Hot Press meets Willie Nile

In a parallel universe, Willie Nile is getting ready to leave his gated estate in the Hamptons and clamber aboard the Lear Jet that’ll ferry him between shows on his latest ginormodome tour. In this one though, the 66-year-old guitarslinger is about to Chubb-lock the door of his New York Village apartment and get a cab to JFK from where he’s flying economy to Northern Italy for a show in Savona’s tiny Raindogs House venue.

“A question I’m always being asked is, ‘What if you’d actually become ‘the new Dylan’ or ‘the new Springsteen’?’ which I was both hailed/hyped as at various points in my career, but I don’t think like that,” Nile reflects. “I’m grateful at this ripe old age to still be making records, travelling around the world – I’ve been spending an average of four months a year gigging in Europe – and to have such wonderful family and friends.”
Those friends include the aforementioned Mr. Springsteen who regards Willie as a kindred spirit.
“In the ‘90s, I was doing an acoustic gig on the Jersey Shore with Peter Case, and Bruce and Patti walked in. We’re all a bit buzzed laughing and talking in the bar afterwards when ‘Jailhouse Rock’ comes on the jukebox. Bruce puts his hand up, shushes the room and goes, ‘Wait...’ It rolls for like a minute and then he just looks at me and goes, ‘Still sounds good!’ And it did. Bruce has been a really good friend and joined me on stage numerous times.”
Willie’s current Eurojaunt brings him to Dublin for an acoustic show in BelloBar, and a full band support in Vicar St. to a number one Irish act he’s formed a mutual admiration society with.
“When I was going over last year, my former manager told me there was this great new Dublin band he was speaking with, called The Riptide Movement, and that he was trying to get them to come along to my Whelan’s gig and do a song with me,” he recalls. “So I sent ‘em a copy of my album, American Ride, and they gave me a link to Gettin’ Through, which I must have listened to a hundred times. I’d do that in the old days with the Stones, The Who, The Beatles, Dylan, The Clash and The Ramones, but it’s only Riptide who’ve grabbed me like that recently. The songs are really anthemic, and they’re the nicest guys.”
So nice in fact that they helped Willie polish off a pressie that had been delivered to his Whelan’s dressing-room.
“I walk in and there’s a little wooden crate on the table with a note attached saying, ‘Hi Willie, welcome to Dublin, love U2.’ Inside, there was a bottle of champagne and Guinness to mix with it. We both know this legendary record plugger, Bruce Moser, who was responsible for breaking U2 in America. Bono gave me a lovely quote for American Ride...”
Which read: “It’s a ride alright… on foot, on horseback, with the occasional roller coaster thrown in. There are a few Americas here to discover. The mythic, the magic, the very real. One of the great guides to unraveling the mystery that is the troubled beauty of America.”
“I was very humbled by that,” he whispers.
One good turn deserving another, Wille joined The Riptide Movement recently in Manhattan for their ‘You & I’ video shoot – look out for the guy with the seriously cool hair – and afterwards treated them to a tour of his favourite rock ‘n’ roll haunts.
“I showed them where CBGBs used to be – it’s now a designer menswear store but they’ve kept the walls the same – and Joey Ramone’s apartment. People say Joey could be difficult, but he was always very nice to me. What else on earth could Joey Ramone have done other than be in a rock ‘n’ roll band? He was just a real outsider and shy. I’ve got a medley that I do, which is ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ right into ‘California Sun’, right into ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’. Those three and ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ are my favourites.
“The sign for what’s now known as Joey Ramone Way is three times higher than normal street signs because people kept on stealing it,” he chuckles. “Gar from Riptide wanted to climb up and get the current one, but we managed to talk him out of it.”
Phew, Gar really didn’t want to be following Brian O’Driscoll into The Tombs! Another punk icon who Willie counted as a friend was Lou Reed.
“Again, he couldn’t have been nicer to me,” he reminisces. “My favourite memory of Lou was being at a 50th birthday party in The Bottom Line for the famous DJ, Vin Scelfa, and us two tuning up in the dressing-room with Joey standing in the door. It was just the three of us and I thought, ‘This is a moment!’ Little Steven, Jimmy Webb, Ronnie Spector and Suzanne Vega were also playing that night, so it was memorable all-round.”
The latest chapter in Willie Nile’s remarkable career is If I Were A River, a deliciously stripped-down affair with a direct link to his hero of heroes, John Lennon, which is explained on hotpress.com.
“It’s so meaningful and deep to me,” he says of the record, which one imagines will elicit even more superlatives from Mr. Hewson. “You don’t like to pick a favourite child but of my nine studio albums, it’s the one that means the most to me.”

If I Were A River gets a live airing when Willie Nile plays The Errigle Inn, Belfast (December 5), Vicar St., Dublin (6) and Bello Bar, Dublin (7).