Foy Vance: Embracing Creative Freedom On 'The Wild Swan'
Wednesday, 04 May 2016
Written by Katie Territt
Photo: Sarah Barlow and Stephen Schofield
Foy Vance isn’t yet a household name. But there’s a good chance you’ve heard his bluesy rasp as a guest on a track from another artist, or even heard it bubbling up on a TV show. The Northern Irish singer-songwriter has been releasing beautiful music for a decade, but this is perhaps the year that his will be a name on everyone’s lips.
He is on the verge of releasing his third album, ‘The Wild Swan’, having recently signed to Ed Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records. The record is the second to be sent into the world by the the label, following the runaway success of Jamie Lawson’s self-titled LP last year, and Vance was given carte blanche to create the album as he envisaged it.
“Ed’s been aware of my music for a while, but him and I have been friends for about five years or so,” Vance said. “So when I was out of my deal with the last label, I was talking about what to do next and he said: ‘Well, would you sign to me?’ And it made complete sense. I mean, with someone as tenacious as Ed at the helm it could never be a bad thing.
"I’ve been completely freed up to write whatever record I wanted. It’s very liberating."
“He just gave me the opportunity to make the record that I wanted and he would put it out. It’s beautiful. I mean all too often there are artists who are made to fit into some kind of mould, but with this deal that hasn’t been the case at all. I’ve been completely freed up to write whatever record I wanted. It’s very liberating, it was very surprising actually.
“It’s my first time on a major label, so I guess I always had that preconception that they would try and fit you into a mould and become mainstream, but they’ve just let me get on with it and it’s been great. I think that’s largely due to Ed. The guys around the world that I’ve worked with on this record have all been great and very supportive, but it’s thanks to Ed in the first place saying ‘I’m gonna’ sign this guy’. Fair play to him.”
Being with a new label may have given Vance the freedom he’s craved previously in his career, but putting 'The Wild Swan' together came just as naturally to him as it did with ‘Hope’ and ‘Joy Of Nothing’.
“It was a relatively quick turnaround, making the record,” he said. “It’s now been sitting there ready to go, with all the songs done, since October so it’s been a long time coming. So it’s good that it’s finally coming out. Making it was kind of like all the other ones really. I guess it’s an augmentation, there’s a tip of the hat to some of the stuff I’ve done before I suppose. But they’re all new songs.
"I mean, the whole idea of this record, well any record really, is to get the songs the love that they deserve. So the record doesn’t have a sonic feel really. Like ‘Joy of Nothing’ was a bit more thread-lined, but this is just more a collection of songs. We tried to create the right world for the songs. It was just nice to know that when this one was finished, there’s a few more cogs spinning to get it out there.”
As well as a pretty famous label head, Vance worked with some impressive names on ‘The Wild Swan’. Jacquire King, who has been behind the boards for records by Kings of Leon, James Bay and plenty more, produced the collection, while Elton John, whom Vance supports on tour next month, served as executive producer.
"The whole idea of this record, well any record really, is to get the songs the love that they deserve."
“It’s been great,” Vance said. “Jacquire was the producer and a joy to work with. I had a guest singer on Noam Chomsky Is A Soft Revolution, just for one line. He’s sort of a gospel singer I guess you could say, a guy called Mike Farris. It was great having him around.
“I toured with Elton at the end of last year in Australia. It was really amazing to see him every night. Every song he played, you’re like: ‘I forgot he wrote that, I forgot he wrote that, I forgot about this one.’ It was just song after song after song. He still really, really delivers which doesn’t surprise me. I knew he would be good, but I wasn’t expected to be quite as bowled over as I was. I can’t wait to tour with him again.”
On the subject of life on the road, Vance has just finished his own Wild Detour, a series of intimate, acoustic shows played at unusual venues recommended by fans.
“It was really good fun,” he said. “We had a few trials and tribulations. There was one point where I was sitting in an ice cold van, like an old 1972 camper van, and it was freezing inside. There was a hole in the floor just under the accelerator pedal and it just froze my foot every time we were driving.
"We were driving through the tail end of a Welsh winter storm on our way to play a cave in Nottingham, and I was like: ‘What on earth am I doing here? I could be at home by the fire.’ But it was really good fun, it was really nice to play those spaces.
"They all had their wee charm. I played a barber shop in Sheffield where I had my head shaved and had my ‘tache trimmed. I played the cave in Nottingham and obviously the acoustics in there were beautiful.
"I played a barber shop in Sheffield where I had my head shaved and had my ‘tache trimmed."
"I played my hometown of Bangor, my favourite pub there, a bar called Fealty’s. We played up at Nancy’s Bar in Ardara and we had the best seafood chowder you’re ever likely to experience. It was a really beautiful week.”
With a one-off album launch show at London’s Hoxton Hall kicking off a string of live dates, the rest of 2016 is looking busy already. Vance has one eye on touring, including a freshly announced winter run that will include a night at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and another on his hectic home life.
“We’ll go around anywhere that will have us, basically,” he said. “But for right now we’re just gearing up to get the record released. I’m also fixing up my house, so it’s mainly that at the moment. It’s good to do that. I mean I’m doing a little bit of writing, but for the most part I’m putting up plasterboard. It’s a nice head break, it’s important to do other things to keep you sane.”
'The Wild Swan' is out on May 13 through Gingerbread Man.
Foy Vance Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Thu May 12 2016 - LONDON Hoxton Hall
Mon November 07 2016 - BRISTOL Fleece
Tue November 08 2016 - NOTTINGHAM Bodega Social Club
Wed November 09 2016 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Cluny
Fri November 11 2016 - GLASGOW Oran Mor
Sat November 12 2016 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Sun November 13 2016 - MANCHESTER Ruby Lounge
Tue November 15 2016 - NORWICH Arts Centre
Wed November 16 2016 - PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
Fri November 18 2016 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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