The Great Escape interviews - VAN ZON

Formed in June 2023, Van Zon have been carving a space for their very own brand of folk-tinged experimental post rock in Brighton. With versatile multi-instrumentalists playing over the ethereal timbres of electronic drones, they “possess an endlessly impressive ability to adapt their sound to stunning results”.

After just five months of capturing audiences and firmly establishing themselves on the Brighton and London live circuit, they sold out their first headline show at the legendary venue, Green Door Store.

Their debut single, Cannon Fodder, was met with critical acclaim, praised for its unconventional approach to song structure, composition and genre fusion.

As this lush-sounding quintet ready themselves for Brighton’s The Great Escape, we grabbed them for 12 burning questions...

Welcome to The Great Escape 2025! How does it feel to be part of a festival known for launching new talent?

It’s a great feeling to know that our music has the support of such an influential name. Especially being a smaller act who are maybe a bit less commercially viable, knowing that our music can still be acknowledged and appreciated by such important tastemakers is a really rewarding feeling.

For people discovering you for the first time here in Brighton, how would you describe your sound in three words? Orchestral Medieval Rock

What’s the journey been like getting to this point — playing a showcase in front of new fans, press, and industry folk? Van Zon has been going for almost two years now. In the grand scheme of things, that’s quite a brief window of time, but at least from our perspectives it feels like a lifetime. It’s certainly been an exciting period, and the response to our music so far has been something we’ll always be incredibly grateful for. That’s not to say that band life is easy – having five people who all share a project that is so fundamentally ingrained into their being means that there is a lot of passion there, both positive and negative. But all in all, it’s been an incredibly rewarding time.

Do you approach a showcase festival like this differently from a typical gig or headline show?

Shows like this are a lot higher stakes than the average hometown gig. Being lucky enough to form in a city like Brighton means that we’ve had plenty of opportunities to perform and hone our music, all of which has been fundamental to the development of our band, and provided us with the platform to experiment and find our sound without putting too much at risk. Shows like The Great Escape are really our opportunity to showcase everything we’ve learnt during this period. Taking all the successful experiments and grand ideas and cramming them into a 30-minute set that we feel displays Van Zon at our very best.

The Great Escape is packed with new sounds and fresh faces — Will you have a chance to discover any other artists at TGE, or any that you want to see?

The line-up this year has a lot of gems. In terms of local acts, I’ll certainly be making the pilgrimage to catch Big Long Sun, Goodbye, The New Eves, Welly, Ideal Living, Kamran Kaur, and ladylike. Others on the list include Divide & Dissolve, Ugly, and Bishopskin (who we’re lucky enough to share the stage for our performance at One Church).6. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an emerging artist in today’s music scene? It’s always important not to dwell on the lows. It’s inevitable that the start of any new project will come with just as many losses as wins. Maintaining motivation and having faith in yourselves can sometimes be a struggle, but it’s vital to maintaining a healthy relationship with your art.

Brighton has a buzzing creative vibe — have you explored the city before or been inspired by it in any way?

We’re lucky enough to have met and formed in Brighton, and all of us still live here. The music scene has been an incredible community to be a part of, we were immediately welcomed in with open arms, and continue to find inspiration in our friends and fellow musicians. The city itself really welcomes creativity. I think this is partly due to the immediacy of its surrounding nature. It’s not often that you can leave a city and within 5 minutes find yourself in fields and woodland, and this is certainly something that can be seen, felt, and heard through the art that comes out of Brighton.

What’s one thing about your live performance that people might not expect until they see you on stage?

We like to bring more energy to the songs in a live setting, so to anyone who’s only experience with us is through our recorded music, I’d like to think we know how to entertain a lively audience.

If someone only had time to listen to one of your songs after the festival, which one should it be — and why?

O Messiah from our recent EP All Things, All One, Aglow was the first song we wrote together, so I’d like to think it serves well as an introduction to our sound.

How important are festivals like this for breaking through in the music industry today?

Whilst The Great Escape has been the first festival of its kind that we’ve had the chance to play, our experience with it so far has been really rewarding. They were kind enough to give us the chance to perform at one of their London showcase events, which was a great opportunity to connect with some like-minded musicians and industry folks, and I imagine that the festival itself will be no different.

What’s next for you after The Great Escape — any releases, tours, or surprises on the horizon?

Following our performance at The Great Escape, we will be celebrating the release of our debut EP All Things, All One, Aglow with a headline show at Brighton’s Alphabet on Weds 4 June, and The George Tavern in London on Weds 24 July. We’ll also be making our debut performance in Rotterdam in October for Left of The Dial Festival.

Finally - complete the sentence: “The Great Escape is the perfect place to…”

Support the local scene.

VAN ZON play Brighton’s One Church on Thurs 15 May (9:15 pm), as part of The Great Escape 2025.

www.vanzon.bandcamp.com  

www.greatescapefestival.com  

Image by Silvia Anzoletti

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