A new local band is bringing a unique blend of rock and country vibes to Brooklyn’s music scene.
Van Vreeland is a soft rock/country band that formed right here in Brooklyn. The band is made up of Katie Vreeland on vocals, Spenser Naess on lead guitar, Cooper Naess on drums, and Shane Preece on bass.
“We’ve all been playing music in our own worlds for a very long time. During the pandemic, one of my friends introduced me to one of her friends and I was trying to put a band together. It was really hard to find people who are available drummers in Brooklyn,” said Vreeland. “My new friend said ‘My boyfriend’s brother is a drummer, they want to start a country band.’ So I met them eventually, maybe a few months later and we were talking about music and, myself, Cooper, his brother Spencer, we just got together and started jamming one day and the rest was sort of history.”
As you might have expected, the name “Van Vreeland” is derived from Vreeland’s last name. The band name comes from an old nickname that Vreeland had in high school.
“My cross country and track coach, who was also an English teacher, would call me ‘Van Vreeland’ because it’s super Dutch,” said Vreeland. “I’ve also always been a fan of Van Zant, Van Morrison. I was kind of like, let me go with this.”
According to Vreeland, finding the band’s sound didn’t take too long, especially considering they wanted to have an alt-country sort of twang to the soft rock vibes. Vreeland told amNewYork Metro that some of the band’s influences include artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Tracy Chapman, and the band as a whole are huge fans of the Grateful Dead and Neil Young.
“There’s a fine balance that I personally as a musician and sort of the songwriter of the band, I’m trying to balance this line between that country pop songwriting with solid the hooks that something that you can sing along to or something that feels just like a good, good anthem,” said Vreeland. “So kind of striking this balance between these flavors that we are influenced by and what’s it’s turning into, i think it’s hard to place us amongst our peers.”
To really capture that alt-country sound, the band brings in a rotating pedal steel player as well as Austin Brose on percussion during live shows. However, for Vreeland, it’s super important to not be wedged into a particular music box.
“I was actually so excited when I heard Beyonce was releasing a country album and when her first couple of singles came out because I use pop lightly, just very broad but like that pop flavor that has like a good groove to it and that has a little bit of the country flavor to it. I grew up singing along to country radio with my dad, so those flavors are ingrained in me,” said Vreeland. “But at the same time, my mom was putting on everything from The Beatles to The Beach Boys to everything in between. When I heard that she was coming out with that and I heard the music, I was like, yes, now I can point to something and if I had to pick a territory I can take that direction as an aside.”
Last summer, Van Vreeland released their new single “burgundy red,” now streaming on Spotify, and has their first full album in the works. Vreeland says that the response to burgundy red has been overwhelmingly positive from their fans and the public, despite being such a new band.
“I was so overwhelmed with that, being like such a new band and having what looks like a pretty small following. I was just amazed to see how much traction it got right off the bat, said Vreeland. “Someone even on Instagram tagged me in a cover they did of it within the same week and my heart grew five sizes because I was just so excited that I put something out there that people liked enough to listen to it more than once and to do a cover of it. That was really exciting and we definitely wanted to get more music going after that.”
Van Vreeland has a show coming up at Ridgewood’s Jones Bar on May 17. Vreeland says that those who come by a Van Vreeland show can expect good vibes and music you can really groove to.
“When we’re working on songs, I’m thinking about how this is gonna feel as like a live performance. I want to feel fun, so even our slower songs still have sort of like a groove that you can move to,” said Vreeland. “It’s pretty, it’s fun and easy. It’s fun and energetic, easy listening.”
Keep up with Van Vreeland by following them on Instagram @van.vreeland.
