INTERVIEW: Bryce Vine
By Grace Lauson
Bryce Vine is about to kick off his tour in Shippensburg, PA on February 2nd and will be playing Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA on February 6th. WTBU journalist Grace Lauson chatted with Bryce about his upcoming tour and much more.
GL (Grace Lauson): I know you must be pretty busy, can you walk me through your day? What’s a normal day for you?
BV (Bryce Vine ): There’s no such thing as a normal day, but I can walk you through today. This morning, I went to Loud Luxury’s house, they’re a DJ group. We put together a song that we think will be a single soon! Hopefully it’s a single because it’s really dope. Then I rushed over to a dentist appointment because it’s my last chance before I go on tour. Later, I am having a tour rehearsal from noon to 8 pm tonight and that’s just today, a random one.
GL: I was wondering if you enjoy the process of constantly being busy while on tour, or does it get overwhelming?
BV: Oh hell yeah, I love it! The stress of it is hard to hate because it’s like you’re working towards something that you love to do.
GL: Do you prefer touring or the process of making music more?
BV: The tour is a culmination of all my work. It’s the most fun. I get a chance to refresh myself on tour. It shows me what I do this for. You get to hear everyone singing the lyrics back. Also, now all the shows are sold out! That’s what you hope for when you start. That’s easily the best part. However, I also like being at home; I feel like I have more of a life when I’m at home.
GL: Can you notice a distinct difference between the various crowds you play?
BV: I can usually tell because I’ve met kids over the years and I see similar people in the crowd all the time. I start to remember the venues or the rooms I play and some crowds/cities go off harder than others. It’s never what you expect but you start to remember each place more specifically after a while.
GL: I recently saw you on tour with Max. How did you two meet and how was it working with him?
BV: We met in a session and he was immediately just a cool dude with a killer voice. That day we wrote a song together and then kept in touch. Sometimes we hung out and eventually he asked me to do the tour.
GL: Is that usually what songwriting is like for you? You start from scratch and have a song at the end of the day?
BV: Oh hell no. Most of the time, if I’m writing for myself, it takes forever. My whole team knows it takes forever for me to write a song but it will be good when it’s done because that’s what I’m trying to make it the whole time. That’s what takes me forever. Some days it comes to you immediately. You start working on a beat and hear the melody and you just say, “Oh s**t, I like this.” Although, most of the time it’s a struggle.
GL: Have you ever thought about doing anything other than music or did you know that was the goal since you were little?
BV: Since I was 13 music was the goal. When I was 13, I heard a group that was singing songs that were funny and self-written. It was kind of dark but they were just different songs. So I go the idea that I wanted the freedom to do that. That’s when I decided to teach myself guitar and that’s where it all started.
GL: Was there ever a point in your life where you started to feel like you were really getting noticed for your music?
BV: I noticed it when I sold out my first show about a year and a half ago. I just thought, at least I’m making progress.
GL: Have you been working with the same team of people since the beginning?
BV: Oh yeah! Same people, all the same. I’m very close with these people now. You have to be. Especially being on the road that long with the same people.
GL: Do you have any hobbies that aren’t musically oriented?
BV: I made myself an avid reader a couple years ago so I could take my eyes away from my phone. I started to love going to used bookstores a few years ago and just staying there for like 2 hours ‘cause it’s quiet and there’s so much to do with my eyes. I look at titles, book covers, and synopses. It’s totally relaxing.
GL: Do you have any bad habits?
BV: Yeah, tons of them. Almost exclusively. I have trouble respecting the process. I get frustrated if I don’t get something right away and it’s ridiculous to expect that something new will come to you immediately. I’ll give you an example. I just started hip-hop dance for the first time ever to get a little choreography going, just so I have that much more to do on stage. I can’t move at all. At all. I thought it was going to come naturally and it doesn’t. I’ve done it twice now and maybe I’m able to step forward and backward but that’s about it.
GL: Who are your favorite artists currently?
BV: Childish Gambino, FIDLAR, Frank Ocean, and Lil Baby.
GL: I know you played a couple different festivals and have toured with a few different artists so I was wondering if you notice a distinct difference between playing shows with others versus headlining your own shows? Do you have a preference?
BV: Festivals are just dope because it’s a huge body of people. I think I prefer my own shows because it’s all fans but I really don’t know, it’s just different. Different energy at both.
GL: What’s next for you? What do we have to look forward to?
BV: The next single is coming out super soon and it’s got a really cool feature on it. I think we are shooting the video for that on the road and I’m really excited about it.
Bryce Vince will be playing at Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA on February 6th. Tickets can be purchased here.