Tenderness guru Kurt Vile talks about his fictional image, tequila sleepwalking, and why you should at least take a guitar on a trip.
Text: Two plus
Editor: Echo
More than a decade ago, Kurt Villers got the name "The Guy Who Burned the Disc" for distributing his own recorded discs at shows in his hometown of Philadelphia.
After releasing 7 records, he completed the new album "Bottle It In", which won the praise of the whole house. The new song "Skinny Mini" began with inspiration during auditions, while "Hysteria" was written by Vile when he was on an airplane trying to overcome his fear of flying.
During this time, thanks to his fame, he teamed up with Cass McEms, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, and Warpaint's Stella Muzgawa to release a 10-song condensed album. The lazy and vague sound of the guitar lingers in your ears, like drinking a beer before dawn and talking about life.
Kurt Vile
"Constant Hitmaker"
2008
When Kurt Ville takes the phone, the first thing you'll notice is his sleek and languid way of speaking, so even if he's talking nonsense, it's easy to be convinced.
In fact, his situation is not bad, although he is often labeled "melancholy". This time this new article is full of truth:
"Loading Zones" cleverly celebrates his hometown of Philadelphia through daily life discoveries (except for parking tickets); "Bassackwards" pays the greatest tribute to the friends he admires.
He told NME: "I feel a lot of love, and I am also very sensitive because hatred will follow, so I try to focus on the good side as much as possible." ”
(Insert song Kurt Vile – One Trick Ponies)
It's a fictional image of Kurt Villers: a freewheeling slacker, wearing crumpled jeans and a faded band T-shirt, sipping beer while tucking tapes into a broken car. Do you like this image?
"I look back now and start to feel as if this is the case! And those songs are like exaggerations, which is why I don't care that what I read in a rock biography isn't all true. I'm not Bob Dylan, and I don't want to expose my life naked to the public. You know, it depends on my mood. "
"I know, especially in some European countries, that people want to know exactly what my songs are saying. I was trying to explain, but then I realized that I wasn't conveying the right meaning, because while at the moment I could dissect the lyrics sentence by sentence, the more I said it, the less clear it became. "
"It feels strange to analyze all of your lyrics for someone else."
You've said you have some unpublished records, do we have a chance to hear them?
"I'm very happy to think about my own private collections, which is inspired by Neil Young, but they're not going to be made public, it's for my own, so I can look at them chronologically. But in fact, every record has a single that has been retained, especially the last two records I have reservations. ”
"The song was ready to be released, but I'm a persistent person, so I'll make some more tweaks before it's released. There's definitely something valuable in there, and one day I'll release them all. ”
"But I'm not saying I'm in a hurry to release it, because let's get people to pay attention to my album first."
Let's talk about the songs in Bottle It In, which you recorded in the studio during your tour of the United States.
"Yeah, I was out on the go anyway, so I threw myself into the studio. I'm a little more savvy this time, I've brought things together so I can juggle family and have my own space. It allows me to see farther, because there aren't so many things to get in the way of you. ”
"Botle It In"
2018
You spent a lot of time rehearsing your last album, b'lieve I'm goin down, in the Red House Rehearsal Room (which takes its name from its eye-catching Red Wall). Is there a new album song recorded there?
"I don't go there anymore. I loved the place but it was too small to accommodate us. It's full of David Lynch-esque psychedelic colors. Once, I accidentally slept there and woke up to find myself sleepwalking. ”
"It was dark inside the house, and I thought I was in hell until I suddenly came back to god. This is ridiculous! I may have drunk too much tequila. ”
Seeing your itinerary, I was amazed that you were able to prepare for such a long tour, how did you do it?
"You can never get your itinerary done perfectly, so I just did it intuitively and tried not to drive myself crazy. I used to go crazy a lot, and now I do different things to calm myself down. ”
"My wife helped me a lot, she was addicted to Indian Vedic wellness, which made me calmer than ever."
In addition, it would be very boring to be too serious.
"Don't worry, it's certainly not our style."
Do you really always carry your instrument in case you need to improvise a piece?
"Yes, if I go out, I'll at least bring a folk guitar, because I've never been out with a guitar once or twice, which makes me very frustrated."
"You don't necessarily play the piano, but usually you do. You should be able to play your guitar all the time. ”
In the video, your fingers are wandering around the fretboard like you're playing an air guitar.
"Oh yes, I'm so used to playing guitar that sometimes it feels like I'm playing an air guitar and my hands are always moving."
"I made a song with The Sadies called 'It's Easy Like Walking,' which was put on their latest album and sung by me. The lyrics are:
I got air guitar twitches in my left hand / but it wasn't because I got sick from getting old / Because I loved it. ’”
插入It's easy like walking
The Sadies
Your singing style is like a beautiful combination of Pavement, Springsteen and Neil Young. Was this intentional?
"I always listen to people who inspire me – there are so many musicians and so many ways to sing. I like to think, many of the musicians I like have their own singing style, subtly, I can sing like them. ”
"Like Jerry Lee Lewis. I don't just learn from one particular person, but from everyone at the same time. That's probably music. I like that writers can be indirectly associated with other stories or writers, and the same is true of music. ”
Jerry Lee Lewis
Whose song are you listening to right now?
"At this moment? I was listening to Willie Nelson's classic albums Red Headed Stranger and Phases and Stages. ”
"In fact, strangely enough, I was obsessed with listening to this album from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in Germany."
Willie Nelson
"Red Headed Stranger"
1975
You are a loyal reader of music biographies. Have you ever thought about what title to give your autobiography?
"Didn't think about it. This era is much more boring, because there is no legend in the contemporary era. Anything was put on the internet. ”
"It's like: 'Kurt Villers went on tour, and then he went home, and then he used the digital music workstation to make his next album, and then he went on touring, and then he went on vacation.'" It's boring. ”
But it also allows you to create as much as you want!
truly. The interview also became a little more interesting. I can definitely make up some stories, or I can talk nonsense in a serious way. But I don't have it now, I'm telling the truth! ”