#daniel chavis

Two Decades in the Making: An Interview With The Veldt 

With the recurrent emergence of 90’s shoegaze bands, The Veldt is a band that stands apart from the pack.

Formed in the late 80’s, The Veldt combined elements of reverb with soul and funk, creating a sonic pathway that was truly their own. They fast gained notoriety working with the likes of Robin Guthrie and playing venues with The Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

However, the major record labels at the time attempted to mold them into something easily accessible and mainstream, so The Veldt yet again went their own individual route and self-releasing their 2008 album, White Music for Black People.

Jump forward to 2016, The Veldt have picked up where they left off, creating more luscious soundscapes and have steadily been gaining momentum.

Their upcoming  album, The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur, will be released via UK label Leonard Skully Records on April 8, 2016, which you can pre-order here.

The Veldt - Sanctified

Daniel and Danny Chavis are natives of Raleigh/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina, East Village residents for the past 28 years, and co-founders of the groundbreakers The Veldt, whose named derived from a Ray Bradbury sci-fi story. Musically reared in the church and juke-joints, the twins have been performing since they were children, listening to music that included gospel, Motown and Pink Floyd. In March, they return to their roots with The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation Mixtape EP.

The first single is Sanctified, a ballad that perfectly captures the lush sound of Danny’s screeching decibel-breaking guitar distortion, Daniel’s soulful wail and Hayato Nakao’s deep bass grooves and guitar feedback. This is a perfect re-introduction. The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur was named from an E.E. Cummings poem. Its raging sound is influenced equally by the emotional soul of Marvin Gaye, free jazz warriors Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders, various Drake hip-hop tracks, and their own fertile electric imagination.

The Chavis brothers initially made a name for themselves playing throughout the south at a time when fellow southerners REM and Superchunk were securing major label deals. As more black rock bands (Living Colour, 24/7 Spyz) sold more records and gigged worldwide, The Veldt was courted by various labels, including IRS Records and Capitol.

Initially signed to Capitol Records in 1989, they were in the studio with dream-gaze guru Robin Guthrie working on their initial recordings, playing American concert halls with Cocteau Twins and The Jesus and Mary Chain, and recording Marigolds with Lincoln Fong (Moose).

The Veldt were a sensation from the start as they became a part of a movement of innovators who came of musical age at a time when rhythmic rebels were reflective, gritty and wild. Their sound inspired future generations of alternative artists, including TV On the Radio.

They switched labels and Mercury Records released Afrodisiac in 1994, produced by Ray Shulman (The Sundays, Bjork, Sugarcubes). Their single Soul in a Jar was an underground hit.

The Veldt expanded their musical language, fusing more electronics into their soundscape. They retired the “Veldt” name and began recording and touring under under the name Apollo Heights. In 1999, the Chavis brothers were joined by bassist Hayato Nakao. Their music was loud, exploring color, space, sensuality and beat driven melodies with rhythmic and dynamic tension. Daniel's falsetto vocals contrasted with Danny's rock dreamscape guitar and Hayato's pounding beats.

Although The Veldt had signed to two major labels after leaving Mercury Records in 1995, the brothers decided to self-release their 2008 album White Music for Black People. They eventually changed their name back to The Veldt.

Apart from Robin Guthrie and A.R. Kane, they’ve collaborated with TV On The Radio, Mos Def and Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), and have shared the stage with My Bloody Valentine, The Pixies, Echo & The Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, My Bloody Valentine, Manic Street Preachers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Living Colour and TV on the Radio, among others.

Apollo Heights: White Music For Black People