INTERVIEW: Tom Vek “I still feel like a kid...”

The enigmatic, multi-instrumental artist TOM VEK has returned with his third album, 'Luck'. The first musical offering from the London based musician since 'Leisure Seizure' of 2011 which was in production for six years.

Turning out 'Luck' in basically half of that time VEK speaks to Purple Sneakers about the changed processes he underwent during the production of this album, and touches on some of the themes that are covered throughout this 11 track, honest and truly poignant collection of lyrically weighty pieces.

With the inclusion of an unexpected acoustic number that works as a contrast to the rest of the album, VEK speaks about drawing inspiration from JEFF BUCKLEY, and trying things for the first time. You can only expect the unexpected when it comes to VEK's music, and 'Luck' is yet another example of just that. Although well known for his garage-punk, noisy sound, 'Luck' reflects upon the growth of his artistry since the beginnings of his career in 2005 when he broke onto the scene with his first album 'We Have Sound'.

You’ve spoken before about ‘Luck’ being a platform that explores the modern anxieties of finding your place in a world that is essentially saturated by information. How much of this is related to the rise of the internet as a largely accessible platform? Do you feel as though the capabilities and the intent of the internet has been ultimately misused by us?

I think that side of the lyricism is probably exclusively about the internet yeah. But I think its more about being interested in what the “irl” repercussions of it is, how much it’s affecting our standards, or whether people are having hyper-potent empathy with the real-life, I haven’t worked it out myself but feel like it’s interesting to philosophise about, even if it leads nowhere, it’s kinda this inevitable force really, and like are you being dragged along with it and you wonder how hard would it be to swim upstream.

It took quite a while to piece together your sophomore album ‘Leisure Seizure’ back in 2011. With a lesser time frame for ‘Luck’s completion, how do you personally feel about the way the album turned out?

I’m really pleased with it. There’s nothing more daunting that starting with the blank canvas, especially when you think “a whole album”, but this time I just did a song at a time, even putting out “You’ll Stay” kinda under the radar as soon as it was done was fun and felt like I was in control.

You’ve got a few recurring themes within ‘Luck’. The titles, as well as the content all reflect this kind of anguish and desperation one feels towards their late teens to late twenties. Did you have any thematic ideas or concerns that you wanted your music to reflect?

I still feel pretty connected with that era of emotions but translating it into how a slightly older person has dealt with them, i sing “I still feel like a kid myself” and I really do, a lot of people never really grow up either, you just learn to deal with your lot. I think that some of the drive to be creative comes from keep that questioning approach, which I have to kinda morph into philosophy rather than emo moaning.

Lyrically, you’ve definitely laid these themes out on the table. Would you describe the album lyrically, as more of a “stream of consciousness” piece rather than a holistic story as such?

Um yeah, I guess it’s not a concept album if that’s what you mean. I do like to establish a mood though, I think that happens naturally. A lot of the lyric writing is stream of consciousness, except for rare specific points of reference e.g. “Sherman” which is inspired by “The Bonfire Of The Vanities” by Tom Wolfe.

You’re essentially a perfectionist disguised as a multi-instrumentalist, what with each and every sound on the album having its own individualistic arrangement. How did you conquer so many sounds and do you enjoy your writing process?

That’s very nice of you, I kinda think it’s an narcissistic perfectionism, in the sense I’m easier on myself, like “it may not be perfect but I did it myself”, you know like some DIY in your house or something, sure everyone can buy the expensive stuff but I did something potentially unique for my own environment. I don’t have a huge array of instruments at my disposal so it feels rewarding to push something, like a guitar or keyboard sound into a weird place and feel like you aren’t simply scratching the surface of the capabilities of your tools, which is why I don’t use much computer based instruments.

You’ve created this individualistic ream of sounds that works together to ultimately show the bigger picture here. When you created ‘Luck’ was there anything in particular that you wanted to explore?

It’s odd thinking about it after the event but it’s just naive experimentation and not being afraid to record something, I enjoy feeling humbled by circumstance, not shackled to it but respectful of it, if anything I wanted to make sure I enjoyed doing it as much as possible. So I think I wanted to explore what the most confident side of your character would do. I think it’s a common feeling to be like “its easy for successful people to enjoy being creative” and I feel like maybe it’s no different, so you take inspiration that you can just embody that personality. SO basically I’m just thinking, “what would a good 3rd Tom Vek album sound like?” haha.

You particularly like your noise. We can deduce that from all of the three albums. ‘Luck’ sees more of a sonic progression from this originally garage-punk meets synthesised modulation. You’ve bought about a tender acoustic number that kind of sits opposite the rest of the album. How did ‘The Girl You Wouldn’t Leave For Any Other Girl’ come about?

I think it’s like a really potent example of the fragility that does crop up elsewhere. Basically I’m a huge Jeff Buckley fan and every now again again I try and fail to write a vocal acrobatics song. I think the more I listen to him you realise how much he’s growling and could let his voice off the leash, so my version of that is a totally deluded me attempting to do it. I recorded it in one take and found that oddly I could listen to it all the way through, and then it just felt like it could be presented as this odd thing that only happened in a very specific set of circumstances, which is part of what I find interesting about experimentation and recording.

I read in a previous interview that you drew inspiration from Tom Wolfe’s novel ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ for your track ‘Sherman (Animals in the Jungle)’. The novel essentially focuses on this character Sherman, and the way his life and his future is dictated by a dichotomy of people. Are these ideas similar to the notions of transience you’ve outlined in the album’s intent, particularly within the way we connect with each other?

I’d recorded about 2/3rds of the songs and was reading that book (which is quite long) last summer and just after I’d finished it, that line just popped into my head when I was rambling for something to this rock track I’d put down, and quite genuinely, because of the weight of what happens in the book, it immediately made me feel really emotional, and realised that it summed up quite accurately one of themes I like to write about, which is essentially control of fate, vs the existential, wrapped up as aesthetically as possible.

The book deals with selfishness very well I think, particularly selfishness in the age of sensitivity and scrutiny, and fake empathy, and you know that whole “you die alone” thing, which I think is a potent area for exploring, particularly with something like music, because you feel like you can listen to it but also be doing something at the same time.

How do you feel that you’ve progressed since ‘We Have Sound’ back in 2005? Do you feel like your music has turned into a particular direction?

I like to think I’ve managed to evolve a style that was set with the first album, which was a mixture of everything I’d done up to that point. Something like “Broke” I’m very pleased with in terms of showing the kind of importance I like to put on the music carrying everything. I’d say it’s taking less prisoners.. I think that’s quite a good way of describing the journey from a new artist to one with a catalogue, you just want to reach the people who fundamentally get it.

You must feel particularly relieved to get ‘Luck’ out and into the world. Do you have any plans to tour Australia anytime in the future?

I very much hope so, I’m a big fan having visited Sydney and Melbourne. I had an Australian guy come up to me recently saying some stuff that seemed slightly blown out of proportion but I hope that some fans of the older stuff get to hear this new album and hopefully there would be the demand, cos you know, everybody likes a sure thing!

Words by Caitlin Medcalf

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