Q&A: The Vices’ ‘Before It Might Be Gone’ Is Their Best Album Yet
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
Photography Credit: Milenco Dol
THE VICES APPRECIATE ODDITIES—After all, the group of friends chose their name as an acknowledgment of the quirks and unique musical experiences each member brings to the band. It has always been one of their strengths to allow their individuality to speak, and their new album Before It Might Be Gone is a complete embrace of their singular sound as The Vices.
The band includes Floris van Luijtelaar (vocals, guitar), Mathijs Louwsma (drums), Jonathan Kruizenga (organ, guitar), and Simon Bleeker (bass). Before It Might Be Gone is their third album, and it is produced by Charlie Andrew.
It starts with the title track and van Luijtelaar’s soft da-da-das along acoustic guitar, which quickly give way to Louwsma’s clanging cymbals and a distinctive guitar riff that almost sounds like a fiddle. This opening to Before It Might Be Gone, with its leap from delicate to high energy, is an accurate representation of the entire album’s oscillation between sounds.
For example, in “Shaking Shoulder,” van Luijtelaar pitches his vocals up in the verses which creates a strained effect, then belts the chorus. This deliberate back-and-forth matches the relationship between stability and instability that the song expresses: “I tried to change / It left me blind / I am a freak who can’t decide / Oh, I won't let it beat me up / But I can’t deny / My broken wings won’t let me fly.”
Floris van Luijtelaar is one of the most exciting indie rock frontmen right now. Check out any recording of The Vices performing their song “For My Mind” for an illustration of his magnetism, especially the intricate guitar solo. He moves with devotion to the performance and to his instrument, using his entire body to relay the message.
“The thing I love most is the guitar,” he tells me over a call between us and Louwsma. “It’s a Stratocaster. I’ve never played a guitar that sounded better. We were in the studio for a previous album and there was a Stratocaster from 1973. It sounded amazing. Then I saw one and I was like, ‘I need to have that!’ I played it and it was even better than the one in the studio. So I bought it immediately. Even without an amplifier, I didn’t want to stop playing.”
The entire band works together to put on dynamic shows that promise a satisfying experience. “We all feed off each other on stage,” van Luijtelaar describes. The joy they feel performing together is clear—check out their Jam In The Van performance as proof—and the new album is the ultimate demonstration of their invigorating chemistry. Out of all their previous releases, Before It Might Be Gone sounds the most like The Vices.
The album is refined and confident. Through introspective lyrics, distinctive guitar riffs and distortions, and van Luijtelaar’s vocals that are intentional to best serve each track, Before It Might Be Gone is The Vices’ best album yet.
“We all really love sound,” van Luijtelaar shares. “We used to be very preoccupied with sound. But the thing that speaks to me is feeling. What touches you is feeling. I think that’s what Charlie really put in [the album] by not making us overthink. That’s also in the guitar playing. It’s more about the emotion than the sound or anything else, really. I think that’s what the approach was.”
Read my full conversation with van Luijtelaar and Louwsma below.
LUNA: The album has a wave-like pace. It’s a high energy rock album, but the specific order of the tracklist allows for softer moments, then it picks up again. How did you decide that pace was the right choice?
VAN LUIJTELAAR: I remember with the previous album, it was quite a discussion about finding the right order. But with this one, it wasn’t that big of an issue. I like it if an album is able to tell a story. In order to tell a story, it should be able to capture attention all the time. You get that by going up and down a little bit, I think. [It felt] natural, like with everything for this album. It just wasn’t that hard this time.
LOUWSMA: We didn’t overthink things. It happened really naturally. The last couple of albums, [there was] quite a lot to argue about the track list. This one felt natural. It felt good.
VAN LUIJTELAAR: And maybe that’s Charlie, our producer. He really pushed us to not search for perfect. Especially [me], I am very much like that. I want to try everything. Like, “Is this the best it can be?” Charlie was like, “Let loose of all that. If it’s good, it’s good.” That actually added a lot to the album and made the whole process of making it very chill, which makes you play better.
LUNA: It also has a very cinematic sound to it which is different from the last album. Songs like “Hope You Know,” “Still They Might Not Like It,” and “Only For A While.” They start off slow then have a sudden drop, a change in sound. Those songs give a sentimental tone to the album.
