With a new single due out this week singer/songwriter FOY VANCE has spent the last number of years in London at odds with the dichotomy of making music and the music industry itself. A great musical storyteller he feels more at home at low-key gigs than in the midst of celebrity. The Co.
Down songwriter chats to Elaine Sheridan about why a cottage in the Mourne Mountains helped him create a unique sound for his debut album. IN CASE you haven’t heard of the sensational singer/songwriter Foy Vance, he is one of the latest talents to make waves in a crowded British music market. The Bangor-born artist is the creator of Hope, a debut album which has so far been received with critical acclaim.
The album was written, performed, recorded, produced and mixed by Vance himself and born mostly from a wary attitude to the music industry and a desire to have complete artistic freedom. Vance demonstrates his truly unique talent with his flair for great storytelling. And while there are echoes of Otis Reading, Tom Waits and Van Morrison in his music he certainly carries his own identity too.
Being associated with such idols is a comparison that the artist is happy not to take too seriously. He said: “I’m not into the industry or the celebrity that goes with it. “I’m out on my own, like a hobo — a bag on my back and away I go.
“It’s a dichotomy and I’m constantly trying to strike a balance between the industry and the music.” The 32-year-old spent his early childhood in Oklahoma, New Orleans and Alabama with his preacher father who played an intrinsic part in the way Vance observes the world. It was there that he was exposed to spiritual Southern music that helped create the soul, blues, gospel and jazz so often associated with his music.
The Co. Down man’s family moved back to Bangor from the States when Vance was just five years old. His mum and dad are Belfast-born and both were home birds at heart.
Fast forward over two decades and Vance has left the North of Ireland for London. The musician feels right at home living in his bolthole in the south east of the city. He said: “There’s a whole lot more happening on your doorstep here in London.
“Although there’s an uprising of the arts in Ireland at the moment I think London helps you focus. “I think in London people work hard whereas at home the Irish work to live not live to work.” Vance classes the likes of Pete Townshend as being a fan — they played many shows together in London and New York.
He has also supported such diverse artists as Bonnie Raitt, Guillemots and Joss Stone.
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