Van Larkins performs Saturday August 3rd at 12.15pm on the Exclusively Acoustic stage
Van also appears in a meet The Players session cafe Corner Saturday August 3 at 3pm
Van is back Sunday August4th for the World of Acoustic guitar jam 1.40pm Marsh Mezzanine Stage
It was the hurricane season, in Blackwater 1994 when Van Larkins, a ten year old Australian discovering his gift for music, began what was to be a journey of musical exploration and discovery. Van’s father, an artist and musician, introduced his son to the guitar, which was to become Van’s instrument of choice and access to share his music with friends, family and soon after, a world-wide audience of music connoisseurs.
Van Larkins plays a modern fusion of traditional styles with a “one man band” approach incorporating bass, rhythm, melody and harmony. Van’s music has transitioned from Metallica to finger-style acoustic guitar, playing transpositions of 400-year-old harp songs.
Combining classical guitar style with musical influences like electronica, Psytrance and 70s funk, Van Larkins’ ground-breaking techniques and complex compositions have earned him a coveted spot on the U.S. CandyRat Records roster, multiple endorsements and praise from the world’s best fingerstyle artists, including Andrew White, Antonio Vargas and electric guitar legend, Phil Emmanuel.
“Van Larkins doesn’t just play guitar… he creates a beautiful musical soundscape. His application of musical cascades and original compositions shed new light to the term ear candy,” said Emmanuel after ‘sounding-off’ with Van Larkins at last year’s Turn UP! music conference.
Defying the eyes and ears with energetic melodies, harmonies, percussion and bass created with just 6 strings, Cinder Moon was inspired two years ago when, “all of the stars and planets were aligning. It was all a bit cosmic and weird,” said Van Larkins from his home in Brisbane.
“If you close your eyes and listen to Cinder Moon, you can hear a full band and a melodic vocal line. And if you open your eyes to see what’s going on, it’s a real show – all the sounds are there without the safety net of technology.”
Soon to feature in a world-first fingerstyle guitar movie, developing life-changing guitar programs for the vision-impaired and most recently, releasing his custom-designed signature model baritone Kallquist guitar, Van Larkins is drawing much warranted attention to fingerstyle Down Under.
“Aussies tend to associate the acoustic guitar with genres like bluegrass, country and blues, but fingerstyle covers every genre on the planet. You can play funk, EDM and heavy metal on an acoustic now, it’s the next big thing in the live music industry, people just don’t know it yet.”