Vance Joy climbing into next level with Swift tour
Last Friday, Australian indie folk singer/songwriter Vance Joy played for a sold-out crowd of 1,300 at the Fonda Theatre. The next time he plays in Los Angeles, he’ll be crooning for an audience 14 times that.
The pen is mightier · Vance Joy’s music is characterized by its simple narratives and captivating songwriting, which are essential to his success. – Photo courtesy of Atlantic Records
Three weeks ago, serial heartbreaker Taylor Swift dropped her self-aware video for “Blank Space” and speculation regarding her past and future paramours rekindled. But while her trysts remain a source of gossip fun, one name she’s written in a completely different blank space is the opening artists for her highly anticipated 1989 tour. The name is Vance Joy.
In just two years, Vance Joy (real name James Keogh) has gone from playing a small pub of 200 in Melbourne to creating a hit single that catapulted him into international spotlight and landed him a spot on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Next May, he’ll have additional attention when he joins Swift on her North American tour, where he’ll follow in the footsteps of musicians that have seen a huge boost in popularity since performing with the pop star, including Ed Sheeran and Ellie Goulding.
Not to mention that the Melbourne gig which was a big deal at the time will be eclipsed by the stages Keogh will take on Swift’s tour, where smaller venues can pack 17,000 fans and the larger arenas have capacities three times that.
“When I started, it would’ve sounded ridiculous to think I would support her. It was outside the realm of possibility,” Keogh said. “It starts off small, and you do things slightly bigger and then slightly bigger until it’s not totally ridiculous. The scales have changed.”
A lot more has changed since Keogh became Vance Joy (a stage name borrowed from a grandfather figure and storyteller found in Peter Carey’s novel Bliss). Though he started penning what he called “really average songs” at 18, Keogh first obtained a law degree and even considered playing football professionally before he became a singer.
“By the end of my law degree, I had a couple of songs and I had the feeling like I had to go down that path and see where it would take me,” Keogh said.
At first it was that pub in October 2012, where his entire year had been building toward his first proper show and where, for the first time, a couple hundred had gathered to sing along to the single that would put him on the map: “Riptide.”
“It’s such a weird song, and the lyrics are all over the place, but they still make sense in a way even though they’re quite stream-of-consciousness,” Keogh said.
In the single, Keogh sings of his fear of dentists and starting conversations and includes a movie recommendation and a comparison of his girl to Michelle Pfeiffer (“hopefully she’s tickled by it,” he said). But the joy and romp of the song is tempered by the end of the chorus: “I love you when you’re singing that song / and I got a lump in my throat / ’cause you’re gonna sing the words wrong.”
The idea of the caveat in love, the nuance in the relationship, the devil in the details, is a common thread in Vance Joy’s songs and plays a particularly sizable role on his debut album, Dream Your Life Away, which dropped this past September.
“I think those moments where you go from the general to the specific are really powerful,” he said. “When there’s a specific detail, it creates an atmosphere and a context. If I’m writing using a specific image to create an atmosphere or create an impression, I think it can be really effective.”
For example, he says, if it’s a hot day and it’s a summer, he might include a narrative detail like observing someone touching their neck because of the heat.
“That can be a great way of making it intimate and close and personal,” Keogh said. “I use that in songs.”
Vance Joy’s music is characterized by its simplicity. Keogh relies primarily on guitar and ukulele with occasional assistance from his band. His success lies in his lyrics and the raw vulnerability with which he sings them.
“I don’t know exactly why it’s worked,” Keogh said. “I think when it comes to writing songs, I have my way and my own approach to songwriting and I try to stay true to those standards. If it works for me, I find that its meaning will hit a spot for someone else.”
Vance Joy will round out his American tour with a series of holiday festivals before returning to his native Australia. He returns to Los Angeles next August when he’ll play a four-day stint at the Staples Center under Swift’s bill.