Vance Joy has been riding a wave of success as of late, and we got the chance to chat to him about his music, inspirations and current UK tour.
Tell us a little bit about your single 'Riptide'.
I started writing that song in 2008 ages ago when I didn't have much plans for it - I just had a couple of lines written - I put it away and then at the start of last year I was fooling around on the ukelele and I came up with the melody for the chorus. I reminded myself about the song that I started four years ago, I stuck all those pieces together, and the song came out over about two days after that. It was a long work in progress but I think that's the best way with songs - let 'em breathe.
The music video for that song is very unique, tell us about the process you went through to make that video.
I knew the video would be important because it was a pretty unique song and we got a bunch of treatments in from different directors and they were usually pretty detailed, but this one that came in from this guy called Demitri had one line in it, and it was 'I wanna make a literal film clip'. I was like 'far out, rad!' That's exactly what I think of my work, 'cos it is a strange puzzle of words and ideas - the fact that he wanted to do a literal film clip appealed to me and so yeah he did it like that and it is kind of quirky, and a bit dark in some areas. I think it worked really well.
It comes off of your EP 'God Loves You When You're Dancing', can you give us some details about that?
I recorded that EP last year and all those songs I had in my bag and I was ready to record them. 'Riptide' I recorded with my drummer a day in May last year. We went into a studio with a producer named John Castle and we recorded four songs and it just really was quite a painless and very easy - we went in a day and recorded a song in a day - that was the vibe - it took about a week to put together. We got along really well with the producer. The name of the EP just came to me one day randomly, I put it in my notebook and when it came time to name the EP, I flicked through and I saw that again - it really didn't leave my mind so I used it.
Who or what do you take influence from for your music?
I take influence from music and films, things people say... I think everything finds its way into the pot for creativity. You try and fill your well up with as much creative material as you can - it could be anything - it could be going to see a gig and you're really inspired by the way they play guitar, or inspired by certain colours - whatever it is - it's really hard to identify distinctively what's influencing you. I think it's kind of like opening yourself up to new experiences as much as you can and then sitting with them and eventually finding connections within your brain. Leaving things to simmer away can help you when you wanna produce a song and have a whole fully fledged song - having all those little spare parts in your head, to fill the gaps in. That's kind of how it works I guess - it's hard to describe.
What challenges have you faced in your career to-date?
First of all I had written a lot of the songs and I had recorded 'Riptide' already, but I hadn't even had a band yet so I had to go and grab a couple of guys and start rehearsing for live shows - so that's been a challenge but we're getting quite good live and learning a lot each time we play.
Another challenge is travelling round and getting comfortable in my own skin, performing for people in board rooms, performing for radio, performing for TV - all that stuff - just been rocking up and playing. That's been really good for me personally.
I think another challenge is working to deadlines. I signed a contract with a record label and they'll give you certain deadlines. Obviously they only record songs when they're ready but it's definitely different working within a group of people as opposed to just being on your own and doing things at your own pace.
What have been some of your favourite stand-out moments so far?
I think playing at a festival in Australia called Splendour In The Grass - we got a really good crowd, really enthusiastic. It was amazing, the performance went really well and there was this amazing adrenaline I felt so that's probably the highlight so far.
You're currently midway through touring the UK, how are you finding that experience?
Yeah, it's rad! We're just cruising around pretty low-key, I only got my guitar and ukelele to drag around. It's a low maintenence kind of job. Looking forward to hitting Bristol tonight and London the day after so hopefully will see some nice spots, and I've got a bunch of friends in London that I'm gonna meet up with.
You're going to be recording an album after this tour - what can we expect from that?
I think all the songs stick within that same period of time - as the songs on the EP - so probably just more of that same style. I feel like my style is pretty much what it is. I feel pretty comfortable in the way I'm writing music at the moment and I guess you could put all those songs together and say 'these are all from the same period of songwriting'. It's a good reflection of where I am at the moment.
'God Only Loves You When You're Dancing' is released November 25. Watch 'Riptide' below.
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