An Interview With The Nashville Pop-Rock Newcomers, FORTS LIKE VANA!

Meet the Nashville pop/rock starlets Forts Like Vana. Despite only forming in January, the quartet’s infectious debut single “Love You Right” has amassed over 40,000 streams on Spotify and is constantly bringing in new fans worldwide.

Connect With Forts Like Vana Here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fortslikevana/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fortslikevana
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fortslikevana/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6vnRmLjyte9wUNAWxatTd5?si=6q-we0yWRm2w2Y-eTxtvkw

Learn more about Forts Like Vana in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! So how has 2018 been treating you all? What is one musical goal that you have had for this year and how close are you to reaching it?

2018 has been NUTS! We’ve only been a band since January of this year so it’s been wild seeing things growing and starting to take shape. Definitely has been an insane ride so far.

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together? Has anything surprised you about it all so far?

We met one morning downtown walking around and that moment we knew we were all going to be connected in some way. Once we found out we were all musicians and all looking for a band we just started hitting things off. We’re surprised with how natural and how close we all are in such a short time. We are all brothers from different mothers haha.

How difficult was it to come up with your band name? What other names were you considering?

We think too many bands out have random names and think too much on the meanings behind their names. Names should not define who you are. You define your name. So because of that we wanted a name that just sounded random and could mean anything. We have a funny story that brought us to picking Forts Like Vana but we all swore secrecy on it.

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound and how you all carry yourselves in this group? If you don’t think that it has, why is that?

Nashville is the city of songwriting so that influenced us to write songs that tell a story and can be relatable to anyone, but our sound really just came from all the styles we grew up listening to and throwing it all into one.

Despite just forming this year, how would you say that Forts Like Vana has grown in this short time? Or what are you hoping to change?

It’s definitely grown a ton and we weren’t expecting it! Every band hopes people like them and listen to them. But we want to interact with anyone that listens to us or likes us. There are too many “tense” vibes in music, and a lot of fake support between artists in this kind of genre so we want to throw that shit to the side and welcome everyone to the party.

What was the inspiration for your debut single “Love You Right”? Have you been surprised at all by the positive reactions to it? What was it like making the music video for it? How creatively involved were you all with the making of it?

Logan: I just moved to Nashville and one night roamed the downtown streets and saw Nashville in its purest form: wild, carefree, chaotic, drunk, and the time of your life. Before seeing these streets I was already living that lifestyle but the city let me show those true colors in a way that wanted to indulge it even more. This song is about a typical night out living life to the fullest with someone you just met.

When do you hope to release more new music and a full collection of new songs?

We hope to soon! Being so new we have a ton new material which is awesome and we are trying out new songs during rehearsals and shows to see what feels like FLV. We hope to have a new song out by the end of the year but we’ll see what’s in store first.

Where do you think you are all happiest – in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

We all can’t live without playing on stage. Writing and recording is always a fun creative process but when we are all playing music together it’s a feeling unlike any other.

Do you have any upcoming tour dates this summer that you would like to tell our readers about?

We just finished up our first Midwest tour that was a freaking blast. On July 22nd we headlined Sounds Like Summer Fest in Nashville so we were really pumped about that. It’s so crazy to be a band for less than 7 months and we are already headlining a festival. Such a surreal thing.

How do you think being musicians and in this band gives you all the most joy in life today?

The music we are creating has an energy that we don’t hear from most bands and it just gives us this high that we can’t take away. Seeing that other people get that same high too makes it even more worthwhile.

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how your own music is reflecting this time period? If you don’t think it is, why is that? Would you say that other musicians are making music that has been influenced by this climate?

Everyone has the right to their own political beliefs and our band is very diverse and we all come from different backgrounds. We respect all our opinions but too many people are expressing those beliefs. Maybe one day we will have a politically charged song but right now we don’t care about it. We want to make music that speaks to people about their emotions that don’t involve saturated, corrupted children running the world.

How important do you think social media has been to this band? Do all you help to maintain all your sites or is one of you more into it all? Or do you rely on your PR/management team to handle it?

We LOVE social media. It’s a great resource to connect with people and we’ve been able to interact with the fortress family that way. All of us use it so no one ever knows who is the one saying what. We’ll talk about anything on social media and love to hear how peoples’ days are going and getting to know them. Too many artists act like they are God on social media and don’t interact. That’s fucking dumb. We’re all human and getting to know people personally is what life is all about.

Who would you love to work with in the future? Who are some of your favorite artists right now? What do you think would be a dream collaboration for this group?

We all listen to different music and have different favorites.  We’re not really at a place where we think about collaborations but maybe like Dre or something.

If you guys were all going to be stranded on a deserted island, what musical item would you want to take with you and why?

We would build our own instruments out of palm trees, rocks, and seaweed.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

We hope listeners feel the passion and energy in the music. Our songs can relate to anyone about any reason they see fit so we hope these tunes bring that out of them.

Where can our readers connect with Forts Like Vana?

You can connect with us on all platforms! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, iTunes, all that fun stuff! @fortslikevana

(All photography provided by www.MuddyPawPR.com)