Kurt Vile and his band The Violators have announced a headlining tour of the UK and Europe, including an appearance at Black Deer Festival and London’s legendary Koko on Monday, June 12.
The Koko show is Vile’s first headlining show in London since 2019 and follows the release of his critically acclaimed ninth album (watch my moves), released on Verve Records last year.
The tour will take in eight UK cities, including Manchester and Glasgow before Vile and The Violators head into Europe for a run of shows and festivals.
Produced by Vile himself with Rob Schnapf, the album features special guests Chastity Belt, Cate Le Bon and percussionists Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Courtney Barnett) and Sarah Jones (Hot Chip, Harry Styles). (watch my moves) features the singles “Like Exploding Stones,” “Hey Like A Child,” “Mount Airy Hill,” and “Flyin’ (like a fast train).”
Back in November, Vile covered Bob Dylan’s version of “Must Be Santa” for Spotify Singles’ Holiday compilation. Vile offered a lengthy statement, writing, “When I was asked to be on this Christmas compilation, they said ‘you can do any Christmas song you want, as long as it’s not repeated by somebody else on this series.’ I thought it was nice of them to invite me, but I didn’t know if I could pull off a Christmas song! Then my mind jumped to when John Agnello showed me the Bob Dylan version of ‘Must Be Santa’ while we were making the Smoke Ring for My Halo record.
“It’s a really hilarious video (he showed me that first), and it shows a rambunctious Christmas party. Bob Dylan has a wig on, and someone goes flying through a window. All this time, I thought it was Bob Dylan’s song. It’s really catchy, and he makes it his own as he usually does. I figured if I can do Dylan’s ‘Must Be Santa,’ if that’s not taken, it’s a sign. I gotta be the next chapter in this version of a Bob Dylan song. Then I realized it was actually a classic Christmas song, and was written however long ago, but I still wanted to do it justice the way Bob did. I wanted to be the guy who attempted to pull it off.”