Bon Appetit

Backstage at Grand Canal Theatre, Hot Press is preparing for a chat with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. It is a rare audience with one of the planet’s most in-demand live performers. Over the previous 48 hours it had become clear that seats for the Grand Canal concert were like the proverbial gold-dust: it was by some distance the hottest ticket of 2011 – and one that would ultimately merit Bon Iver the accolade of Live Performers of the Year in Hot Press. No one would have imagined this kind of burgeoning superstardom for the Wisconsin outfit two years ago.

So who is Justin Vernon, and how come he has emerged as one of indie rock’s most imposing icons? One thing’s for sure: he is anything but predictable. You certainly wouldn’t guess it sitting opposite him – or listening to his ethereal folk-pop for that matter – but he has a curious and interestingly combative side. Read his Twitter feed and you’ll encounter all sorts of unexpected witticisms and bitchy asides. Just this morning, he became embroiled in an online furore with Rolling Stone magazine. Predictably the Twitter-sphere is in the process of going ape-shit as a result.
The unlikely catalyst was a feature the magazine ran recently, in which well-known artists listed their top ten hip-hop songs. Canvassed for his thoughts, The Roots’ ?uestlove was discommoded to see himself omitted from the final article. Taking to the internet to vent his displeasure, he received a virtual fist-bump from Vernon who revealed that his own contribution had been dicked around with so that his opinions were distorted.
“I find it hilarious. It doesn’t feel like news to me. It feels like a tweet. It’s funny. I do think rock ‘n’ roll is not alive and well in some parts of the world,” he says in what can only be interpreted as an oblique dissing of Rolling Stone. “But the whole thing is also kind of cute. The worst mistake would be censoring your tweets. At the same time, it is just tweeting. I don’t want to get all proud of it or anything.”
Vernon is in the middle of touring his second record, called simply Bon Iver. The first time you listen to it, it is evident that he has recorded a more ‘difficult’ LP than his esoteric but essentially straightforward debut, For Emma, Forever Ago. Less a collection of songs than a suite of mood pieces, the new Bon Iver unquestionably casts a spell, especially if you can attune to its occasionally weird tempos. At the same time he isn’t exactly pandering to the alt. country fan-boys who swooned at the feet of the earlier record, is he?
“It wasn’t like I was sitting down and consciously trying not to write For Emma...,” he reflects. “I remember coming back from Hawaii, having worked with Kanye. Really digging what he had done. It was cool to see how broad he was able to be with his ideas. So with this new record, I didn’t have the same limitations as before.”
His creative relationship with Kanye West started when the rapper heard For Emma..., was spellbound and had an assistant fetch Vernon’s number. The next Bon Iver knew, he was on the phone to one of the world’s biggest hip-hop stars, mulling over an invitation to record in Hawaii.
“It’s strange to talk to a person you’ve never met but who you’ve been a fan of, and seen on television and stuff. But that wears off pretty quickly when you’re having a human conversation about something. The whole celebrity thing is a mask.”
Still, it must have felt bizarre to stand opposite West in a blinged-out recording studio. Justin shrugs.
“Oh for sure. But I’m a musician. I’m doing music. In that way, we were on the same level. Hanging out in the studio making records – it wasn’t crazy. What was interesting was to see how he operated. He wasn’t inhibited by money or functionality or anything like that. If he had an idea, and he wanted to work with this or that person, then he was able to get them.”

Vernon was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1981. Roughly the same size as Waterford (and with approximately as many All-Ireland titles to its name), the city stands in the north-west of the State. Still, while he has a reputation for being a child of the backwoods, Vernon’s upbringing was actually straightforwardly suburban.
Historically, Eau Claire was a centre for the wood processing business: some 22 sawmills were once located there. However blue-collar industry moved on decades ago and while it would be overstating the case to say the place was a rustbelt dive, there is no denying that its glory years are behind it. Given how remote it is from Los Angeles and New York, you wonder why Bon Iver is still living there. He asks himself the same question.
“I think about that all the time,” he nods. “Why I don’t move? But, really, I don’t want to go anywhere else. Eau Claire is a nice place for an artist. It’s like an incubator. You’re able to do your thing creatively and not have to answer too many questions. It’s a nice way to be, even if it is limiting sometimes.”
It’s fashionable to stereotype the American interior as all guns on the dashboard, flags on the lawn and Sarah Palin stickers on the bumper. Actually, says Vernon, Eau Claire is probably as liberal and pro-Obama as anywhere in the US. With the next presidential election on the horizon, he’s aware there may be pressure on him, as a prominent indie musician, to bat for rock ‘n’ roll’s favourite Commander-in-Chief. He acknowledges that he feels some responsibility in that regard. At the same time, is it really his position to instruct people on how to vote?
“It’s tough, man. On the one hand, you see the opportunity to help them make up their minds. On the other hand, you shouldn’t be making up their minds for them – do you see what I mean?”
Vernon will tell you Ireland is one of his favourite places to play. From anyone else, this might come off as the usual condescending guff. But Vernon’s relationship with the country pre-dates Bon Iver. In fact he lived here for a short period. Ten years ago, when he’d been kicked out of college, he spent four months in Galway, working for Eircom, writing songs on the side, trying to figure out what he wanted from life. Needless to say, he seems to have figured it out pretty well.
“I was 19 and when I listen back to the songs I wrote they’re very interesting to me,” he avers. “I must have eaten at Supermacs every day. I had a lot of snack boxes. And somehow I managed to lose weight. Man, how exactly did that happen?”

Bon Iver is out now. Bon Iver are currently appearing in the Bushmills Brothers campaign for Bushmills Irish Whiskey.