VAN LUIJTELAAR: If it evokes any feeling, that is good! That’s the beauty of music. It can mean a thousand different things to a thousand different people—and none of those are [what] the one who wrote it felt while writing it. If it evokes any feeling, that makes me really happy.
LUNA: Mathijs, throughout the album, there’s a lot of cymbal action going on. You’ve added so much personality, specifically through your cymbals. As the drummer, what were your intentions for this album?
LOUWSMA: The last couple of albums were really composed. [This album was] going back to basic drums and not overplaying things, especially with the bigger tunes like “Before It Might Be Gone” and “Wrong Ones.” I wanted to give it a live feel. In the writing process, I think that was the most fun I had playing. I remember Charlie standing in the control room cheering me on. I think the intention was to not make it compact or small. [I wanted] to bring more life to a recording album.
VAN LUIJTELAAR: Let it flow, like everything else.
LOUWSMA: Like Floris said, when things sound right, they sound right. You don’t have to do fifty takes for one song if it feels good. The live sound was a big thing for me, trying to get that into the record.
LUNA: Great guitar is another characteristic of The Vices. There’s that funky riff in the title track. “Guess We’re All The Same” has a scratchy solo. It’s rough in texture but in a satisfying way. How did you approach guitar for this record?
VAN LUIJTELAAR: In terms of solos, I want different albums to have different kinds of solos. I never did a solo like the one on “Guess We’re All The Same.” It doesn’t depend on structure or melody. It depends on sound, heavily. I was in a room with a very loud amp and just saw what happened with feedback in the moment. I never did something like that, so I wanted to experiment. It [typically] starts with guitar and vocals when I write something. I don’t really think, “I want to try something like this or this.” It sort of just happens.
We had new influences for guitar. I always liked funk, for example, which we incorporated. Like you said, the funky sound in “Before It Might Be Gone.” It’s not really funk, it has sort of a Khruangbin, desert feel to it. So that’s a new approach to funk for me. It was mainly about trying new things like that.
LUNA: Guitar always stands out, especially on “For My Mind” from the last album.
LOUWSMA: That’s one of the songs we like to play live the most. Sometimes Floris changes things up midway. I’m playing, I hear Floris do that, and I think, “I’m gonna do something different!” We push each other in that song.
LUNA: My personal favorite track off the album is “Still They Might Not Like It.” It’s so beautiful. I feel like anyone who does creative work, or work that involves self-expression in any way, would understand the song and have an emotional response to it. Also, it’s the type of song that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different listeners. What does it mean to you?
VAN LUIJTELAAR: Songs can mean a lot of different things even to me once I write them. I think, in essence, it’s about someone who is alone in a place with a lot of other people. Someone who is getting more and more into themself while trying not to. They keep repeating to themself, “It’s going to be just what you want.” But there’s no action. There’s no making it true. The person just becomes more and more isolated. It becomes a bit psychotic.
[The repetition] in the end, it’s reassuring yourself all the time but not changing anything. You’re stuck, and that will only get worse. I think that’s what the song initially was about, for me. It wasn’t even about musical dreams. It was more about who you want to be in life—who you’ve been and who you want to be.
LUNA: Tell me about the album cover. It’s a half-eaten dinner table and it’s very vibrant. How does that connect to the music in this project?
VAN LUIJTELAAR: We’re hungry (laughs)!
LOUWSMA: Yeah, we like Korean food. Well, it’s about coming home. Coming home for us means being around loved ones, having a table of food, and feeling safe and loved. The first thing we thought of was family. That’s how we chose the cover.
VAN LUIJTELAAR: Especially this album, it’s a journey of inner change and self discovery. If you find out that you don’t like a lot of things about yourself, you can still come home to blood family or chosen family. There’s still unconditional love there. That’s one of the most beautiful things in the world.
LOUWSMA: It’s the thing that keeps you going.
LUNA: I think music is home for a lot of people too. After a long day, you find home in your favorite artists. So I think it’s a great cover.
VAN LUIJTELAAR: In “Piano Song,” there’s a line that says, “I would never be alone again.” That’s in reference to music. Music is an unconditional thing too, if you listen to it or if you make it. You have that friend always with you.
Photography Credit: Milenco Dol
