On Nov 16th, Vance Gilbert will be stopping off in our little burg to play a show at the UAF Wood Center Ballroom.
We thought we would give you a preview of Vance, so we arranged an interview, during which we spoke about music, humor, yodeling and breakfast cereal.
New Lemming (N.L.): Have you been to Alaska before?
Vance Gilbert (V.G.): Never. I want to look at some of the old aviation up there, I'm a airplane freak.
NL: Well it's really nice here now, it's been in the high 20's and we have about a foot of snow.
VG: Oh my god! The high 20's, oh I can't wait. The high 20's.
NL: Yeah, above zero.
VG: That's hot for you, eh?
NL: Yeah, it's unseasonably warm, but you should bring your warm clothes just in case.
VG: Somebody there who's putting on the concert told me it could range from the 20's to -40.
NL: Yeah, it was down to -25 here already this season.
VG: -25!
NL: Yeah, Fahrenheit. It's pretty warm right now, I don't think it will get really cold.
VG: -25! Why even talk about weather when it gets that cold. You might as well
NL: So, what do you call your music?
VG: Acoustic singer-songwriter stuff. I have my own twist on it, but it's just acoustic. Some of us are funny, some of us are more dour than others, some of us are more hysterical, some of more topical, some just do love songs. It runs the gamut and to find a classification, I would end up beating my head against the wall. There would be a separate record rack for each one of us.
NL: Do you do comedy, too, while you are on stage?
VG: Yeah, my thing is pretty comical. I have a lot of fun with the audience. I poke fun at them, I poke fun at myself. I invite them to poke fun at me. It can end up being a comedy routine or a commentary comedy routine, like Jay Leno's kind of thing.
NL: Do you yodel?
VG: Not really, I can do it some. I yodel about as well as James Taylor raps.
NL: How did you decide to be a musician?
VG: Someone handed me a guitar my sophomore year of college and that was that. College in the '70s' was cool, because there was so much music to draw from, I was listening to everything from Keith Jarrett, to Stevie Wonder to Julian Breme (classical guitar). Everything was on the turntable. I always wanted to play something, I wanted something to bring to an instrument. So, it was the guitar.
NL: Do you play any other instruments?
VG: I play some bass, a tiny bit of flute, and enough piano to really embarrass myself.
NL: Did you take lessons or did you just figure it out?
VG: I figured most of it out, I took a couple lessons with a couple people. I think I've had three lessons my whole life. Just people showing me things on guitar. You can call that a lesson.
NL: Do you take voice lessons?
VG: I've taken voice lessons for 2 1/2 years. I studied voice to keep it more than anything else.
NL: How did you get your song chosen for the Jerry Lewis telethon?
VG: That was because there was guy that really liked what I did who happened to be general manager of this small station. It was just serendipity more than anything else.
NL: Do you think that serendipity is important in becoming a success?
VG: You want to know the truth, I think that all that's important is being in the right place at the right time and getting heard.
NL: Can you tell me about the importance of humor to you?
VG: Well, I think humor is a bridge to just about anything. It's a way in and out of songs for me. It's a way in and out of life. It's an absolute. It's something that is intrinsic to what I'm about. It's not all I'm about, I'm a funny guy, but it's not everything. Still, I would be nothing without it.
NL: What's your favorite food?
VG: My favorite food this week...(thinks for a minute)...Peanut Butter Capt. Crunch. I had a bowl of it at 3 o'clock in the morning.
NL: What about Corn Pops?
VG: Corn Pops will do in a pinch, if I had a choice. But if had a choice between Corn Pops and Total, I wouldn't line my bird-cage with Total, but Corn Pops... I'd be on Corn Pops like white on rice.
NL: Do you stay up really late?
VG: Yes, I do. I was up 'till five, and I wasn't even writing, which is a sin. I should have been writing stuff.
NL: Are you a writer?
VG: Well, I'm a songwriter! So that makes me a writer.
NL: I just thought that when you wrote songs, they just sort of happened and you had to write them right away.
VG: Well, some times that's the way it goes, but there's a lot of truth to the adage that creativity is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. What I need to write down is the little thing that sets me off, the little catch phrase, or something that I can use. Then the rest is grinding it out.
NL: Yeah, if you set up your opportunity for something really good to happen, it is more likely to happen.
NL: So, you voted today, are you interested in politics?
VG: No. I don't what to be political at all. I'm an anarchist by any stretch of the imagination. I think people should leave people the hell alone.
NL: Did you say anarchist?
VG: Yeah, well that's how I am today.
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