On Creative Balance, Jamming With Mick Turner & Why Australians Are His 'Favourites'

Philadelphian guitarist and songwriter Kurt Vile has been no stranger to Australian shores in recent years — he’s traipsed down here numerous times with his band The Violators in tow, nonchalantly doling out hazy soundscapes with nary a care in the world.

Now he’s upping the ante considerably, returning on his lonesome for the first time. He’s played sporadic solo shows here in the past amidst band gigs, but he’s mainly given courage by the fact that he plays a solo section during most shows anyway.

“I’m in LA actually, just for a couple of days in-between chilling out at home and touring,” the affable songwriter explains. “I’ve been good. Just the right amount of busy, but not too much of any style. Getting to chill at home and play gigs here and there, recording here and there, other show business-related things here and there, but not too much of any that I can feel laid-back about it.”

Which must be especially nice, given the hectic year he had on the road after most recent album believe I’m goin’ down… (2015) hit the shelves.

I’m excited to be showing a more refined, more contemporary version of the solo side — you’ll get a little something extra.

“Yeah, definitely, I’m sort of used to the rush of that and how that works — I’d say for the past three records I saw what you do in the beginning of a record [cycle], which is just tour relentlessly,” he continues. “So I’m glad that’s behind me — I’ll be pretty prepared to do that again some day, but I’m in no major rush to get back out on the road for two years straight.”

He is, however, looking forward to the Australian solo tour.

“I used to play solo a lot, and you could say that I at least get practice every night when I have a gig, there’s always at least a couple solo jams in the middle — or at least always one, but usually two or so,” he explains. “That was fun, when I played that solo show at Sydney Festival — that was pretty raw and simple. Then, last year, I played one show in Melbourne solo after the band had left, but I’m excited to be showing a more refined, more contemporary version of the solo side — you’ll get a little something extra. I don’t know what it’s going to sound like, but you’re going to get a more special performance.”

Does he feel that presenting the songs stripped-back puts more focus on the lyrics?

“I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it that way,” Vile ponders. “Just because it’s coming out of my head and I’m hearing everything in my skull every night, I hear the lyrics plenty either way. But I think I’ve tapped into some kind of hypnotic style for a while now, so I think you can get equally lost in the guitar or the vocals, whatever you prefer.”

Vile explains that most of his songs started life in stripped-back form anyway.

“That’s the thing — it really just does usually start on an acoustic guitar anyway, although I definitely can hear other things going on,” he tells. “I think when I was younger, I could imagine there was going to be this exact thing here or there, but now I’ve embraced a more abstract approach — I’ll hear things but I won’t know what they are. But ultimately that’s why playing solo won’t be a problem, because you can kinda get lost in the guitar itself.”

Vile explains that while he enjoys the creative process of putting songs together, even a writer of his calibre can sometimes get stage fright when unveiling new tracks.

Often I’ll have bandmates waiting on me and all of a sudden I don’t have any confidence; I feel like I’m under a microscope.

“Well, I do, especially when things start coming together, but I’m getting a little bit more paranoid, eccentric or neurotic or something lately in the studio, where I definitely don’t like to work on it as long,” he muses. “I like to go away and not listen for a while and then come back next time I’m in the studio or something, whereas before I used to just listen over and over again but it usually makes me kinda batty.

“That said, I do enjoy the creative process, sort of before that reason: when you write the song, you’ve got the kind of mojo and the cockiness, and then you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I want to take this into the studio immediately!’ Often I’ll have bandmates waiting on me and all of a sudden I don’t have any confidence; I feel like I’m under a microscope. Then I’m like, ‘Oh, this isn’t turning out well,’ because I’m paranoid, and then it gets laid down and ideally people like it — it’s just because it came from your brain and then you lay it on the line, so you go through like a serious paranoid stage. And then it’s down on tape and it’s like this circle of life, and it all gets broken down.”

When he says that he likes to walk away from a song and then come back to it later, is that just to get more perspective on the tune?

“Yeah, definitely,” Vile nods. “For example I was in the studio yesterday here in LA, and last time I came through LA I’d decided to book a couple of days with [producer] Rob Schnapf, who’s my friend, and he did a few songs on the last record — he did Pretty Pimpin’ and stuff — so I recorded with him just because I was going to be in LA. I forget why I was in LA other than that.

“Anyway, I came through and worked up that song — it was just me working solo — and I think we’d booked one too many days because we were still working on it on like the third day, overthinking everything, where I should have even then just gone in for a couple of days and left. I guess my point is by the end I was, like, ‘Man, I was really into it and now it’s almost like torture just hearing the same thing over and over’. And then we just heard it again for the first time yesterday, and it sounded good.”

And excitingly since we last saw him, he’s been working on a follow-up to believe I’m going down…

“I’m always obsessing on music — whether new music or getting back into what I’ve always been into or whatever — but ultimately it’s like an extension [of the last record],” Vile offers. “I definitely don’t want to repeat myself and I always want to outdo myself, but not in an overstretching way. Not trying to go too grand too soon or something.

“That said, I do think it’s going to be a little more epic in some form than the last record. American roots are definitely always sort of in there, combined with that sort of psychedelic, epic thing. It’s going to sound familiar and new, and I think that’s the way it’s always going to be.”

