Vance Joy on Georgia, Riptide, touring with Taylor Swift and his songs on TV ads
VANCE Joy on life after record-smashing hit song Riptide — which is still in the charts — and being on tour with the world’s hottest musician.
VANCE Joy has gained a few million fans over the last year but has retained his manners.
With 3.5 million sales, to be precise, of his ukulele-led debut single Riptide the Melbourne musician still politely asked his Australian record company for a favour earlier this year.
Joy wanted them to release the song he’s proudest of, Georgia, as a single from his debut album Dream Your Life Away.
Following up a song as all-compassing as Riptide is not an easy task. Ask Pharrell after Happy, Carly Rae Jepsen after Call Me Maybe. Talk to Mark Ronson in six months with Uptown Funkstill refusing to funk off.
There were a few singles released in the slipstream of Riptide — Mess is Mine (now gaining airplay in the US) and First Time (a hit in Belgium). Riptide not only outplayed them it outlasted them and is now officially the longest-charting single in ARIA chart history at 108 weeks (it’s back up to No. 62 this week).
But Joy always knew Georgia had something special.
The song’s genesis started way back in 2006 when Vance Joy was still James Keogh and Chet Faker was still Nick Murphy and they were both mates from St Kevin’s College in Toorak beginning to dabble in making music.
Keogh had a uni band, Hypersonique, inspired by Bloc Party but was starting to write his own more laid-back tunes in between a law degree and playing in the VFL. He played Murphy a riff that would later resurface on Georgia.
“I don’t know if he even remembers me showing him that riff, but it took a while before I found the right song to put it in.”
Fast forward to last year, Joy had finished recording Dream Your Life Away and, much like the essays during his law studies, handed it in to the powers that be.
Around New Year he finally found the right song for that Georgia riff he’d banked for years and loved the finished result so much it made the album by a whisker.
He’d always had a dream of it being a single, and just played the long game. Much like Riptide has.
Early this year, into the second year of touring the US, Joy slipped in a quick trip home. Rather than take a break, he put his hand up to do a trip around the country to personally play Georgia to radio programmers.
“You’re sometimes up against it when your song isn’t an instant ear worm or a banger,” Joy says. “Georgia isn’t a banger. So we really pushed it.”
Georgia has now leapfrogged Mess is Mine’s chart peak, to become his second Top 15 hit — after Riptide. This week Georgia also went platinum (show off Riptide is a remarkable five times platinum) and has stood out on radio between the David Guettas and Jason Derulos.
“That has actually been a really good experience of working in the music industry for me,” Joy says of Georgia. “You can have some small control over how things go if you put in a sh — load of work and there’s a pay off.”
Joy is the first to realise that Riptide is one of those beautiful but freak occurrences in a career that may never happen again, it’s just how you follow it up that matters.
“You reset your expectations a bit,” he says. “Obviously I haven’t expected to reach the same heights as Riptide. So I have very modest expectations. And when those modest expectations are exceeded I’m stoked. Georgia has done well, had a few plays on the radio, had a good reception. People have bought into it. For me, that is so good.
“To have anyone who wants to listen to music and explore your album is what you want. No one really knew about me before I put Riptide out, I have a lot to thank that song for. I’m excited about the songs I’m writing now. We’ll see what happens.”
Riptide’s record breaking chart legs may have something to do with the song’s daily use on an insurance ad, a campaign so successful for both parties it has been extended.
Joy admits he was worried Riptide was being “over saturated” on the ad. He’s also approved Mess is Mine’s use on a fast food chain’s current ad campaign. Once upon a time musicians were slammed for selling their songs on ads — those were the times before musicians stopped making money from selling albums due to piracy and dwindling record sales.
“It’s hard to say no to those things, and obviously it’s where you make your money,” Joy says. “Unless it’s you in the hot seat ... well, it’s a lot different when it’s you in the hot seat.”
There have been moments this year on commercial TV where Riptide and Mess is Mine both feature in the same ad break. He may be overseas working, but his music is still getting mainstream TV exposure on the daily.
“Yeah I got a few texts about that,” Joy laughs. “It’s strange with advertising, it’s that suggestion of your music, but then some people watch it and aren’t even aware of the music in the ad. During the cricket this year I was watching when the KFC ad with Mess is Mine came on. I’m stoked when I see my music on television. Especially because it wasn’t Riptide, it was a different song. That was nice.”
Riptide recently won Joy $25,000 as part of the International Songwriting Competition, the first time all the judges agreed on one song.
But with 3.5 million sales, TV commercial exposure and global radio play, he’s in line to get a major return on a song that literally cost $700 to record at Brunswick’s Red Door Studios (owned by the Living End). That same song wound up being performed on American Idol last week, in front of eight million viewers in the US alone.
“My mum has told me to be smart, when you make money invest in property, lock away something with security. I think that’s what I’ll do if I got my hands on that amount of money. No betting, no punting, no Vegas, no casinos.”
The rest of 2015 is filled with Joy on Taylor Swift’s 1989 tour. He’ll open for the superstar in the UK, Europe, Canada, the US and winding up at home in Melbourne in December, the last date of the entire tour.
Supporting Swift around stadiums in the US helped break Ed Sheeran in America; the Brit also duetted with Swift several times during their extended time touring together.
Swift already called Joy’s cover of her song I Know Places her favourite version of songs from this album — which left Joy “on cloud nine.”
So far there’s no talk of a tour duet.
“No real talk, but obviously it’d be great. I’m just really grateful to be on this tour.”
Swift’s songwriting partner on I Know Places, human hitman Ryan Tedder, also Tweeted his praise for the cover.
While Dream Your Life Away was written by Joy on his own, he’s up for collaborating in the future.
“I’ve done a little bit of collaborating, I’m also chipping away on my own. I think collaborating is awesome and Ryan Tedder is an incredible songwriter. You can learn so much from guys like that. You watch them in action and it’s inspiring.”
While Riptide put Michelle Pfeiffer’s name back into pop culture on a global hit Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk also name-checked the US actor.
“I heard someone’s trying to organise a Funny or Die skit where everyone writing songs about Michelle Pfeiffer gets together,” Joy says. “Imagine if she was in it. That would be a dream come true. She’s an icon.”
Taylor Swift, with Vance Joy, ANZ Stadium Sydney November 28, Suncorp Stadium Brisbane December 5, Adelaide Entertainment Centre Dec. 7,8, AAMI Park Melbourne December 11,12. Tickets from Ticketek
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