Kurt Vile has been writing and recording music since junior high, but he only started receiving mass recognition for his songs recently. After jamming with friends in his hometown of Philadelphia for years, including playing lead guitar for the indie rock band The War on Drugs, Vile’s solo work slowly began to gain more attention. He started small with a couple 7 inch releases, but soon began releasing longer-playing collections. His 2008 album Constant Hitmaker was released on Gulcher Records to a steady stream of positive buzz as an album succeeding in mixing the immediacy and authenticity of Americana with dreamy, lo-fi ambience.

Further releases, including God is Saying This to You and the Hunchback EP, added to the growing acclaim for Vile’s unique sonic mixture. Last year, Vile inked a deal New York indie giant Matador Records and, in the fall, released Childish Prodigy. The new album moved in a more “rocking” direction; Vile is backed up on the album and live by his band, the Violators.

This week, he’s getting ready to go on tour with the much-lauded Toronto hardcore band Fucked Up. The tour will hit the Southgate House in Newport on February 15. He took a few minutes out of preparing for his upcoming trek to answer some questions for Each Note Secure.

ENS – I understand you’re from Philadelphia. Are you there right now? Are you getting ready for the tour?

Kurt Vile – Yeah, I’m here right now. I think the tour starts on the 12th, so I have a little bit of time. I’m just doing a few different things here. I’m getting another compilation release together for Matador and getting ready for my new album and stuff like that

ENS – Great! So you’re in the middle of recording a new album right now?

KV – I didn’t start recording new stuff, but I’m going to at the end of March. But I’m doing another thing, sort of in the vein of Constant Hitmaker and stuff like that. A sort of home collection, odds and ends EP, which will come out before the new record with all the new music and stuff.

ENS – I can’t wait! So how was 2009 for you? I feel like I’ve seen you around the blogosphere a lot but you seem to have a good amount of street cred behind you that many of the “blog bands” might not.

KV – 2009 was relatively pretty crazy. It’s all exciting. It just so happened that I just got all these people to put out all these different things. And I landed the Matador deal, which was huge and awesome. So there’s been a lot of new releases and a lot of touring; it’s all new. Booking agents and opening for sweet bands, stuff like that. It’s been a good year.

ENS – Speaking of that, I understand you’re opening for Fucked Up on this tour. Did you get connected with them through Matador, or did you know them before, or how did that happen?

KV - Back in the summer, I played this festival in L.A. called FYF Fest and they were playing and I met them there. They had heard Childish Prodigy before it came out and they told me they liked it. They blew me away live. I remember I asked to play a show with them and it didn’t work out. But then they invited me on their tour so I took [them up on it]. They’re a pretty crazy live band. I know the girl Sandy [Miranda, bassist for Fucked Up]. We hung out in Madrid once and she’s real cool.

ENS – To me, you have a way different sound than Fucked Up. Although I’ve never seen either one of you live. Do you think you will mesh as an opener? Are you planning on doing anything more aggressive with your songs?

KV – A lot of times when I’m opening for a certain band… you don’t really totally compromise your sound but obviously it would have an effect. I’m sure we’ll be trying to “rock out.” I do it all, so I imagine on this tour we’ll be doing a fair amount of “rocking out.” [Laughs] You never know until I get there. I might get there and be solo, you know, my band quits or something. [Laughs]

ENS – So your backing band will be on this tour.

KV - Yeah… well, not for your show. It’ll be stripped down… slightly stripped down for Cincinnati. But when we get back to the east coast my friend Jesse is gonna join. So, it won’t be the whole, full Violators, but it’ll be some members.

ENS – The stories I’ve heard is that Fucked Up are somewhat “extreme” on the road, or maybe they don’t always get along with each other. Do you have any trepidation about going on the road…

KV – I don’t know anything about that. Nope.

ENS – Oh ok, that’s cool. That’s just what I’ve heard but, you know, people say all kinds of things. I would say you would probably know best, being that you know them personally.

Yeah, well, I’ve met them a few times and they all seem like nice people to me. I’m sure they get along. [Laughs]

ENS – I was hoping to talk to you a bit about your sound. I’ve been listening to your records for the past year or so. What I find really interesting about what you’re doing is that it sounds like a mixture of – for example on Constant Hitmaker, there are some moments where it sounds like just a singer-songwriter “man and a guitar” kind of sound. And there are these other moments that sound like some trippy soundscapes, like you’re mixing sing-songwriter with ambient or noisier stuff. Is that an intentional aesthetic, or is it just a by-product of your writing process?

