Vance Joy EXCLUSIVE (Lollapalooza 2014)

CJ and Stella headed out to Lollapalooza to enjoy the festivities and talk to some of the amazing acts! Check out CJ’s interview with Vance Joy below!

CJ: Hi, I’m CJ from WBRU coming at you live from Lollapalooza with Vance Joy! What’s up?

VANCE: Not much, just enjoying the weather.

CJ: [To audience] If you can’t tell, it’s raining. [To Vance] So, if I may ask, who are you? What do you do? Why are you here today?

VANCE: I am Vance Joy, and I am here in the rain with you because I’m doing a promo here for Lollapalooza; it’s my first time playing Lollapalooza, and I’m a singer-songwriter from Australia.

CJ: [Adressing music in the background] who is that on right now?

VANCE: I think it’s Hozier, and it looks amazing…

CJ: Have you ever been to Chicago before?

VANCE: Yeah, I spent a couple of days here before my first American summer tour, for three days, and I loved it. I was like, “this is such a cool city”, I mean, it really is an amazing city.

CJ: Is this your first time playing it?

VANCE: Yeah, it’s my first time playing here.

CJ: Awesome! Well, I hope that it lives up to the reputations that you’ve had in mind!

VANCE: Yeah, yeah, nothing can diminish my love for Chicago, not even a bad show.

CJ: Ever been to Providence?

VANCE: NO.

CJ: We’re going to have to change that.

VANCE: Yeah!

CJ:  Providence is a cool city. We’ll work on that. In the meantime…Vance Joy. It’s not your real name…it’s taken from a book, actually?

VANCE: Yeah, it’s called Bliss, by Peter Carey.

CJ: It’s the grandfather’s name, right?

VANCE: Yeah! You’ve heard of it, I love that.

CJ: Are you an old soul?

VANCE: Well, I think part of me is old, and part of me is not as old…So, I can be old when I want to be, like when I need to be mature, or whatever, but in my heart, like, if someone’s eating yogurt, or whatever, I just want to pick it up, have it in my hand, and throw it in their face. Not that I want to do that all the time, but there’s a good mix of old and young.

CJ: So, which half writes the music?

VANCE: I think they’ve got to come together. They’ve got to meet somewhere in the middle.

CJ: Yeah. So we take a song like “Riptide”, right, you started writing it in 2008?

VANCE: Yeah.

CJ: And then you sort of left it alone for a while, and came back a few years later- what changed in that time span, what brought you back to music? I mean, you were originally going to be a lawyer?

VANCE: Yeah, I was headed into the professional  career and it seemed awesome- I don’t even really know- but I shelved [“Riptide”] for four years, and it wasn’t intentional, it was just, when it’s right, it feels right, and it didn’t feel right, you know? And I didn’t want to push it, but that song sort of turned a corner, and that is why it took so much time.

CJ: Right, so you took your time while writing the song, and after you released it, you put a lot of your own money into the music video for it, right? What inspired you to do that?

VANCE: I just had the funds to put together the music video for the song, and produce it…but the thing is, you get so attached to the thing that you want to put your money towards it, so you know, that’s what inspired it- you want to hold it in your hands and find it, and keep it alive.

CJ: Speaking of recording, I heard you finished your last album in a tree house, is that true?

VANCE: Yes, we did some final touches over there.

CJ: So, that’s the young half, not the older half?

VANCE: Yeah, the young half would have been out of the studio climbing a tree under the treehouse, but yeah, that was fun. It’s been our favorite place, the tree house. It’s a wonderful studio, and it’s incredible sitting up there with a guitar.

CJ: We’re getting a little wet here, so we’ve got to wrap it up, but one last question- it’s sort of a personal one- I read somewhere that you were talking about your tour, and when you’re on the road, and you said you were looking for a pen pal?

VANCE: Yeah. I love that you’re so well researched!

CJ: I am so well researched, I’m dedicated to the cause! I may not be a lit major, but I do love to write letters. I’m just saying… Just putting it out there…

VANCE: Yeah, yeah! Send me a note.