Chad VanGaalen (born 1977) is a Canadian musician, animator, and artist from

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Career

''Infiniheart''

Following a few scattered independent releases, done mostly on homemade CDs with hand-drawn art, VanGaalen released '' Infiniheart'' (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) on Canadian independent label Flemish Eye. ''Infiniheart'', a collection of songs selected from recordings made in his bedroom/makeshift studio, was picked up in 2005 by indie label

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

. In late 2005, the album was re-released with a bonus six-song EP entitled ''Green Beans''.

''Skelliconnection''

On 22 August 2006, VanGaalen's second album, '' Skelliconnection'', was released in the U.S. on Sub Pop and in Canada on Flemish Eye. The album is composed of new songs as well as tracks previously released on his earlier independent recordings and features exclusive artwork and videos made by VanGaalen. ''ChartAttack'' reported on 17 January 2007 that ''Skelliconnection'' was #31 and had been on the chart for 19 weeks. ''Skelliconnection'' was named to shortlist on 10 July 2007 for the

2007 Polaris Music Prize The 2007 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 24, 2007, at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. The winning album was Patrick Watson's '' Close to Paradise''. According to CBC News, "finalists were drawn ...

. The winner was announced at a gala ceremony on 24 September 2007, with the prize going to the band Patrick Watson.

''Soft Airplane''

VanGaalen's third studio album, '' Soft Airplane'', was released 9 September 2008. ''Soft Airplane'' marked a significant change for Vangaalen's songwriting as, unlike his previous releases, where songs were collected from a vast catalogue of previous home recordings, ''Soft Airplane'' was written within the two-year time span since ''Skelliconnection''. ''Soft Airplane'' garnered many favourable reviews internationally. It was both nominated for a Canadian

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

for Alternative Album of the Year and shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize. Furthermore, the album maintained a #2 placement in ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'''s Top Albums of 2008 and, upon release, spent 22 weeks on '' !earshot'''s Top 50. Vangaalen toured ''Soft Airplane'' extensively, performing live dates throughout North America, Europe, and the UK throughout 2008 and 2009. Vangaalen opted to tour with Flemish Eye label mates

Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

for many of his performances, allowing him to utilize certain bandmembers as his backing band. In September 2009, to celebrate the success of ''Soft Airplane'', Vangaalen released an accessory EP for free download. VanGaalen's song "Rabid Bits of Time" from the ''Soft Airplane'' release was featured in the trailer for the 2011 indie film '' Norman,'' and the song "Bare Feet on Wet Griptape" was featured on the skateboarding video game ''

Skate 3 ''skate 3'' is a 2010 skateboarding video game, the third installment in the '' skate'' series and the sequel to 2009's '' skate 2'', developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It was released worldwide in May 2010 for PlayStati ...

''.

Black Mold

On 11 August 2009, VanGaalen released a full-length album ''Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz'' under the alias Black Mold.

Live shows

VanGaalen is sometimes assisted live by Matt Flegel and Scott "Monty" Munro, both of the post-punk band Preoccupations, and drummer Eric Hamelin from No More Shapes.

Other activities

In 2008 VanGaalen recorded the debut album of

as well as their second album. VanGaalen is also an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

, and has made his own album artwork and animated music videos to accompany several of his songs, including "Clinically Dead", "Flower Gardens", "Red Hot Drops", and "Molten Light", as well as the Love as Laughter song "Dirty Lives" and Timber Timbre's song "Beat the Drum Slowly". He won the Prism Prize in 2015 for "Beat the Drum Slowly","Chad VanGaalen Wins 2015 Prism Prize for Timber Timbre Video"
''

'', 29 March 2015. alongside a second nomination for the video for his own single "Monster". His video for "Samurai Sword" from his 2021 release, '' World's Most Stressed Out Gardener'' featured some of his father's artwork in the background to some scenes. He has also designed album covers for other artists, including

Shout Out Out Out Out Shout Out Out Out Out was a Canadians, Canadian dance-punk/electro (music), electro group from Edmonton, Alberta. The band's lineup is unusual in that it includes multiple drummers and bassists, as well as vintage synthesizer equipment. History ...

's '' Not Saying/Just Saying''. In 2015, VanGaalen collaborated with Seth Smith of the indie rock band Dog Day on the album ''Seed of Dorzon''. Chad VanGaalen's ''Light Information'', his sixth record on Sub Pop, was released on 8 September 2017. In 2023, he performed a new original live score to the 1923 silent film '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' at a 100th anniversary screening of the film as part of the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival."CIFF celebrates music, 100 years of Hunchback of Notre Dame film"
''LiveWire Calgary'', August 11, 2023.

Discography

Studio albums *2004: '' Infiniheart'' *2006: '' Skelliconnection'' *2008: '' Soft Airplane'' *2011: '' Diaper Island'' *2014: '' Shrink Dust'' *2017: '' Light Information'' *2020: ''Lost Harmonies'' *2021: '' World's Most Stressed Out Gardener'' EPs *2005: ''Green Beans'' *2006: ''Skelliconnection'' *2009: ''Soft Airplane: B-Sides'' *2011: ''Your Tan Looks Supernatural'' Collaboration albums *2012: Green Corridor Series #02 (with Xiu Xiu) Black Mold *2009: ''Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz''

References

External links

Chad VanGaalen
official site at Flemish Eye {{DEFAULTSORT:VanGaalen, Chad 1977 births Artists from Calgary Canadian people of Flemish descent Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian rock singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian indie rock musicians Living people Musicians from Calgary Sub Pop artists Canadian animators Canadian music video directors Canadian illustrators 21st-century Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian singer-songwriters Singers from Alberta