KV – Well, in the past I’ve been really experimental – I guess I still am – but it’s just that I’ve been doing it for so long that once people started putting my stuff out I had so much to choose from that I guess I just picked up that aesthetic… it just gelled with me. Like, when I would compile things, I would add a synthy segue or something like that. And I still have so much to choose from, that’s kind of what I’m doing with this little EP that I’m putting together. Even on Childish Prodigy, some of those recordings come a little later than Constant Hitmaker and they’re more “song” songs, but there is still some ambience in there. But the next record, I don’t foresee there being instrumental segues or anything like that. It’ll be the first time we really sit down and make a record. It’s gonna be very musical.

ENS – Very song-based?

KV - Yeah it’ll definitely be song-based. A lot of them will start with acoustic guitar and we’ll flesh ‘em out. It’s totally musical, not “lo-fi” or too psychedelic, just about the songs basically.

ENS – I have noticed a sort of progression from Constant Hitmaker which has some “song” song tracks and some just straight-up soundscapes, and Childish Prodigy, which seems to be kind of more band-based “rocking out.”

KV – Yeah, definitely.

ENS – In terms of writing songs, would you say you’re totally in charge of the process, or do the people in the Violators have a say too?

KV – Yeah, well, everyone adds their own input. I pick my bandmates really wisely. We’re all music fanatics and all know about, you know, feeling… so chances are someone’s just going to lay something down. I’ll definitely make suggestions, sometimes I won’t even have to, but everyone’s basically on the same page. We’ve been playing together for a long time, so we can kind of feel each other out without me even necessarily telling someone what to do. Even then, in some cases, I’ll be doing something and not be quite positive, and someone will give me a suggestion. It’s all a trade off. I guess I write the songs, ultimately, and then we take it from there.

ENS – Music writers do this a lot, but I read reviews of your music and see a lot of comparisons to Bruce Springsteen and a sort of “Americana” feel to some of your songs. I think about that, and I think about some of your more ambient stuff. I’m wondering how you feel about these comparisons to Springsteen and other artists and, also, what artists you feel have influenced you both on the singer-songwriter side and the ambience side.

KV - I have so many influences, but you could think of, well, for the ambient stuff, like Kraftwerk or Cluster, or even like Swell Maps or something. It varies, you know? There are so many things. There’s also a fair amount of American influence. Even further back, like Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt… I definitely get obsessive about all that stuff. I got deep into Springsteen… I got pretty deep into most people. I didn’t get as deep into Tom Petty as people say…but there is something about Tom Petty… there’s something about a Tom Petty song. There are certain Tom Petty songs I’ve listened to over and over. [Laughs]

ENS – Yeah me too. [Laughs] I was wondering also how you feel about your place in terms of the Philadelphia music scene. I’ve noticed in the past, judging just as an outsider, that’s it’s been associated with Man Man and really “indie” artists like them. Do you feel like you’re part of a new wave of Philadelphia artists?

KV – I don’t know Man Man or any of the really “indie rock” bands. I was never in that circle or anything. But I’m in a circle of friends who are way into records. And there are all kinds of bands; there’s Meg Baird, and my buddy Richie, who helped put out the Hunchback EP, he was in Clockcleaner and they have all kinds of offshoots. There’s all kinds of, like, punk, record head influence. Also, Jack Rose, who unfortunately passed away recently. He was a good friend to a lot of us. So there’s not a huge circle, but a sizeable circle of people encouraging each other and always showing up at each other’s shows and putting on shows. I think there’s something special about it. It’s not too huge so it feels like a community. You could be in New York or something and there could be a whole lot of “scenes,” and that’s cool too, but there’s a lot more “hipster” shit going on. I don’t know. I feel right at home here. It’s where I’m from, so it’s what I know, and I’m really stoked to have the friends I have around here.

ENS – So you grew up in the Philadelphia area?

KV – Yeah, I actually grew up in Landsdowne. It’s a mile outside of west Philly. I used to go there when I was a kid all the time. That was where the music was happening. I’d go see shows and go to record stores. The Philadelphia Record exchange… I’ve been going there since I was a kid.

ENS – So were you playing music that whole time, like from high school on?

KV – Yeah, well, I played trumpet starting in fourth grade, but I guess I’ve been playing in a rock influenced setting since I was 14, because that’s when my dad gave me a banjo. I was thinking of it more as a guitar, but he was way into bluegrass and stuff so that’s the first stringed instrument I got. So I started with a banjo and then maybe a year later a neighbor gave me an acoustic guitar. And then later I bought a cheap electric guitar so I was making some noise or whatever. But I found it easy to write songs right away. Right when I started playing stringed instruments I would just always write songs, record them on a tape recorder, or have a friend record songs. So I was pretty serious about it ever since I really laid down my first song that I really liked. In my mind I was always gonna put out records, but it took me a while to figure out who the heck would put them out. It took me a while to understand that. So I would put them out myself.

