Singer/ songwriter James Keogh, better known as Vance Joy, is a whip-smart, measured and thoroughly pleasant dude.
James had a flurry of success with his beautiful brand of folk pop – ‘Riptide’ off his debut EP ‘God Loves You When You’re Dancing’ headlined Triple J’s Hottest 100 for one. Couple that with the fact that chicks are mad for him and you might expect some ego, but there’s absolutely none. He’s also quite physically imposing and his hair makes him seem even bigger, but he’s got that air of gentleness about him that big fellas sometimes emanate. Basically, he’s the sort of bloke you’d want as a mate and you could totally take him home to visit Mum.
The moniker Vance Joy is an amalgam of names from one of his favourite books, ‘Bliss’ by Peter Carey. James likes the freedom that comes with operating behind it and, although he’s committed to it for the foreseeable future, he doesn’t necessarily intend for it to be his identity for all eternity. “Vance Joy’s a musical project,” he explains.
“If you have an alias then you can float into something else one day. Idols of mine are like Damon Albarn who’s done all of this solo stuff, but he has also done Gorillaz and Blur amongst other projects — sometimes doesn’t even remember what the collaboration was. Gotye as well. It’s almost like a self-effacing approach that they have. I really admire that. They let the music do the talking.”
Given he’s taken his name from a book, it’s safe to say James is a little bookish and that it shapes his music. “I really do enjoy reading, it’s like a vacation you know, but I’m not a super voracious reader,” he reflects.
“I don’t chow down books really easily, but I feel like what I read stays read. You can get a lot of good lines or ideas or a general feeling or atmosphere from a book and you can channel that into a song. I feel like it’s good mental exercise.
“I read something really beautiful recently. I was reading the new Tim Winton book, ‘Eyrie’, and he says ‘it’s easier to fill a void than contemplate it’ and I was like, ‘that’s awesome’. I feel like there are those little nuggets of gold that you can get from a book. Whether or not I ever try and build on the concept or use it for a song, they all go on the scrap-heap, those kind of nice ideas and thoughts.”
It’s like James has already had a couple of different lifetimes already. He used to play footy for Coburg in the Victorian Football League, and was well on the path to being a lawyer. Luckily for us, he’s given those careers a swerve and says he feels more relaxed as a consequence. “It’s a work in progress, but I’m doing something I really love and I feel like I’m expressing myself,” he says happily.
“The goal eventually is to become a fully realised person. I know it comes with maturity: you grow into your skin and you also accept what you are and your limitations and you work with what you’ve got. At the point in my life where I was playing footy and at uni, I was still trying to find my path, but I had an instinct that it wasn’t for me. I had a dream in my heart about playing music. So, settling into myself and being able to follow my dream has allowed me to be more relaxed.”
James says he’s inspired by a love of Jeff Buckley, Paul Kelly and The Pogues. Jeff Buckley and Paul Kelly you can see, but aren’t The Pogues kind of a curious influence for him? “You know how you have that catalogue of songs that you always go back to?” Keogh puts rhetorically.
“There are these songs that I smashed and loved, that cut me to the core or that I had a really powerful experience listening to. That list includes songs like ‘Rainy Night In Soho’ where he says that line about ‘all your funny little ways’. I really love that intimacy.
“There’s something about the way he’s describing his relationship and the person that he loves. You see a window into their world with that line and there’s something humble and melancholy about it. They’re the kind of lines that tug at my heart and I feel like I want to emulate that kind of thing.”
James can rest easy because that’s something he does very well — his songs turn the minutiae of relationships into something beautiful, and while he’s not preoccupied with them, they definitely provide grist for his creative mill. Take the song ‘Emmy Lou’ where he affectionately talks about a partner wearing socks to bed.
However, James’ songs are not strictly autobiographical either. He describes it as a careful balance and you also get the impression that he’s a bit private. In a world where social media makes it too easy to over-share, James has a quiet word for us on the beauty of circumspection. “Woody Allen would say that we create these little relationship pickles to entertain ourselves,” he laughs.
“But if you’re writing entirely from your own personal experience, you’re not going to appeal to everyone — some things are not going to be universal. I do want to have that personal thing, but there’s a fine line between saying something that’s completely specific to you and something that can be shared with people.”
‘Dream Your Life Away’ is available now. Vance Joy headlines Falls Festival as well.
Vance Joy Tour Dates
Thu 5th Mar - Arts Centre Gold CoastFri 6th Mar - The Tivoli Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 7th Mar - Nambour Civic Centre (Sunshine Coast)
Fri 13th Mar - Palais Theatre (Melbourne)
Sat 14th Mar - Regent Cinema Theatre (Ballarat)
Fri 20th Mar - Astor Theatre (Perth)
Sat 21th Mar - Thebarton Theatre (Adelaide)
Tue 24th Mar - Anita's Theatre (Wollongong)
Fri 27th Mar - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 28th Mar - Civic Theatre (Newcastle)
