Artist: Captain Kaiser
Album: Rhyme & Reason
Single: “Drive”
Belgian alternative/punk band, Captain Kaiser, has released the new single, “Drive”, from their forthcoming album. The album, titled Rhyme & Reason, is set to be released later this year. In the meantime, “Drive” is available for streaming anywhere you get your music, and has an accompanying music video on YouTube.
Captain Kaiser consists of Sascha Vansant on vocals, Pieter De Krock on guitar, Baptiste Navarro on bass, Sebastiaan Schillebeeckx on drums, and Maarten Van Dam on guitar.
After recently signing on with a new record label, “Drive” marks the start of a new year for Captain Kaiser. According to the band, “Captain Kaiser’s music still celebrates life, only they know better than ever that life sometimes can kick you in the guts. One day you throw a party with friends, while the next there’s only the grim reaper on the dancefloor. Captain Kaiser gives them all their statues, only to break them down and throw them in the mosh pit.”
Sascha Vansant wrote “Drive” after the passing of his mother. It’s a song about pain, loss, and the feeling of driving into nothingness. With lyrics like, “Well wrong I’m wrong let’s face the fact/I’m all alone now stop reacting/Like a child now be the man/Wipe those tears, be strong again,” you can feel Vansant struggling with his grief and how that relates to his masculinity. Meanwhile, the short, simple chorus highlights his desperation to escape his emotions: “And I drive without knowing, without showing my own mess/And I drive to escape, to forget until I drive into that crash.”
The single begins with Vansant’s singing voice—stripped and alone, without background music, you can feel his sadness. Piano and guitar build slowly until it hits like a brick wall. Vansant is now screaming over the powerful music. It’s raw, pure emotion, and a great representation of the tornado of mixed feelings that come with grieving process.
The band kept it simple with the music video for “Drive.” The video begins with a shirtless Vansant, a shadowed silhouette against a bright orange background. Eventually, when the music becomes heavy, the video moves to quick-cuts of Vansant and the other band members in the same visual format. The video reminds me of those old iPod commercials with silhouettes of people dancing with their iPods.
Overall, I enjoyed “Drive.” Vansant really put himself out there for the world to see with this song, and I hope it was able to bring him some peace and healing. My only complaint is that it is too short, in my opinion—clocking in at only 1:58 seconds.
I can’t wait to hear more of Captain Kaiser’s new sound on Rhyme & Reason.
Check out Captain Kaiser on their website, Facebook, and Instagram.