A biography for Kurt Vilehasn’t been written yet.
“There's so many ways you can play one chord progression that the repetition isn't ever exactly the same.”
“I like the idea of having money.”
“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 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.”
“Australia is a wild place.”
“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.”
“I'm the kind of person who will set time aside to do something and then do everything but that thing.”
“I'm always working on music.”
“On one level, we're on Matador, but our amps still might explode on stage, or they'll be an echo in the mic. It's like climbing a ladder. I like to climb it really slowly. I could probably get really professional right away, but I like to take baby steps and find my own way.”
“Every time I play with somebody, your perspective gets a little extended. It always rounds you out a little more in some way.”
“There's too many favorite songs, so I'll just say right now my favorite song of all time is 'Poison' by Bert Jansch.”
“Even when I haven't played in a while, I can sit down and start with a chord, and just drop into it. It's like this tunnel I go into. The zone is where I want to live.”
“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.”
“A lot of getting a song done is booking the studio time.”
“I really like Cold Cave.”
“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 definitely have relapses of stress. Most human beings are like that. But I think, ultimately, music is a therapeutic situation. Once you start playing, it all just gets resolved.”
“I just try to make as much money as possible. However I can do it. With as much integrity as I can have.”
“Everybody goes up and down throughout their lives.”
“That's one of my favorite Matador records: Cat Power, 'You Are Free.'”