Sound Off! 2020: David's Van

David’s Van brings a lighthearted yet seriously technical approach to their comedic metal originals. The three met at School of Rock Seattle, forming David’s Van in Spring 2019 to "put fun back into metal." No strangers to the stage, Aidan, Dominic, and Luke — three self-described "nice, goofy fellas full of shenanigans" — are fresh out of the recording studio with a forthcoming release that is sure to delight their head-banging fans with their serious musical chops, infectious lyrics, and unmatched volume.

• Full Sound Off! Schedule & Tickets: MoPOP.org/SoundOff

Here's what David's Van had to say heading into their Sound Off! 2020 performance, which is set for Saturday, February 29 at the Museum of Pop Culture.

Where does the name David's Van come from?

Aidan: It's basically the middle name of a friend of ours. His middle name is David Van. When we heard that for the first time we were like, 'oh my god.' We thought it was great. So then, another friend of ours came up to us and was like, 'why don't you guys call yourselves David's Van?' And we didn't have a band name at that point. We were brand new, trying to figure it all out. And we were just like, 'OK.' We just wanted to roll with it. It sounded cool. So we just became David's Van from then. The rest is history.

How would you describe your sound?

Luke: We've described it in the past as comedy metal, but I think that also encompasses progressive metal. 

Dominic: We were all musicians first and when we were forming the band we were just like, 'OK, let's just make a good metal band and have a really good singer on top of us.' And we looked for a singer forever and were just like, 'this is just not working.' 

Aidan: So we took matters into our own hands.

Dominic: Exactly. Instead of really singing though, we kind of put the most random, craziest lyrics you could ever think of over the top of our music. And they just create something so different than anything else I've ever heard ever.

Aidan: We wanted to have more of a unique approach, so we decided to put fun back into metal. 

Luke: Fuse our love of comedy with our love of metal. 

Why do you make music? How does music make you feel?

Dominic: There's no feeling like it. 

Luke: They're my best friends. It's not a typical band experience where sometimes some people feel left out of power, or there's fighting. We're just three buds who really love hanging out and making music. It's super corny, but it is that.

Aidan: The fact of the matter is for us individually this is what we love doing. For me personally, music is my biggest passion. I've been a fan of it since I was a little kid. And even at that time I'm just like, 'this is cool' and 'I want to be like these people.' So as I got older and as I met these two great people, I've just felt like I'm kind of living my dream a little bit. To play music in front of people and show our original creative work.

If you could describe your sound or your music as an animal, what would it be and why?

Luke: First thing that comes to mind, a platypus. 

Dominic: Why?

Aidan: So weird. 

Luke: Platypuses are goofy, but I think they're pretty violent. They might make noise? They could be loud? Something weird.

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