It’s time once again for another segment of “Of The Record” where we throw some random questions at some of your favorite artists and musicians. Drummer Ryan “RVP” Van Poederooyen is best known for his work with Devin Townsend Project and currently he is with Imonolith who recently dropped their debut album “State Of Being“. Ryan shares some stories from the road, life advice and a fondness for a particular soundtrack that that surprise a few people.
Favorite place to play?
RVP: I’m not just saying this because I’m doing an interview with you but I’ve always said in interviews and you can look it up in past interviews – I love Perth, Australia. I love playing there, the crowd’s have been great and I just love the city so that would be one of my top places. But another place I love playing was Czech Republic, Prague, it’s a beautiful city, I’ve always enjoyed playing there. Another place I really enjoy playing is Santiago, Chile so honestly it’s impossible to name just one but Perth is there, let’s say that!
If you could trade places with any other artist, past or present, who would it be?
RVP: Oh Pantera is my biggest influence man, when it comes to metal, my favorite band of all time is the Beatles but I love playing the heavier stuff so I’d say Pantera. They were an amazing band, R.I.P. Dimebag and Vinnie but they were incredible man.
Current band you would love to tour with?
RVP: Definitely my buddies in Gojira I’d say because we’ve already toured with them and done stuff with them before with Devin Townsend Project but such a great band, awesome people. Just awesome people, they’re fun to hang around with, we all get along great so Gojira, Gojira would be a killer bill to get on.
Artist that you would love to collaborate with on a recording that you haven’t done so yet?
RVP: Again I think the guys in Gojira would be cool to collaborate with, Joe [Duplantier] and I get along good so that would be really interesting. We have similar influences, he loves Sepultura and Pantera so that would be a fun collaboration. There’s also guys in the band Avatar, that’s another band we’d love to tour with to be honest and I think we’re on par with music with them as well so they would be a cool collaboration. Johannes [Eckerström] the singer is incredible so that would be a fun collaboration as well.
Craziest fan encounter?
RVP: I was backstage and I was about to go have a shower and my drum tech, just before I was about to get in, was like, ‘Hey this girl wants to meet you’, and I’m like, ‘Ok I’m about to get in the shower’. Well she’s about to leave or whatever, anyways I go out there and meet her and she’s cool and everything but she was kinda hitting on me and stuff and I was just like, hey I’m married, it’s all good and nice to meet you kind of thing and I go back and I’m getting ready to grab a shower and whatever and next thing you know I turn around just as I’m taking my clothes off to get in the shower, there’s this chick standing there and I’m like what the hell! She actually scared the crap out of me man, what the hell is going on! I’m just like, right get her out of here! It was a bit of a surprise that she made it backstage right, I’m just like how the hell did she get back here! I went to security and I’m like, ‘Arent you guys doing your friggin’ job?’ But yeah that was pretty crazy, scared the crap out of me to be honest, I had no idea [laughs].
Most valuable advice ever given to you?
RVP: You know what it is, it’s between my Father and Opa. My Opa always had this quote, “Life is what you make it”, and my father always influenced me to say, ‘Do what you love and love what you do every single day’. And that’s what I’ve done through out my life and that’s what’s brought me here, it’s what got me to Devin Townsend Project gig, all that stuff. So those two quotes by far the best advice ever, “Life is truly what you make it” and “Do what you love and love what you do as much as you can every single day”.
Proudest achievement in your career so far?
RVP: That would be a tie between playing Royal Albert Hall, which we sold that out in one day with Devin Townsend Project and one of the most iconic venues in the world, and the other thing would be getting a 7 page feature in Modern Drummer Magazine which is the biggest drum magazine in the world. To get that feature and see the setup of your kit and then describing everything and just interviewing you over 7 pages is pretty amazing. And you know when you look on the stem of the book it says Modern Drummer and Dave Weckl on the cover but I was the next feature so it says, ‘Modern Drummer Dave Weckl / Ryan Van Poederooyen. To this day I still look at that and get goosebumps right, like wow I’ve dreamed about this since I was a kid so that’s a pretty big achievement too.
What is your guilty musical pleasure?
You know what, I like listening to soundtracks of movies. Not that that’s a guilty pleasure but I have the Titanic soundtrack from the movie Titanic. Funny story behind this, I was listening to it one day and I like the music behind the symphony music, the instrumental stuff they did. When I work out I like to listen to different soundtracks at times but the Celine Dion song came on which was a huge hit or whatever and it was playing and my wife walked in and she’s like, ‘Are you kidding me? And I’m like, ‘No no it’s not what you think [laughs]. I couldn’t talk myself out of that one [laughs], but I don’t know if it’s necessarily a guilty pleasure but it’s a hell of a story.