My buddy Richie, from Philly, he used to drum in Clockcleaner, he put out my Hunchback EP. But he hooked me up with people. He started working at the job where I worked and he knew that I was recording songs. He knew more about the sort of “punk rock thing,” like that it’s easy to get someone to put your records out. I would be handing my stuff off to, like, Animal Collective or Ariel Pink or something; people who might be more established in this way that they might not necessarily pick up my demo and put it out. But Richie steered me in this direction where you start small and start out on this sort of punk label, and it’s sorta DIY. So you start out on a small label, but you send your music out to get reviewed and it starts this small buzz. It kind of has to start at the underground, the kind of music that I do, but I like that better anyway. It’s like the buzz from underneath first, then you get picked up by a bigger label.

ENS – So you just signed with Matador, which is one of the bigger indie labels around. How does it affect you, being in such a different environment?

KV – Yeah, it’s definitely a different environment. But it’s a lot of help, and you can kind of get instant exposure, get more press, more distribution, the whole package kinda comes along with it. You get a booking agent and stuff, and you get to open for Sonic Youth, which is something I always wanted to do. You gotta kinda deliver in a different way. You just gotta kinda be more professional and career-driven I guess. Which I wanted to do anyway. There’s a lot of hard work involved, but things are going good.

ENS – I think a lot about the specific guitar tones and synth tones on your records. Without asking you to give away all your sound secrets, how do get some of those warm tones?

KV – It’s hard to say. We use whatever. Tube amps…

ENS – Vintage tube amps?

KV – Well, yeah, but not even always. We use a bunch of Electro-Harmonix stuff, like the Memory Man, a million different things as far as effects go. [We] just go and get a bunch of analog pedals and even digital pedals, and just turn the dials until it sounds good. As far as synths go… I have all these Korg synths, I have the K2 and the MaxiKorg and stuff like that. It’s been awhile since I’ve jammed synth. I’ve been looking forward to doing it again. Maybe on this next record I will.

ENS – As far as this upcoming tour goes, are there any cities you’re set to go where you haven’t been before and are excited to see?

KV – We’re going up to Canada a lot more. I went up to Canada for the first time ever about a week or so ago for one gig. We played five gigs with Dinosaur Jr., which was totally awesome. We played in Kingston, Ontario with them, but with Fucked Up we’re doing five or six shows in Canada, the last of which is their release show in their hometown of Toronto. They won the Polaris Prize, you know, and we’re playing a huge venue which is probably already sold out. I’m definitely stoked that they would bring us there. I also like Chicago; I have a lot of great fans there. Actually, Cincinnati, we drove past there one time at night. I thought it looked really pretty at night, but I’ve never been there, so I’m excited about actually being there.

ENS – I hope you like it! I was wondering, as I listen to your songs I think about the lyrics a lot. I don’t want to misinterpret what they’re saying. Can you tell me what you’re trying to get across with your lyrics?

KV - I guess I’m just trying to get across what I’m feeling. It’s not always super-direct, but there’s always feeling involved. I don’t think I could say…or maybe I could… but I don’t know if I want to come out and explain what a song is supposed to be about, necessarily. I feel like a lot of them are pretty simple, so I would hope somebody could relate, like a human, sort of general vibe.

ENS – One of my favorite songs by you is “Slowtalkers” on Constant Hitmaker. When I hear that song, I think of a feeling of alienation from people around you, or maybe a feeling of being on a different schedule or different place than the people you’re interacting with.

KV – Yeah, that’s pretty close. That’s pretty right on. And it’s pretty subtle because I never wanted to be exact, it’s just a feeling. But you got the general idea.

ENS – Yeah, and that’s what I like about your songs. I’ve noticed this theme in a lot of them – it might be the chords, it might be the sound of your voice – but I notice the theme of feeling alienated or maybe feeling apart. What I’m wondering is whether, as you get into possibly a more collaborative process with your band – you say you’re going to go into the studio and work on some more “rockish” or “song” songs – do you think this theme will change?

KV – I don’t think so. I do notice that I have a lot of those “downer” tracks with some of my lyrical content. But the thing is I always write them alone in my house at night. I guess those feelings just come out. It’s not like I’m always bummed!

ENS – Yeah, definitely!

KV - I’m usually pretty jovial. It’s just a human thing I guess. It does come out in my songs. There’s definitely that vibe in a lot of my songs. Not necessarily feeling alienated always, but just a generally somber thing going on.

Kurt Vile is opening for Fucked Up at the Southgate House in Newport on Monday, February 15. Doors open at 7:30 pm. The show starts at 8:00 pm.

~Interview by John Crowell