VAN GO GO is Nathan Mackinder (vocals/guitar), Jason Schaller (lead guitar/vocals), Paxton Olney (bass/vocals) and Jonah Brockman (drums/vocals).

Their name is as unique as these veteran rockers and it actually wasn’t difficult to decide on a moniker for the band. Near the end of a night on the town, they stumbled on a Van Gogh print at the top of a stairway. Schaller looked at the group and suggested, “How about Van Go Go?”

Nate and Jason had shared the stage for over 20 years, 15 of them with their band South Normal, which broke up in 2007. Jason wanted to keep things going, so they auditioned some people to play drums and bass. That’s when Paxton and Jonah came along and Van Go Go was fully assembled.

Barely 9 months into the inception of VAN GO GO, Nate and Jason decided that they were burned out and needed a life change. It’s at that point that VAN GO GO called it quits and Nate and Jason moved from Michigan to Florida to pursue careers outside of music.

Twelve years would pass before something cosmic would reunite the band. In October of 2020, COVID 19 and the Universe brought the guys back together. They had unfinished business, as well as unfinished music from 2008. they collectively decided that it was time to conclude the stories that they had begun to tell over a decade earlier. “Music is in your blood and for us, life just wasn’t the same without it,” says Nate.

The songs are as relevant today as they were when the band wrote them in 2008. As luck would have it Chuck Alkazian at Pearl Sound Studios held onto the demos they recorded from years earlier. The band returned to Pearl Sound to finish the four songs from its first session in October of 2020. this quickly inspired the band to return to the studio for a second round of new songs that were completed January of 2021.

The first 3 singles, “Big Mistake”, “Imaginary Friend” and the band’s newest single, “Both of Us” have received over 500,000 streams and 100,000 YouTube plays in the short 5 months that the band has reunited. All produced, promoted and managed independently by the VAN GO GO Team.

What’s different with the band today? “We’re all business people with a love for music,” says Jason. As you mature, you realize that life is about balance and for VAN GO GO and its members, they’ve figured out the perfect balance.