But I think it’s best to just be doing a lot of everything — not spend too long in the studio or too long on the road, when possible.

Does Vile have to make conscious effort to evolve his sound or is the subtle change just what happens naturally when he sits down to write?

“No, I think it’s just what happens,” he reflects. “I think it really depends on where you’re at in your life, but I have definitely learnt that playing live is the best kind of work you can do within yourself to sort of keep evolving. It’s natural to play live — it’s the most natural thing you can do — and I can get lost in the studio and just record for a long time, which is good too, to stop you just getting really poppy in your craft or whatever.

“But I think it’s best to just be doing a lot of everything — not spend too long in the studio or too long on the road, when possible. I know it’s hard to be able to make a new record and all you’re doing is trying to finish it and there’s a deadline or whatever, and you’ve got to finish your record and then the first day it comes out you’re on the road, but even so there’s a little window in there to do the other thing, and that’s how you can keep yourself pretty natural.

“I’ve noticed that once you’ve been off either one of them — the studio or the road — you can’t even imagine being on them again, unless there’s a fine balance. I feel like now I’ll sort of notice that even if there’s a couple of gigs coming up in the future there’s at least something, and you’re going to be forced to go out there and give somebody a snapshot of natural music, as opposed to sitting in the studio.

“And then it’s also good, because of that, to go into the studio if you’ve written some new material, because if you sit on all your material for too long at least you’ll have it but it’s all just stockpiled in there — there’s a song and it’s not even quite done — and it benefits from going into the studio, because you catch a sort of raw emotion. Or even if it is a song that you’ve had for a long time, if you’ve been on the road, you’re kind of oiled up enough to go into the studio and let some of your chops shine in the studio or whatever.”

Do Vile’s songs keep evolving after they’ve been recorded and he’s played them onstage for a lengthy period of time?

“Definitely, they do keep morphing and that’s like the ultimate,” he enthuses. “I really think that in terms of the band, The Violators, that we’ve reached a peak of playing, where it can still be raw or fucked up at times, but there’s a natural rock thing — sort of like a Crazy Horse thing in feeling — so the songs kind of grow every night. I don’t know how you could get that feeling in the studio with new music unless you played the new songs a bunch, but I don’t do that.”

In terms of Vile’s inspirations, you can tell that he listens to a lot of indie rock, classic rock and pysch, but he explains that these categories only scrape the surface of what he gets into.

“Oh sure, I’ve listened to a lot of those things, and I’ve listened to roots music for a long time — any kind, country, blues, Delta blues, that’s probably an early love,” he offers. “And then these days it’s any American country music — early on I grew up on Hank Williams and so on, but these days it’s everyone from George Jones to Guy Clark. I really like one Terry Allen album that was reissued on a Philly album, or like Roger Miller and that song Dang Me — they’re just some examples. And then there’s John Prine, he’s an influence — he’s like more refined country; his new records, they always get a little better. He hasn’t put out a proper new album since 2007, but I heard he’s going to have a new one soon. So all kinds of stuff like that.”

On the impending Aussie tour, Vile is being supported by the Dirty Three’s Mick Turner in solo mode, and he’s looking forward to crossing paths with his old mate.

“I did this one jam session at Mick [Turner]'s art space too with him and Jim [White], and Mick recorded it ... I love that guy. I love to say that I recorded with the Dirty Two.

“I know him pretty well; I’m excited to see him again,” Vile smiles. “Last time we came through Australia, he’s got a family and so do I and we hung out at his beach house even, but we first got to know each other because we did some shows together in Europe. We’ve got the same agent and we brought him on our bus — it was Mick and Mike Noga, who was the drummer — and we all bonded, but me and Mick really bonded. Then I came through again touring with the band and we hung out and we hit it off — I can’t wait to see him again. We did a little jamming in the studio, actually — me, Mick, [Dirty Three drummer] Jim White and Courtney Barnett, even.

“I did this one jam session at Mick’s art space too with him and Jim, and Mick recorded it. But definitely I’d release it on some weirdo box set tone day, it really sounds like some damaged Stooges-meet-the-Stones’ Trident tapes. One of the songs, I finished writing right in front of him and I just recently re-recorded it for my new album. I love that guy. I love to say that I recorded with the Dirty Two.

“I totally love [collaborating]. I’ve worked with all kinds of great artists like Blues Control, Endless Boogie, I’ve jammed with J Mascis, and my favourite collaboration recently has been that band The Sadies, I think they’re the greatest modern band. They’ve been around forever and they have this new album coming out and it’s really incredible. They sent me an instrumental track and I wrote the lyrics and sang it and they just harmonised on the chorus, and I’m just so proud of it — I can honestly say that’s the best collaboration I’ve ever done. They’re always an incredible band and their albums are always good, but I just feel that this is their statement — it’s a beautiful record.”

But for now, Vile’s just stoked to be heading back Down Under once again.

“Oh, I love it; Australia’s probably my favourite place to tour,” he gushes. “It’s close enough to the Philly ball-busting mentality, with a lot of emotion in the guts but also showing love to somebody by busting their balls now and then — I don’t know, it’s a combination of a lot of things, but Australians are my favourites.”