Kurt Vile Photo: Courtesy of The Label
A long-time favourite with New Zealand audiences, Kurt Vile returns with his band The Violators for the first time since their 2019 tour.
Music 101's Charlotte Ryan talks to Kurt from his new home in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, about his new record (Watch my Moves).
Vile tells Ryan his New Zealand show features a lot of material from his new record, which he describes as mellow and deep, a product of his obsessiveness.
The new year had started well for him, and the freedom to play live and travel after Covid-19 lockdowns is bringing a balance back to his creative life.
"I guess my record came out last year in the spring, summer, fall, a new year with a fresh record under my belt and, you know, shows actually happening for a while," he says.
"Everybody's a little bit less wounded psychologically. But I didn't mind dropping off the face of the earth either. It's the nice balance of both. But yeah, so stoked to finally come back to New Zealand to play some music."
Playing so far away from home is a little daunting, but it feels natural, he says. New Zealand, he says, is a little more magical than Australia.
"It's almost like the days leading up to it are the hardest and then once you get rolling, once you land over on the other side of the world, I'm like, literally so used to it. I'm like, 'these are my people'.
"It's incredible that I have been over as many times as I have, and my family has been once in New Zealand and they're coming back. I don't know. It doesn't feel weird. It feels exhilarating and completely natural."
He worked for the Philly Brewing Company before giving up the job to be a full-time musician in 2009, with his album on Matador coming out the same year.
"That was a crazy time," he says. "And it's crazy how fast it flies."
The Philadelphia man is happy with the fact he's remained in the city, reflected in his ode to his home, in 'Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)'.
He describes the area as a hilly, green space, full of natural beauty - a place he was forced to move to, away from his old neighbourhood, which had become gentrified and overdeveloped.
Vile says he gets frustrated when people only have a one-dimensional idea of the city as dreary rundown streets and a tough place to be.
"I finally moved out here we had to out of necessity that we couldn't park anywhere in my old neighbourhood and that was more of like the young, you know, artists types of Bohemians and then gentrification type of place.
"Next thing you know, you can't move. So we needed a driveway for our kids. But then once I got here, I was like, 'oh, man, thank God I never left'.
"I was meant to be here my whole life. A lot of people move to LA or New York. And if I didn't travel for a living, maybe I would have to do that too.
"I'm just glad I never did because now I just feel like some perfect combination of a Nature Boy. I'm in the city and I go into it all the time."
He has a home studio full of guitars and records, which he says is a simple expression of his interests.
"I'm 43 years old, and I'm a music head and I collect records. I don't throw things out, so like it just accumulates you know, so yeah, there's like I don't know like, there's a Dinosaur Jr set list on the wall.
"I can't get rid of old beat-up instruments that I played on previous albums."
(Watch my Moves) is his ninth album, which he describes as a result of his obsessive musical mind, but a record he doesn't expect to explode up the charts.
"I am really proud of it. It was such a deep record to make and it's a long album. There's so many things left on the cutting room floor that feel like the record that didn't make it.
"And any time I turn in a record, I'm feeling pretty cocky, especially the last two records, they're both kind of epic. And they're deep. You got to listen a few times to catch it all. But the way I work is I listen to things over and over, so I get so deep into them so I know every little thing that happens... I'm just an obsessive person.
"So I can tell the people in the audience who are obsessive. I can tell it does trigger people, but maybe it hasn't exploded, maybe hasn't like climbed up the pop charts or something...
"I feel like it's a mellow record all in all... I'm always aiming to have some version of a hit record. Let's put it that way. And I think they all have hit elements. But you know, I guess I just go in and out of shoegaze mentality in my brain."
Vile likes the gritty, imperfect elements in his songs, which give a certain feel and character to them.
"I guess I'm thinking about a lot of computer music is sort of play it to a metronome click track and it's just perfect. And I like to keep mine a little damaged. I don't think it's more loose, but there's charm in all those mistakes."
Kurt Vile & The Violators are playing
* Thursday 23th March - Auckland, Town Hall
* Saturday 25th March - Christchurch, James Hay Theatre
* Sunday 26th March - Wellington, St James Theatre
