: How would you define “iconic” when it comes to being an artist or musician? What do you think makes an artist iconic?
MO: I guess the word ‘iconic’ would mean in this sense that someone has become an icon. Someone to look up to or who other people can relate with. But I think someone iconic must withstand the test of time. If your music still touches people through generations, then you might say an artist has deserved the status of icon. To me a few of those are Queen, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Pantera, Metallica, or more recent ones like Opeth & Porcupine Tree. I feel like their music will stand the test of time, and still be relevant to a lot of people in the future.CV: Who would you consider to be a modern day “rock star?” And is being a “rock star” something to aspire to?
MO: Machine Gun Kelly of course!Sad fully the term rockstar has become something to just throw around for anyone in the spotlight. Being a rockstar used to be something to aspire for and can still be for some. But I think that the image that we have in our minds of older rock stars is something of the past. It’s just a term, if you just keep doing what you love, then someday you might suddenly realize that you are in fact a rockstar. I don’t think that whether a million people or thousand people knowing what you do, will make a difference…as long as you feel it yourself.
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CV: Does music need to have a message to
convey to the world for it to be worth listening to in your opinion?
CV: What's next for the band? What can fans expect to see coming?
MO: We are currently working hard on finalizing our live show for the upcoming tour. We take a lot of time to try and implement video and light in a technical way to make the whole show a real experience. Besides that, keep an eye out for our album on November 11th, there will be another video coming featuring one of my personal favorites of the album.Also, we are eager writers, and I can’t say too much, but let’s just say that this is album is just the beginning.
CV: Thank you again for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was a pleasure. I wish you all the best and continued success.
MO: Thank you, The Cosmic View! Thanks again for having us.
Check out Vault at:
linktr.ee/vaultbandofficial
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdvUgCnIZ8PE8pemqNRwfLQ
https://www.instagram.com/vaultbandofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/Vaultbandofficial
Latest Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUc6Ks2zQeY
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