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Biography
primary sources|date=March 2011Infobox musical artist | name = Van Canto| image = Van_Canto.jpg| caption =| image_size = | background = group_or_band| origin = Germany | genre = A cappella , heavy metal music|heavy metal | years_active = 2006-Present| label = Gun Records / Sony BMG , Napalm Records | associated_acts =| website = http://www.vancanto.de/ www.vancanto.de| current_members = Dennis Schunke Inga Scharf Stefan Schmidt Ross Thompson Ingo Sterzinger Bastian Emig| past_members = Dennis Strillinger Van Canto is an a cappella band from Germany , founded in 2006 and composed of five singers and a drummer. Although the group is often classified as an a cappella ensemble, they use real drums in their music, instead of vocal percussion or beatboxing .
Van Canto play a cappella with Traditional heavy metal|classic heavy , power metal and Symphonic metal influence, creating what they call "hero metal a capella". While only two of the five singers perform the lead vocals, the other three will instead use their voices to imitate the guitars and the bass, with the help of amplifiers, in an attempt to sound closer to the original instruments.
History
As soon as the band was founded, its debut album, A Storm to Come , was released through General Schallplatten. It features seven original tracks, as well as cover versions of Metallica 's "Battery" and "Stora Rövardansen" from the movie Ronja Rövardotter . Additionally, videos were shot for the tracks "The Mission", "Battery", and "Rain".cite web | url= http://www.vancanto.de/? nav=17& PHPSESSID=bd153f5e17a5e0df3ff8ab1304aa862e= | title= News at Van Canto official siteverify credibility|date=March 2011On 30 September 2007, they announced a new drummer, Bastian Emig, who replaced Dennis Strillinger's position in the band. In December 2007, Van Canto signed a worldwide record deal with Gun Records/Sony BMG. Also in December, the band were announced as part of the line up of the Wacken Open Air|Wacken 2008 festival . The band also announced that their second album, titled " Hero (van Canto album)|Hero ", was in the progress of being recorded. Hero ended up being released on 26 September 2008, with producer Charlie Bauerfeind .
Van Canto performed a South American promotional tour between 23 June and 2 July 2008. The live performances took place primarily in Brazil , which is the homeland of Ingo Sterzinger.cite web | url= http://e-fanzine.blogspot.com/2007/04/1.html | title= Entrevista com Stefan (Van Canto) | accessdate=2008-05-22Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot Soon after, the band arrived in Germany to perform live at Wacken 2008. A new song, "Speed of Light", was released as a digital single on 8 August 2008. A music video was shot for the song as well.
As of late 2009, Van Canto was recording their third studio album in Twilight Hall Studios, with Bauerfeind and via Napalm Records .cite web|url= http://www.vancanto.de/2009/08/new-album-new-label/|title=New Album, New Label|date=2009-10-27|publisher=Van Canto's official blog|accessdate=2009-10-29Dead link|date=November 2010|bot=H3llBot The album was due to contain around 11 tracks, fewer covers than Hero and a couple of bonus tracks. It was released worldwide in early 2010, which happened alongside the worldwide release of their previous two albums. The album was announced at Nuclear Blast official website as Tribe of Force . The tracklisting features 13 tracks, two of them being covers (" Master of Puppets (song)|Master of Puppets " by Metallica and " Rebellion (single)|Rebellion " by Grave Digger (band)|Grave Digger ), and three of them featuring guest artists: Victor Smolski (from Rage (band)|Rage ) guest appears in "One to Ten", Tony Kakko (from Sonata Arctica ) guest appears on "Hearted" and Chris Boltendahl (from Grave Digger) guest appears in "Rebellion". http://www.nuclearblast.de/showShopProductDetail.php? artikelnummer=166175& kat= Tribe of force at Nuclear Blast's website
Recently, Van Canto announced in their official website that they would perform guest vocals in the next albums by bands Blind Guardian and Grave Digger (band)|Grave Digger ( At the Edge of Time and untitled, respectively). They also appeared on the Tarja Turunen album What Lies Beneath (Tarja album)|What Lies Beneath (on the track "Anteroom of Death"). http://www.vancanto.de/ News at the band's official site
On 23 August 2010 their entire library was removed from popular music streaming service Spotify , but it reappeared on 8 September 2010. On 2 September 2011 their library was removed again and hasn't reappeared since
On 21 September 2010 it was announced that they had teamed up with the popular MMORPG Runes of Magic to create a http://www.alltern8.com/library/mmo_games/exclusive_runes_of_magic_-_van_canto_feature/l-5696.html music video based around the game for and with the game http://www.alltern8.com/library/mmo_games/exclusive_runes_of_magic_-_van_canto_feature/l-5696.html Breaking news on the Alltern8.com site
On 17 February 2011, it was announced on the official Van Canto website that the band was entering the studio and suspending touring until June in order to create a new album.
As of September 22nd 2011, the band's new album Break the Silence (van Canto album)|Break the Silence has officially been released. http://www.vancanto.de/ News at the band's official site
Band members
Current members
Dennis "Sly" Schunke – Lead vocalist|lead vocals (2006-present)
Inga Scharf – lead vocals (2006-present)
Ross Thompson – higher rakkatakka vocals (2006-present)
Stefan Schmidt – lower rakkatakka vocals, wahwah solo guitar vocals (2006-present)
Hero (van Canto album)|Hero (2008 re-released in 2008, and again in 2010)
Tribe of Force (2010)
Break the Silence (van Canto album)|Break the Silence (2011) http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm? newsid=70158 Van Canto Comments On New Album "Break The Silence"
References
External links
Wikinews|Van Canto's Stefan Schmidt on a capella metal, Wacken, Nightwish, piracy & more
http://www.vancanto.de Official homepage
myspace|vancanto
http://www.rakka-takka.de/ Official fanclub
DEFAULTSORT:Van Canto Category:Professional a cappella groups Category:Musical groups established in 2006 Category:Sony BMG artists Category:German heavy metal musical groups
