Top 115 Quotes & Sayings by Kurt Vile
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American musician Kurt Vile.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
I walk around a lot. People come up to me and say 'Hi,' but not that often. I mean, I get it plenty often, but sometimes I wish they'd come up to me more! I mean, I'm just a regular guy.
I've been known to just pass out instantaneously, like, anywhere.
I'm the kind of person who will set time aside to do something and then do everything but that thing.
People can have their punk ideals, but I don't really care about that kind of thing.
When I was a teenager, I was mostly getting tapes and CDs, and somebody hipped me to the fact that you can get things on vinyl that are not necessarily available on any other fomat.
The last blue collar job I had, I was 29. Even 'Childish Prodigy,' I had a day job that whole time. Those early ones, they feel like psychedelic, blue collar records. Especially 'God Is Saying This to You,' there's such urgency in that album.
I go in and out of mental funks all the time 'cause it comes with the territory.
I actually often write about writing music and being in that zone.
We'll play somewhere like London, playing to 2,000 people easy, and every time you play with more people, you think, 'You're a rock star,' and it makes you laugh. I guess I am, but I'm also, you know, not.
I had a wacky job driving a forklift for an air freight company. That was the worst.
I've developed this routine at home. I wait for the kids to go to bed; then my wife falls asleep. Then, it's dark and quiet enough for me to work on songs.
Philly's busy enough. There are tons of record stores and record-head friends and plenty of D.I.Y. shows. It's a place where people pass through and bands don't usually skip on tour. There are lots of music resources, but it's not too over the top.
Finger-picking, in general, is a hypnotic thing. I feel like I'm more A.D.D. all the time, so the music has to be hypnotic.
That's one of my favorite Matador records: Cat Power, 'You Are Free.'
John Prine in particular... just the chord changes combined with the words. He definitely can make you cry a little bit. Just a little bit.
There's too many favorite songs, so I'll just say right now my favorite song of all time is 'Poison' by Bert Jansch.
Love is intense, and sadness is intense.
My favorite kind of song is the most beautiful song that you love so much and it's so good it makes you want to cry a little bit. Any jam can sound like that on a certain day.
I had a really fun time working with the HARRYS guys and their whole crew.
I'm not cynical, but the reality is that life is mortal. Terrible, sad things happen. Everybody loses friends and family. I'll be on tour and get really scared if my wife won't answer her phone within one minute. I'm sensitive.
I think that I identify with Philadelphia for a lot of reasons. Without even thinking about it, I called myself 'Philly's Constant Hitmaker' when I first got a MySpace, before I had any real hits. It was kind of just a funny slogan, basically lifted from the Rolling Stones' first album, 'England's Newest Hit Makers.'
My dad's really funny. The male sense of humor - like my grandfather's and such - is pretty bizarre. Basically my dad's side of the family is where the bizarreness comes from. It's a little goofy and a little out there.
No offense to Boston, but I was glad to get out of there. I think it's just because I'm from Philly. Honestly, the blue collar side of each are pretty similar in ways, but something about the makeup of your brain, Philly versus Boston. It's a lot different, in weird ways.
A lot of getting a song done is booking the studio time.
I go through ups and downs in the psyche all the time, and then once you start moving again, it's amazing how you can always bounce back. You get, like, in a low rut, and you think, 'This is it; my life is a train wreck.' And then you bounce back again.
Cigarettes are the worst thing in the world for you.
Anybody that's from somewhere that's made it in music outside of New York or L.A., if it's a unique enough place, they'll always say, 'Dude's from Minnesota!' Or wherever, you know? So that's how I got the Philly connection.
I'd say the best thing the Violators and I have done is to dominate the U.S. with an arsenal of smash hits.
I get to come home to my family. It's awesome, just constant adventure, never a dull moment. So much life.
Even when I played in little league as a kid, I liked making friends, but I didn't want to be there, really.
I like New York. I like Philly. I like San Fran. I like when people are stoked. But Chicago's a real music town, and they're really good to us there. There's just something in the air there; people are just really stoked about music. Every time I go there, I have a great time, and the fandom is really heartwarming.
People do get mad at me for falling asleep sometimes, and it's the most frustrating thing. I can't help it. What am I gonna do?
Life is mortal. There are all these rewards and consequences. Sometimes you embrace them, and sometimes they knock you over.
Around '93, the radio started playing 'Loser' by Beck and 'Cut Your Hair' by Pavement, and then I got way into Pavement. That was kind of a gateway drug into indie rock. I got all their B-sides, and I got that 'Hey Drag City' comp, so I got into all those Drag City bands.
My cousin used to make fun of me for liking stuff like C+C Music Factory. I didn't have any tapes; I just liked their song on the radio. We liked that because that was what we had access to.
That Yo La Tengo record, 'Painful,' has got some real awesome, noisy, mellow heartbreakers.
I always sort of liked Mesa/Boogies, but I wasn't sure if they were cool or not cool.
Everybody goes up and down throughout their lives.
I'm obsessive when I get an idea in my head.
My music has to be funny and sad and happy and loving; it's gotta have it all. When somebody's just too dark all the time, it's just drama. Or if somebody's too funny? Well, I like being too funny sometimes.
I really like Cold Cave.
I do a lot of things, and I'll get excited about them - maybe it'll be a song in a movie - and then it comes out, and you're like, 'Aww, that was cool, but it wasn't quite as big a deal as I thought it would be.'
I really love that 'I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One' Yo La Tengo record a lot.
I got depressed so many times by my blue-collar life and self-conscious about the fact that I didn't go to college. I was always working super low-end jobs, being the complete opposite of what I wanted to be.
'Street Legal' is like a cult classic. It's pretty cheesy at times, but you learn to embrace it.
I can be chill. That's a side of me that I like. But then, I can also be not so chill. I can get a little stressed out.
I think 'She Drives Me Crazy' is hilarious and good.
I like the idea of having money.
I love polished pop music, but stuff like Neil Young's Crazy Horse vibe or Waylon Jennings, that stuff is raw and real.
I've got an amazing family. My wife is really smart. She's guided me the whole way. With children, you see them grow up, so it's like you're forever young. They are totally innocent and so unjaded. Watching them grow up makes you go through it again yourself.
When I leave a recording session, there is usually a lot of paranoia or superstition on my part, like I'm afraid to hear what we've done.
'Smoke Ring' was a downer, then 'Wakin' was an upturn.
All of my surroundings influence my songwriting. It's autobiographical, although I leave enough space so it's relatable.
When I was 20, I moved up to Boston with my girlfriend, who's now my wife. She went to grad school, and I met a bunch of cool friends there.
I like to laugh at dark things.
I benefit from a change of scenery; it's always inspiring.
I write a lot when I'm feeling bummed, but other times, you get locked in, and it's totally personal. If you're really low and writing, you're not thinking about anybody at all.
Every time I play with somebody, your perspective gets a little extended. It always rounds you out a little more in some way.
I've always been a deep sleeper; because I come from such a large family - there are 10 kids - I could sleep through anything. Even with my last day job, I'd sleep in later and later and start coming in an hour-and-a-half late. I got fired twice before I really got fired.
Australia is a wild place.
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