Photo Credit: Adam Wallacavage
On the surface, singer/songwriter Kurt Vile may seem like an artist that is comfortable in his own skin. With 10 albums under his belt, including his latest, (watch my moves), Vile has plenty of material and only seemingly increasing popularity with each release. This week, he’ll bring his band to Turner Hall Ballroom as part of his return to the road, a lifestyle that he’s embedded himself in over the course of his career. Prior to the show, Vile talked with Shepherd Express about his record, the road, and revealed that there is more to his live show than might meet the eye.
You’re back at it, on tour once again. How has tour been going so far?
I’m doing good. I’ve been on the road for three weeks, but it feels like it’s been three months. I’ll be seeing you guys soon though!
Is this tour the first real chance to get back into the swing of things?
Yeah. There were a few variations of one-offs and solo gigs over the fall and spring, and a couple band gigs. We played the Wilco festival in Cancun, which was really cool. If I didn’t have those gigs, I would’ve felt insane. But this feels like a real tour this time.
Some songs on your record feel very simplistic, and others seem much more intricate. What went into making this record?
I knew I was going to turn in a record for a new record, and I’m always trying to swing for the fences no matter what, but I had more time to do it and that was just more like a routine way of life. Just writing songs all the time, demoing them on whatever I could at home, and eventually working my way up to high fidelity recordings, between my home studio and Rob Schnapf’s studio in Los Angeles. His is out there, mine’s in Philly. It was really about just living it, going through the process and the best songs make the cut.
Do you think you’ve written more for this record than you might have previously due to the pandemic?
I mean, I think I did. I always have a fair amount of songs leftover, but this is more like a way of life, like a well-rounded organic culmination of all my years of experience, sort of manifesting. It’s something like a new chapter I guess.
The intro to the album, “Goin On A Plane Today,” feels like it could have come out of enjoying the simplicity of getting out of lockdown. Were all of these songs written during the time everyone spent at home?
That was written years ago, actually, but it made the record. I recorded it when it wasn’t a total lockdown, because there were vaccines, et cetera, but I recorded that when my producer Rob Schnapf came to Philly. That’s cool though. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter when it was made, because people can take that emotion out of their own life or whatever, and it gets inserted into the song. That's that's like nostalgia. Nostalgia is my favorite drug lately, you know. It's just like you hear something and it brings you back somewhere else.
Speaking of, do you revisit any of your previous work when you make an album?
I think I'm always like doing a little version of keeping true to my roots, but my styles are always sort of evolving. Whatever my current influence is, whether that’s art or something else.
What did night one of this tour feel like, since you’re already back out on the road?
It's weird, because we rehearsed a ton more than normal, in my studio and just around in Philly, and then once we got to the first show it definitely doesn't sound anything like wherever you're rehearsing. It sounds insane at first, when you go to the first stage and you're like “how am I gonna pull this off?” Then once there's ideally, if you're lucky, a big crowd, and that sounds completely different when you’re feeding off the energy of the people. I’m looking at their faces, which I didn't used to do, like I feel more connected. I’m more present. It’s electrifying, really.
Is there anything that you didn’t realize you missed about playing live?
I feel like even just being off the road, I learned a lot about life. Even little things, like I used to be pretty shy with fans, which I still can be. Or I wouldn't look into the crowd, but I had time to think about what's important and what's not, and I think it's beautiful if people are happy with what I do. I realized I make music for obsessives. I get obsessed with all kinds of music so I realize I make music for them, and they’re just an extension of me, really. Like a lot of these people, my music connects with them. I feel it because my music is definitely emotional or sensitive, combined with other things sometimes. It's funny but I like to know that it helps people out, you know.
You can catch Kurt Vile at Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday night. Tickets are available via the Pabst Theater Group website.
