Image credit: shadylanes.band/@Instagram
SHADYLANES is a band that is currently based in Vietnam. They are embarking on a new frontier by growing rock music in Southeast Asia. The group has been gaining recognition thanks to their renditions of popular Vietnamese and K-Pop songs. Popternative had the opportunity to chat with band members Nache, Dan and Rowan about their unique journey. Check out the interview below!
Where are you guys from?
Nache: Our singer Rowan is from Capetown, South Africa. Our drummer Dan is from Hamilton, New Zealand, and I’m from Melbourne, Australia.
How was SHADYLANES formed?
Nache: We were all walking through a flower market in Hanoi one day and interlocked eyes in an auspicious manner. It was from that moment, we realized we must all be in a band together.
We originally began to serenade plants in parks in sheer fear of them releasing powerful toxins to combat the effects of humankind spreading like a plague across the Earth, until we realized the idea of that happening was a bit far fetched. From there we start playing our music for people and not plants.
What made you move to Vietnam?
Nache: I originally flew into Hanoi from China for what was supposed to be a two week visit to see one of my old friends – that was now 3 years ago. The main reason I decided to stay in Vietnam was good food, good people, and good music.
The sense of community in every aspect of Vietnam is something I found myself strongly drawn to. A lot of people were very open to being good to each other and interacting with one another more than I had seen in China and Melbourne.
Dan: I had planned to indefinitely travel around Asia, when I hit Hanoi after traveling Vietnam for 3 months, I fell in love with the city and the local music scene, met the SHADYLANES boys and now I’m still here.
Rowan: After going on my first SE Asia trip, I started hearing about opportunities to go work abroad and Vietnam always fascinated me; especially the history, the food and the wonderful comradery and pride of the country. I decided to just quit my full time job at the time and take the leap of faith.
Did you experience any culture shock?
Nache: The biggest culture shock for me was the driving. I however acclimatized to the traffic chaos within about 12 days when I got my first motorbike and went for a good old đibão one night after the national Vietnamese football team won a game.
Dan: I guess I did experience culture shock, but it’s why I love it here.
Rowan: Nothing that was too shocking or overstimulating. I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed it was because of how wild it was and how different it was compared to back home.
How much have you learned about the new culture?
Dan: A fair bit but not enough. I need to improve my Vietnamese, it’s terrible.
Nache: We try our best to integrate ourselves with the artistic culture here as much as possible. I personally have done my best to learn as much of the language as possible and am also an avid history nerd who has spent a bit of time through various jobs and lonely nights researching a lot of the backstory of Vietnam.
We believe it is very important to embrace and be a part of this culture as much as possible, especially through doing what we love most, as Vietnam is and always will be a very special place for all of us.
SHADYLANES aren’t limited to one specific genre. Why is that important for you all?
Nache: To be completely honest, music is music and the plants we used to serenade seemed to pollinate better to anything as long as it was a well written pop song of some form. So that’s the direction we decided to take. Good pollen and good pop. And sometimes a đibão if both are achieved in healthy balance.
How did the covers of Vietnamese songs start happening?
Nache: A big thing I generally find myself irresistibly attracted to is the local pop music of wherever I am – and even more so here when I decided I wanted to stay for good based on how much I loved the place. A song that completely caught my attention when it came out was “Mượn Rượu Tỏ Tình” by Big Daddy and Emily. I immediately envisioned how it would sound redesigned with a rock band arrangement behind it and wrote a demo of it to show the band. We eventually recorded it, made a video of it and put it out on the internet. After only being a band for a couple months, this was the first thing we did and that video gained like 10k views in a day, something that was super cool and unexpected for us as a few month old band.
From there, we slowly started to realize that we almost had a seperate following who really enjoyed the Vietnamese cover side of our band so we always wanted to do a follow up song which is why we eventually put our own spin on “Trên Tình Bạn Dưới Tình Yêu” by MIN for all those people who flocked to our music through first hearing our cover of “Mượn Rượu Tỏ Tình.” Fast forward a couple months and then GERDNANG and their management hit us up to put our own spin on their song “Hẹn Gặp Em Dưới Ánh Trăng” which we decided to take on and write, record, film, and finish in a single week haha!
What is the rock music scene in Vietnam like compared to where you are from?
Nache: For me coming from Melbourne, there is a huge and very diverse music scene. Rock music definitely does exist here in pockets but it still isn’t as diverse and abundant as it is back home in Australia. This is something I would like to slowly have some form of contribution to shaping in the future.
I believe we will see more investment and political backing in the night time economies, late night music venues, and general underground music and arts. I think this in the coming years paired with the rapid economic development of Vietnam, is surely going to breathe more life into what will become a much more diverse and abundant rock music scene throughout the country and I am so excited to be here for it when that happens.
Dan: I love the sheer amount of venues, bars and festivals in Vietnam. Back in NZ, a lot of venues that once catered to live rock music have closed.
What can we expect from SHADYLANES in the future?
Nache: We will continue to release a song and video each month on our YouTube channel until we commence pre-production for our studio debut, The Happening.
Rowan: We are dead set on taking our sound to the rest of the world and make a huge impact globally. International tours, the studio debut, and many more epic things.
Nache: From there we plan to pounce on the world when borders open, as if though we were a starved lion spotting his first wildebeest in weeks, sinking claw and tooth into the flesh of the music industry through our plant-based, pollen-friendly, pop bangers.
In short, we’re gonna take over the world and we’re stoked for you and anyone else reading this to come on that journey with us.
They aren’t just a cover band; they make great original songs too! You can listen to them here.
Follow SHADYLANES on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadylanes.band/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shadylanes.band/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SHADYLANES/videos
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Spotify: https://goo.gl/nWtNHP
Apple Podcasts: https://goo.gl/y6tbA9
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