Hometown Hero Kurt Vile.

So Nataly and I are a little sadistic (as you know) and we sent out our brand spankin new writer, Dan Newman to a show at The Barbary. A show of two bands he had never heard of in his entire life. A hardcore show none the less. We told him to cover the show, get an interview and take some photos. What better way to get the young ones started? He did it all. Yay Dan!

When I showed up to see Kurt Vile and Fucked Up at The Barbary, I didn’t know what to expect. I was approached by HEFF and jumped at the opportunity. This was my first assignment and I was a bit nervous. I slowly filtered into the club along with the crowd from the sidewalk. I made nervous chatter with a random person in front of me, trying desperately not to look as if I just heard the names “Kurt Vile” and “Fucked Up” yesterday. I sat shyly in the back, doodling in my notebook, waiting for the show to start or for the oddly uncomfortable bench I was sitting on to swallow me whole. However, before that could happen, Kurt began tuning his guitars and I pushed my way front and center to get a better look.

You know how some people seem to have an aura around them? Kurt Vile is one of those people. Although not much taller than me, he seemed to loom like a giant over the crowd, his face rarely peeking out from a thick, messy mane of hair. A gruff, throaty voice checked the mic a few times, not quite content with the echo and reverb. Suddenly satisfied, Kurt began finger-picking his twelve string guitar, and his raspy voice cut through the notes like a ray of sun through fog; in this case audible but lingering. Sadly, I never got a chance to obtain a set list, so I can’t share with you what song he opened with, or closed with, but I can tell you that for about an hour, Kurt Vile wore his heart on his sleeve and shared it with a lackadaisical but interested crowd. His songs were drenched in a bucket of blues, poured into our ears and hung out to dry before our eyes. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, but there wasn’t much movement, which was to be expected based on the mellow, almost melancholy, mood. The untrained eye would wonder if the audience was bored, but it was quite the contrary. I was lucky enough at the end of his performance to steal a quick picture of that ever-elusive face, which seems always to be hidden behind that lion mane of brown hair.

After Kurt left the audience mellowed and happily sedated, Fucked Up dosed us with some musical-cocaine. I had prepared myself to be dodging fists and reckless moshers, and was wondering how I was going to constantly be on my guard while absorbing the show at the same time. All of that prepping was in vain, though. I didn’t have to dodge a single fist or reckless mosher. Actually, I can sum up the entire Fucked Up set in one word… Unity. The crowd and the band were united, and it was beautiful. Damian Abraham, the lead singer, interacted with the crowd, cracked jokes and barreled through the crowd during one song. He was eager to share a story before each song, which gave me the nostalgic tingling of hairs standing up on my arms. This was music with purpose, these were audio samples of their every day struggles, not just songs thrown together in a few days for a label contract or some cliché emotional bandwagon. There were so many sing-alongs (they just never get old,) that I lost count, at least one per song. Damian was kind enough to tell the crowd the lyrics beforehand so they could participate if they didn’t know them (like me.) He even ended up on the bar for part of the set. A highlight of the performance was the crowd participation during “Crusades”. My camera phone sucks in the dark, but Damian was a great sport and took a picture with me. One lyric kept returning to me during the show, from “Pit of Equality” by Ten Yard Fight: “WE’RE ALL FRIENDS IN THE PIT TONIGHT”.

I was also fortunate enough to get five minutes with Kurt, despite the fact that the bar opened and I didn’t have an ID. I figured my baby face was going to be a problem, but the door guy was real cool about letting me stick around for a few minutes even though he clearly wanted me to go for fear of his job. Thanks, Kurt, and thank you random-door-guy.

Philadelphia sounds excited to have you back in town. How do you feel to be back?

I feel good…I’ve been on tour this time around with just my buddy Rob, who’s keeping me company. We were born on the same day, and we’re both kind of…wild people…so we’re a little tired. It’s good to be back, even just for a day.But yeah its nice to come home in the middle of the tour as opposed to coming home at the end. Today I slept until about 4, we played Baltimore last night and I just drove straight home, man. Woke up in my own bed.

Nice, that must have felt good.

Yup, felt real good.

I read that you were recently signed to Matador records, which was your first choice anyway. What are your new goals?

My goals I guess are relatively the same. I got all the business out of the way, at least for now, so it’s just keep moving forward and putting stuff out. You know we’re about to start on a new record, just keep doing it you know?

What direction do you see your new music going? Psyche stuff like “Blackberry Song”, or more rocking like “Monkey”?

Yeah, I mean there’s always pyschedelic undertones. I don’t see it going too far-out. Yeah, if you like “Blackberry Song”, going in that acoustic direction for the next record, sort of. You know, flesh it out a little, bring in the band. For the next record I don’t really have any like “Freak Trains” or “Hunchbacks”. Just kind of the prettier stuff, I’m going to see how far we can take that for the next record, you know? Just flesh out the pretty shit. Start with the acoustic shit and just take it out there.

Did you ever find that Neil Young album you’ve been coveting?

Yeah I did! I got three copies of that thanks to that interview, but nobody ever got me The Seeds record though. I’m waiting for somebody to find me the Seeds’ “Web of Sound”.

Maybe someone will read this and hook you up with it.

Yeah hopefully, but so far, no dice.

Can you describe the process of writing on the road as opposed to home?

Well, you’d imagine, and I’d imagine, that before I got so busy, that you write as you go…but maybe in Europe, or in a real nice place, and your feeling inspired, you’ll write a little bit. But usually the writing happens once you get home, and you let the set grow as you go on tour. But you know, they are both essential to inspiration. What I’ve found as that, especially lately, on tour you’re busy with a lot of things, and then when you get home, time is still…you start strumming out new tunes and stuff like that.

Which came first, the guitar or the lyric?

Uh that varies. I get that a lot, it varies. I guess a lot of times with guitar your just strumming, and some weird shit will just come out, one line and you just work around it. But other times, at least when I used to work a day job, I’d think up these weird lyrics. So really it depends. Or you’ll listen to a song on the radio and think of certain lyrics that are kinda far out, and you put it in a song you’ve been working on. But really, it varies.

Well I appreciate you taking the time out to talk with me…is there anyone you’d like to give a shout out to?

Sure, its no problem. Uh yeah, I’d like to give a shout out to Fucked Up, who’s standing right next to me.

BY DANIEL NEWMAN