Van Hechter

Pop artist, Van Hechter, is full of love and life.

The “Love Elastic” singer talks song writing, inspiration and letting go…

Bridge: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Go ahead and tell our readers who you are…

VH: I am your best friend until you cross me. I am a pop singer who’s success is building slowly-steadily. I am a very vain man- and proud of it. I am who I wanted to be when I was five.

Bridge: Wow! That is probably the most intense introduction we’ve had so far! All the power!

So would you say music always been your main mode of expression?

VH: I think so, yes. I mean; I’m always writing a song. Perhaps I’m writing one now as I chat with you. Music has always been my greatest passion.

Bridge: True artist! I would love to hear that song…Well, that kind of plays right into my next question. What does the songwriting process look like for you?

VH: It’s a state. The song always comes once I’m in the state. So— the key is to get myself in that state as quickly as possible, as often as possible. I used to wait for inspiration until I realized it was really a state of mind I could practice daily.

Bridge: I haven’t heard that before, I need to stew on that for a bit!

Let’s go back a little. I read that you studied opera, literature AND cinema, how do you think those studies have shaped you as an artist?

VH: I think that opera showed me how much I didn’t want to do it! (laughs) Although the discipline is good to learn. And, well, cinema – I think I use each time we plan a video or even a photo shoot..

Bridge: I love how our past experience always somehow comes to serve us in the future!

I do have to mention your album, “Love Elastic”! That album had three charting singles in the US! What was the inspiration behind that album?

VH: Simply that true love sometimes means letting a person go— to become whoever they need to become. Standing in the way of someone’s growth out of possession isn’t true love…

Bridge: Man, I needed that wisdom ten years ago!

What was your favorite song off of that project?

VH: I like them all. But to sing live- ”Back In Vogue”…

Bridge: What do you want people to take away from your music?

VH: That nobody should ever take themselves too seriously. We’re all fools in one way or another…

Bridge: Very true! If only we let ourselves be light!

Which artists would you say inspire you the most?

VH: Playwright Tennessee Williams has had a huge influence on my perspective… Painters also inspire me; Jackson Pollock, Mondrian. Musically I am fond of everything disco and if you one one modern reference; these days I am damn impressed by Dua Lipa. God she’s good!

Bridge: She really is! But I actually dig the older references, that’s how you know someone is an artist; when they’ve dove into the history of it all, not just hoped on the wave of what’s “in” right now!

I heard you had a disco duet out with Stonewall Inn resident DJ Chauncey Dandridge, can you tell us more about this??

VH: Yes, the title is ”The Delight”… It’s a post-pandemic celebratory anthem- all about the joys of life, love and dance. It’s begun to chart- we’re thrilled. We’ll be performing the track live all over NYC next week. Most noteworthy dates; Aug 31/The Q NYC, Sept 2nd/Club Cumming, Sept 4th/Stonewall Inn (midnight show)!

Bridge: Write those dates down, readers! You are not going to want to miss them!

And the last question…If you had to pick any song to be the soundtrack of your life what would it be?

VH: ”There’ll be another song for me and I will sing it There will be another dream for me someone will bring it I will drink the wine while it is warm and never let you catch me looking at the sun And after all the loves of my life after all the loves of my life you’ll still be the one… I will take my life into my hands and I will use it I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it I will have the things that I desire and let my passion flow like rivers through the sky And after all the loves of my life after all the loves of my life I’ll be thinking of you and wondering why”

Check out the music videos for “Love Elastic” “I Am” and “The Delight” below and make sure to follow Van Hechter on Spotify to catch all of his new tunes!