Calvin Bakelaar, the man behind the musical alias VANCAMP, is a singer-songwriter from Listowel, Ontario. Since his first performance as VANCAMP in 2022, he has performed alongside artists like Wild Rivers, Mariel Buckley, Dom Louis, and Texas King, in addition to taking the stage at the Peterborough Folk Festival twice, and even won the festival’s 2024 Emerging Artist Award this past August.

On September 28^th, VANCAMP took the stage at Sadleir House to perform a playthrough of Diner Coffee, as well as a few of their older songs, including “Don’t Lie To Me” and “Freaking Me Out.”

The show was opened by heartfelt acoustic sets from Brooklyn Doran and Gamekeeper (Warren Frank, VANCAMP’s producer and drummer), and even turned into Frank’s birthday celebration, where he shared his cake with audience members.

I sat down with Bakelaar to discuss VANCAMP and their debut album, Diner Coffee, released on September 20th, 2024. 

Bakelaar grew up in a family full of musicians, and began playing the drums at age 10. After moving to Peterborough for his senior year of high school in 2016, he drummed for a few punk bands and other projects. In 2017, Bakelaar began learning guitar and decided to try his hand at songwriting early on during the pandemic, which led to him starting VANCAMP as a solo music project soon after. 

He released his first single, “That Lake” in September of 2022, closely followed by the release of his debut EP, 523, in October of the same year.

“‘November’ was the first song that I wrote that I thought ‘I could record and release this, I would want people to hear this, it’s not something I would just keep to myself,” said Bakelaar.

In 2021, his song “November” won the Don Skuce Memorial Music Collective songwriting contest, giving him the opportunity to have the track mixed by Peterborough’s own Grammy-nominated producer, Greg Wells. Wells has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Taylor Swift, Kid Cudi, Weezer, Pharell Williams, and Aerosmith, and is the producer behind Twenty One Pilots’ sophomore album, Vessel—a project that Bakelaar heavily connected with growing up. 

Winning the contest also gave him the opportunity to collaborate with John Crown and James McEnty, two of the founders of the collective, allowing him to learn about the recording process and form important connections within the Peterborough music community—inspiring him to release more music.

Though VANCAMP started off as a solo project, the band now plays “a huge role” in the musical process. The band consists of Sam Quinn on bass, Warren Frank on drums and production, Caitlin Currie on backing vocals and keys, and Jon Maxwell on guitar. Most often, Bakelaar will start the songwriting process with a small hook or melody, and once he has the “shell of the song”, he brings the lyrics, melody, and general structure “ready to be molded” by his bandmates. In addition to their respective instruments, each member is known for bringing a different element to final tracks. Quinn focuses on the structure from a logical standpoint, Frank adds additional synths and instrumentals, Currie provides harmonies, and Maxwell adds riffs.

On September 20^th, VANCAMP released their debut album Diner Coffee, a thoughtful indie rock record that surrounds themes of spirituality, identity, and belonging.

The title track, “Diner Coffee”, provides a reflective introduction to the album, serving as a sort of meeting place for Bakelaar and his past selves. Based on his hometown tradition of visiting Diana Sweets Marketplace & Café for celebrations and reunions, it’s the perfect setting to reconnect with who he used to be.

“I always imagined this collection of music as a conversation with myself,” he explained. “It’s like I’m having coffee with myself and catching up.” 

The album features a re recorded version of “Broken Mosaic”—a song originally on his first EP 523 and produced by John Crown. Though it was released while VANCAMP was still a solo project, it quickly became a band favourite and frequent show opener.

As it revolves around religious deconstruction, Bakelaar felt that the song “fit thematically” with the concept behind Diner Coffee, and after a conversation with Warren Frank, the two decided that it was “worth rerecording with the whole band involved.”

Growing up, Bakelaar and his family went to church every Sunday and were involved in church-sanctioned activities like youth group and Cadets. Over time, he began to feel as though he didn’t “fit into the church culture”, with questions like “Why does this work for other people when it doesn’t work for me? Why are other people connecting with it in a way that I’m questioning so much?” racing through his mind. His religious uncertainty, and eventual deconstruction, plays an integral role in the album, and is heavily connected to the theme of finding a sense of understanding and belonging discussed throughout.

“It feels so easy for everybody else, but it’s so hard for me,” shared Bakelaar.

“This Old Town” surrounds Bakelaar’s relationship to his hometown of Listowel, and his experiences of “not feeling like [he] fit in, not connecting, [and] having issues with the place [that he] grew up but loving the people in it.” It was co-written by singer-songwriter Brooklyn Doran, who will be featured in an upcoming version of the track released in November.

“For the most part, people love people. I wouldn’t go out and say that I was ever really treated poorly in most situations,” he explained, “but there were times where I didn’t feel I could be my most authentic self because of the way that the people around me would speak about issues surrounding queer identity.”

This conflict between his queer identity and the values of those in his hometown contributed to his difficulty connecting to the place around him, making him feel that he had to hide this side of himself.

 “Moving to Peterborough and having a fresh start has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me because I found my people, I found friends I can actually be myself around,” Bakelaar said.

In addition to finding a sense of belonging and community in Peterborough, he had the opportunity of celebrating his authentic self by performing at Toronto Pride this past June. When asked about this experience—which was his first Toronto Pride—, Bakelaar replied that “it was really cool to be surrounded by a community of people that I actually felt connected to.”

However, the track “Younger Then” provides a different perspective on the culture in his hometown, and is about the youthful naivety—and often stupidity—that only a small town can foster.

 “Living out in the middle of nowhere, you get away with a lot, especially when you’re a kid,” he explained. Some of the specific memories that inspired this song were drinking and setting off Roman candles in his friend’s driveway at his Grade 8 Graduation afterparty, and the high school fights that took place behind the local KFC.

When asked about what excited him the most about the album release show, Bakelaar replied that he hoped to “give context to what the album is about, and hopefully connect with a crowd of people that enjoy it.” He was successful in both endeavours, and told stories about select songs between energy-filled performances.

“Recording an album and having an album out has always been a lifelong goal of mine,” Bakelaar explained, “this was worth it, all the work, all the hard times when it comes to playing live, recording music, writing music, or reflecting on life.”

Diner Coffee is now available on all streaming platforms, and vinyls are available on Bandcamp or through Instagram DM for those in Peterborough.